Hah! It doesn’t look so high. Even if it opened up, how high could it possibly be? Not much higher than my office building...” I said in a cocky and overconfident voice as I stood before the crane that was being set up for my first ever bungee jump.
The event happened to be the Bingo Xtreme Zone, a newly set up extreme sports zone that is now hosting a 10-day adventure carnival. It includes a host of sports but I had my eyes set on the most extreme of all: the Bungee Jump. At that time, I didn't realise it but the urge to jump was going to suffer greatly.
After the organisers had set up the crane to its full length, I looked up at the massive 140-foot long monstrosity that was waiting to devour us! Somehow, it looked a lot higher once it was fully set up. We had to pass a medical test before taking the jump. My stats turned out normal, and I knew it was because I wasn’t really nervous... not yet.
While awaiting my turn, I discussed the technicalities of the jump with others in line but found out later that all that was of absolutely no use. When the first amongst us (a guy) was getting strapped up, we gathered around. The minute the person was asked to fold his pants up to his knees, the girls simultaneously realised that those of us who hadn't visited the parlour recently were in for trouble! But un-waxed legs was one of the many things that the girls had to worry about. Everybody’s weight had to be displayed on their hand for technical reasons and the classic question, “Won’t our shirts go up when we are hanging upside down?”, rang through the air.
When my turn came, I hopped on to the platform that the crane lowered. I stood on what I had christened the ‘plank’, due to a striking resemblance with its pirate ship counterpart! “Would you like some coke?” the jump instructor asked me. “Are you kidding me? I’m going to be hanging upside down in two minutes!” He shrugged and gulped some down.
As the platform started moving upwards, I began to a feel a bit queasy.  I turned to the jump instructor, maybe he was the last person I was going to see before the jump, and thought we should at least introduce ourselves. Neeraj, the instructor, turned out to be extremely helpful and kept me busy in conversation advising me not to look down. It paid off and I did feel less nervous.
Once the platform was steady and at the count of three, Neeraj said he would let go of the harness and I would have to jump. “The chord will hold, wont it?” I asked. He grinned, “Well, to date, there’s never been an accident. But God knows...” ‘Some help he is’, I thought!
By then, my knuckles had turned white and my palms were sweaty from holding on to the railing. I let go and inched forward to the edge. That was the first time I looked down.
Have you ever had a crazy urge to free fall? Well, apparently man does have a strong inherent desire to fly. I jumped. Those few seconds felt like eternity.
Everything went hazy around me and I couldn’t even hear the blaring music that was playing. I was surrounded by silence and I was plummeting to the ground at such great speed that I felt certain that the chord had been cut and I was going to crash!
I shut my eyes and my mind was filled with a million thoughts. It feels like you are in slow motion until the bungee chord jerks you back to reality. I opened my eyes and realised I was being swung around like a rag doll. Then, I screamed, “Woooo hoooooo! Let’s do that again!!!”

JOIN THE FUN!
The Bingo Xtreme Zone’s carnival is on till June 24 at the zone in Hebbal. Other sports at the Xtreme zone include paintball, bungee run, river crossing, artificial wall climbing, zorbing and much more. The Bungee jumping is on only during the carnival.
Bungee and reverse bungee jumping costs Rs 600, paintball is Rs 400 and all other sports are priced at Rs 150 each. Call: 9845720769 for details.