Tuesday, February 01, 2011

127 Hours!

A beautiful movie indeed, as though crafted especially for the adventure lovers, yet for everyone at the same time! The movie quite aptly depicted the craze that an adventure enthusiast lives with, rather for! They worship nature's beauty and keep treading in pursuit of their religion, Adventure!

Aron Ralston's story in this movie is one which every fellow adventure lover will identify with. Though the movie revolved around a single person stuck in a sure death situation for 127 hours, it kept the audience engaged on the edges of their seats as though experiencing themselves in the same situation! It personified the very survival instinct that mankind is all about. As the film progressed, Aron's desperate measures to free himself from the trap amazes us.

An Engineer by profession, an adventure enthusiast at heart! A very well informed guy about the geography and topography, his mind filled with all sorts of preparation plans and escape routes for every planned adventure to be unfolded, power-packs him with the zeal and guts to conquer it.

While he is trapped in there, all that he runs through his mind are his past mistakes that he should have not committed. He is left lonely in there, and that is the time when he becomes closer to his conscience. All this while as I was almost feeling Aron's experience, I was also flowing in to retrospect of the special adventures that I have done in my life. Be it the Everest Base camp, Kedarkanth trek in Uttaranchal, the Enduro3 Adventure race, treks with Wanderers, biking, cycling... everything was just flashing back in front of me.

These adventures not only take you high on the adrenaline rush, they also take you closer to your own self. Every time you are out and one with nature, it brings you closer to yourself. You talk to yourself, you push yourself, you encourage yourself, you be yourself! This is the time when you look back on your good and bad deeds and thoughts. And as you go further ahead, your mind becomes clearer.

As Aron is shown basking in the luxury of soothing his cold feet in the sun for 15minutes, every drop of water becomes precious; it reminded me of similar experiences on the various adventures I had been to, where we ought not take anything for granted.

The most nerve cracking moment shot in the movie was the one when Aron frees himself from the trap and is limping out of it, at the expense of cutting his own arm! And then, he turns back and says, "Thank you"! A bitter-sweet feeling expressed there by a man who lost his arm, yet came out alive from the sure death situation. The best part is, Aron still continued to pursue his love for adventure after that. That is what exactly replicates an adventure lover's poise! A never say never spirit! They never curse any unfortunate event on their path, but they only seek divine pleasure and positivity. That is what drives them again and again back in to nature's lap. Of course, like Aron did, every new venture omits previous mistakes and gains new learnings and experiences.

Mere words won't do any justice to any such experience or journey! One ought do it to feel it! Loved the movie, love the spirit, love adventures! I thank all my fellow mates with whom I have had opportunities to tread through the beauties of nature. Looking forward for more!