Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Acrophilia??!!!

acrophobia (n):
Morbid fear of great heights.

Thats what the Oxford says...
Mine is a strange case.. and a very strange one too...

I got to realize it when Id gone for a trek to Harishchandragad.. many years back... with my buddy Nishant..
It was an amazing trek full of adventure (read:Included climbing down the rock face on one shoe each..) But i'll talk about it sometime later..

Nishant's one shoe had given away.. So he wasnt ready to come with me to the famous Konkan-kada, for which Harishchandragad is so famous for.. It was early morning and we had trekked through the night for about 4 1/2 hours to reach the temple on the top.. and i didnt wanted to miss the sunrise in any case whatsoever.. So i ventured out alone for the Kada with a water bottle, a cam and a knife (there are leppards found on Harishchandragad)... Sunrise and sunset should never be missed from the Konkan kada, people say...
I reached there early.. the first few rays of sun were just falling on this massive 1500 feet wall which faces the western coast of maharashtra.. I wanted to get a closure view of the kada.. so i went very close to the edge.. and i saw straight down into the valley, about 2000 feet below...
I lay on my tummy, my chest and head and hands suspended in mid air.. and took amazing snaps of the valley below..
But suddenly it happened..
Suddenly i started getting the strong urge.. to just run and take off.. and jump into the vast abyss... The breeze blowing on my face from below in the valley was too luring... I got scared...
Id never experienced this urge to jump from a heighted place before... Maybe the fact that there was a guy who had jumped from the Kada, supposedly, due to the sheer beauty of the sight of sunset, was on my mind... or maybe not..
I gathered my composure and briskly made my way back to the temple...

But that wasnt the only incident... That was just the beginning..
Each and everytime i trek, suddenly.. and out of the blues.. i get this strong desire.. just to take off and let myself free... Free to float away in the air.. feel like flying away.. Even though i can see the bottom below, I feel its an abyss.. Just like a chasm within me... where i can see no end.. I feel like plunging into the same...

No.. Im not afraid of heights.. I dont have any "MORBID FEARS" abt heights, like the Oxford says.. I get a penchant for getting up there.. and looking below.. and then someone calls me... someone wants to pull me down below.. The feelings strong.. and its amazing....

acrophilia:
Sexual arousal from heights or high altitudes.


I guess its not sexual arousal that i experience.. Like what i often refer to as "Orgasmic pleasures"... its far more spiritual... It doesnt give me any sort of a physical erection.. but it sure does rejuvenates my mind.. and my soul...

So I guess its "OFFICIAL"!!! Im ACROPHILIC!!!

1 comment:

Salil Mirashi said...

yes it is acrophilia....beauty at times lures u to jump into it....not ur mistake!!!!

lovely....

wish we all wud've been superman.I have the same urge at times standing even at a height of twelve feet.(God save our kind)