Eye Of The Flash Flood

A couple of weeks back I traveled with a bunch of friends to a hilly terrain near Bangalore. The trip was arranged rather extemporaneously. Hence, the arrangements for food, alcohol and shelter were made in much haste, and probably did not conform to the taste of my companions. I really did not care, since the scenery was breathtaking. I made up for the inadequacies by taking long solitary walks amidst the verdure on the gentle slopes of the hills. I was warned that the area was infested by venomous snakes and leopards, and since it was raining often, the gentle streams that gushed across innocuously may suddenly swell up and catch me off guard. Indeed there was a brook, which flowed in a meandering course, a few hundred feet from our lodging. It was really a gentle trickle of water, and I would sometimes pursue its course uphill to admire the lush countryside from the top.

On the last day of our sojourn, I decided to follow the rivulet downstream. It had rained considerably the last night and the creek was running down with zeal greater than usual. A sense of warmth and comfort spread over me, as my friend of the last few days gushed down merrily by my trail. I must have been daydreaming, when suddenly a thunderous noise startled me. My first impression as I turned was that the hill was collapsing. Then, I observed that a huge mass of swirling water was thundering down the slope consuming all the vegetation in its wake.

Before I could think of an escape, or for that matter think of anything, I was swept off my feet and carried directly into the middle of the spate. I remembered that the riverbed was not rocky and therefore, there was no immediate peril of crashing into a boulder. The swirl and the tumult of the current embraced me and toyed with me with such fury that it seemed that my gentle friend had` suddenly unleashed a long locked up desire to wrap me tightly in her arms. The swift current would not allow me to swim, nor would she let me drown. The river tugged at my clothes with great power, and pulled at my heart with a greater verve. The magnificent force of nature was exacting every ounce of my strength to match her passion. She took me across the many bends and curves at an exhilarating speed, and I feared that I must be approaching a rapid fairly soon. Whenever my tired arms resigned, and I wanted to sink to her depths she would thrust me upwards, and if I tried to resist and swim to the banks she would exert an enormous pull back to her bosom.

I did not know for how long this turbulent lovemaking would continue, or what lay at its climax. The current must have carried me for more than a mile, when suddenly I realized that the volume of water was decreasing, and the tow was getting less strong. Without any effort on my end the river deposited me beside a mound of overly grown bushes on the bank. The water level decreased as dramatically as it had swelled up, and I could again hear the gentle humming of my loving friend. She had carried away my shoes, cell phone and most of my clothing, leaving me apparently unhurt but deeply scarred deep inside. The last iota of strength had abandoned me by then, as I lay exhausted and overwhelmed by the spate that had so unexpectedly interrupted my humdrum life.