I The Revenant!! (I live to tell the tale)

I really have no idea what to title this, tryst with destiny, final minutes, death at doorstep, light after darkness, reincarnation, second life, how I cheated death, My Life = 1300 Rs, I The Revenant, Sea rescue... But I am sure why I am writing this, I do not want to forget anything which happened on this day.

It was early hours of Sunday, December 18, 2016, day after we had Mahpeede Mahablu show in Baindur.  We wanted to go to the beach till sun rises, come back get ready and leave to Bangalore at any cost before 10 AM after breakfast at 9 AM.  So we slept late, since we were in the same beach till 11 PM.  We went in at around 6.30 AM and tried to get into the sea at point 2 in the image below.  Later we realised that the current here is too much of the Sumana or Baindur river, force of the river was enough to make the sea water less salty.  This is clear sign that the current is super strong.  Looking for a suitable location, we moved to location 1 where we actually enter the beach.  Went into the sea (Google Map link - https://goo.gl/maps/xaQYnD7CDeC2) it was a happy feeling since I love getting into sea and warm water.  I went in to a place where water was up to my chest.  Took a breath, pushed myself underwater towards the sea away from the beach.  I am sure I was under water for not more than 20 seconds, I surfaced to realise that I have come too far than expected (point 3), immediately screamed out to the guys near point 1 in the sea to go back ashore and put myself to some serious swimming to reach back ashore.  When I put my head out to see where I was, to my shock I was almost near point 4 and nowhere near point 1 where I was heading.  That's when it dawned on me that I am stuck in the current.

Panic stuck, I could scream and get attention of the guys at point 1, I even tried screaming and realised that they are not able to listen to me (later I realised they could barely see me behind the waves). Nor could I hear anything they are saying and ultimate fear of someone trying to come to get me and drown too.  My whole life flashed, that minute felt like an hour to me, detailed memories of many things I have completely forgotten mainly of family followed by friends and consequences.  I also realised that the 5 minutes of hardcore swimming has tired me beyond my own belief and the panic is loosening my muscles, going beyond my control.  Well I had to take a grip on myself or die, that was the choice I had to make.

Survival I have heard is basic instinct, I then started doing my favorite thing in sea, floating.  I started floating trying to figure out what should I be ideally doing.  Flashes of Bear Grylls episodes urging not to panic and many articles, stories and movies I have seen of great survivals like Cast Away, Escape from Alcatraz, Predator, The Great Escape, 127 Hours, Deep Blue Sea, Gravity, Jaws, Martian, Behind Enemy Lines, The Revenant  etc. started coming up.  Also took some courage assistance from people I know like how people have faced loss of dear ones and survived cancer etc.  Some 100 people who have stood against all possible tests of life and survived with a happy face.  Specially from my own relatives, my cousin and elder son who had just joined engineering and a well settled IT job drowned in river trying to save the younger brother who is in 10th standard a year back.  Both earning members of the family were gone within few minutes survived by a shocked mother and a 16 year old son.  The second case of Anil and Uday who drowned in Tippagondanahalli reservoir during Masthigudi movie shooting.  I had my special analysis of why it happened. Taking clues from that I started to recuperate. 

First I stopped to struggle to swim ashore, that is a ruled out possibility.  Second I checked the water temperature it was not too cold but not warm either, that means the current is slightly dying down.  My possibilities were minimal, swim with the current and try and reach the rocks near point 5.  Before I start swimming again I needed my muscles to get back to shape after the huge rush of adrenaline when my mind realised I am going to die.  So I wanted my brain to think normal and relax a bit.  Thought of how my obituary would look like and how newspapers would cover this event. A not so famous TV and Film actor and Radio Mirchi Programming Head dies at sea near Baindur.  Which photo would the orbituary use and how my friends and family would react.  How Moana was helped by the sea goddess to come on top of the boat and how dolphins save lives of people like me.  What gave me immense hope was the fact that no one would say, good god that man died, phew, Dharthi ka boj kam hua, Sadhya satta nan maga etc won't happen.

