Most of us here have done “Depression “to death. Now DIVER comes up with this CONQUERING FEAR syndrome and we must all follow him. He is the Star of the moment.
FEAR IS THE KEY
Fear and fright is a horrendous feeling. *We begin to experience fear right from birth. When the mind begins to perceive the outside world, we all experience fear and fright in so many different ways. Fear of the dark, fear of animals, spiders and so on. These fears vanish with time. *Then other fears take over.
When I was six years old my aunt was the first to put the fear of GOD into me for frivolous reasons like not drinking milk, not eating certain types of food, or sheer disobedience….Her GOD was SIDDHARUD MAHARAJ. He was actually a living GOD. The picture that was shown to me was that of an old man, with malas, open chested man. He had FEARFUL penetrative EVIL eyes!
By God, this was one God I feared like crazy!
One day, I had gone berserk. My aunt tried the same stunt. She screamed at me and took me to the picture of Sidhharud Maharaj. I was sheeting with rage! He looked down at me through his evil eyes! I hated HIM even more. The next thing I did was to pick up a knife and attacked Sidhharud Maharaj with great force! My Aunt was taken aback. No one had dared attack her Maharaj physically! Never again did she try to discipline me through this wicked looking Maharaj.
I learnt an important lesson in my life at an early age. CONFRONT FEAR BY GOING ON THE OFFENSIVE.
As I grew up in school, I learned to confront bullies who scared and bullied little boys like me. One big bully did me no good by snatching my tiffin box. He started to was eat my lunch. I crept behind him with big a stone and hit his head. He cried out loud. He bled red blood like crazy. Result? End of the big bully!
REAL FEAR
Real fear, particularly fear of death is to be experienced to understand what this fear is.
Real fear situations are those when you come close to DEATH! Fear is not cowardice. It is a natural body reflex action defence mechanism. I recollect two situations to this day.
SHARKS!
Sharks routinely kill scuba divers, swimmers all over the world.
Year 1975, I was on an Underwater Photography sponsored expedition in the Islands of Lakshadweep. I had read up everything of the hazards below the sea while scuba diving. I always carried my Diver’s Handbook whenever I dived under the sea.
The first week was a breeze. Except for some minor scratches and bruises from coral, not much happened. I got to shoot Marine life in all it’s majesty and beauty in shallow waters down to forty feet.
My last dive was off the Kadmatt Island. I had a cylinder full and told my topside guys on the dive boat that I intended to make my last dive a 120 feet dive in the deep waters, timed for 45 minutes. I had a lifeline attached.
My descent to 60 feet was great. The sea was calm, visibility was in excess of 200 feet. The sea was deep blue and magnificent. I started to hallucinate a bit too early. Then out of nowhere……I saw two 12 footer Blue Sharks approach me at a distance of no more than 30 feet from me! Blue Sharks are dangerous. I froze with fright! My mind stopped functioning for a few seconds. I was not carrying my spear gun or anti-shark repellants, just my underwater camera.
The sharks circled me. I came to my senses. I remembered my shark encounter routines. Ascend very slowly, watching the sharks at all times. I did just that, though my heart was thumping like crazy. I clicked a few snaps, hoping to drive away the sharks with the sounds of the camera. The sharks kept circling but did not close in. A few minutes later they disappeared out of sight, just like that!. This whole episode lasted no more than 7 minutes, but to me those 7 minutes of living in fear of death was excruciating! I surfaced and got on the boat. For a year I kept seeing these sharks in my dreams.
Was this the end of my Underwater Diving and Photography career?
A year later I met Sanjay Khan the actor. I did a underwater shoot for his movie “Chandi Sona” in the Navy swimming pool, starring Praveen Babi, Danny Denzongppa, Pran and Sanjay. I duplicated for Danny underwater, fighting crocodiles, besides handling the camera.
The movie bombed at the box office. We were so sad.
One day I discussed this fear of sharks with Sanjay. Sanjay was a dare devil man, very courageous. He was amazed that a young fauji should fear sharks! He encouraged me to go on another expedition and paid me some good money. I used that money to good effect. He fed me good scotch whiskey and kebabs in his palatial bungalow. After three whiskies man becomes brave. Sanjay Khan was a great motivator.
THE MALDIVES ENCOUNTER
I countered that fear by reading up everything about sharks. Next I found a Dive Master Ray Gunther in the Maldives. Ray was an expert at SHARK DIVES! Year 1980, I linked up with Ray at Willingilli Islands. Ray took me on shark dives 4 times. Ray was a great diver and had no fear of the wild sharks. He even hand fed them underwater a few times! The first two dives, I froze and my body stiffened at the sight of the Tiger Sharks. But Rays presence was sufficient for my morale. I knew no shark dared attack me with Ray next to me.
The next two dives I gradually learned to conquer fear of the sharks, forever!
“DEAT BE NOT PROUD…, though some have called thee Mighty and dreadfull, for, thou art not so, ”
John Deeze