Mani my man who saved me

Now I started to just glide in water and go towards the last piece of rock I could see above water near point 5.  That's when I saw Mani and his boat.  That was a relief, I waved my hand and screamed "Oooo" (the alphabet with maximum reach in sea, thanks to my arbitrary reading about sea survival).  He waved back at me, that's when I realised that my sign was wrong, I then put both my hands up the water called him towards me like the airplane parking assistant.  He understood what had happened and started coming in towards me, that moment I knew that I will live to tell this tale.  He came closer to me and he reached, greeted me with the smile I will never forget.  That smile told me that he understands the turmoil I have gone through in last 15 minutes.  He then asked me if I am OK, I said I am fine, he was surprised that I still had my glasses on (I do not wear contact lenses if I get up early and if I have to take shower etc).  I told him what happened and he understood everything.  He wanted to pull me up, but it was too tough to get up into his 30 ft long and 6 ft tall (from water level) boat.  Tried doing it from both sides of the boat but could not manage to pull my hefty body up the boat.  Mani told me that its better that he will toe me to safety.  By then two more fishermen in smaller fishes came from nowhere to help.  I unfortunately do not remember one man's name, other man did whatsapp me later in the day asking me to relax.

Devidas's WhatsApp DP

Devidas then advised his brother Mani to toe me toward the beach using their thermocol home made flotation device which looked like a pillow.  They did not have to tell me to put the pillow under my chest and hold the rope tightly in my hands.  They started toeing me towards point no 4, that's when I realised how fierce the river current is, the warm water on surface started getting colder within few inches below surface.

Suddenly I realised my shorts gave way because of the current and opposite pull of Mani's boat, I requested them to stop for a second, fastened the shorts which surfaced few feet from me, I did not let the rope go from my left hand reached to shorts from my right hand wore it immediately.  By then the brothers realized that the boat can not go near beach to point 1.  I requested them to kindly toe me to a place where I can get a firm foothold and water is around my waist.  We tried once where water was just around my nose, told them to go little further in towards the shore, they dropped me little away from point 4 towards shore.  I thanked them, told Mani to please come near Someshwara Temple where our TT was parked.  He nodded and I started walking back towards point 1.  I was slowly realising what the hell had I done to myself.  What my estranged team would have answered my family about my death.  I want to apologise to all the team members of Prakasam at the beach for the trauma I caused them because of my miscalculation.  Two local men had already taken their trip for letting me go into the sea.  Later once I reached they took class of not taking on the sea god ever again.  I have promised myself that too, if the beach is non commercial then stay off it. Or stay in limits of waist high water maximum.

L to R - Akash, Lokesh, Meghana, Rashmi, Pooja,
Akshata and Sindhu in point no. 1, just after I came out

Mani came on his bike to the temple, I had siphoned off all the money Lokesh our TT driver had and gave him 1300 Rs.  That's when I realised I just valued my life at 1300, yes that was the price of my life.  Mani did not speak much but told us the sad story of his very thick friend who's wife got pregnant after 10 years of marriage and when she was two months pregnant he died in the same spot just 20 days back.  He too was big built like me, even bigger, a fisherman who got into the same waters everyday for around 35 years.  Well that proved that I was very very very lucky. His friends death story brought tears into his eye, he also told that he has saved many lives in sea, but he could not be there for his friend's family.  That was really saddening, am sure I would have cried too, I had to stand as an example and not add grief to already shaken team of mine. I really wanted to talk to him more, but he was supposed to go back to fish and earn his livelihood.  I promised to him that I will come back and repay his unplayable debt.  I really do not know what the hell should I do to repay him, since he and his brother very clearly told me money means nothing and my life was important to them.  I plan to go there and put up a board with my photograph letting people know that that place is life threatening. 

So here I am telling you my story of survival, an ordeal which lasted only 25 minutes in all, but I did not want to forget anything or anyone from this life's lesson, hence I noted most of the important things in this blog.

Google maps location of the incident

Satellite image of the location

The island behind us was at the point where current was high and we moved to point 1

Sunrise which I would cherish forever in front is the river getting into sea

Unforgivable view from parking of the sea