Scary Adventures: The day I Almost Died

Context

Before I present my much interesting story to you, let me get in clear with some context. I was, 18, just passed the high school, and came to travel with my parents to a rural village in Sikkim named Chozo, where the pristine lake of khecheopalri lies. So one day, I discovered in the morning that my parents will be heading in a nearby city with a car. Coming from a hectic Kolkata, the last thing I want to see is a city that too in a car. So I passed them off and went out to meet and greet with the locals and plan out the day.

The Planning

It was the day of 21st April,2018. Just past 9 o’clock, and I was literally bursting out with joy cause of the new gained freedom. I wanted to go somewhere completely alone. I chatted with the locals and asked about the hardest place there a man could trek on. They told me about a cave up the mountain. But not the route. They stopped describing the map midway in a place named ‘Ring’, and advised me to come back from there cause of wild boars and bears. But I had other plans.

The Stupid Idea

As I was described by the locals, I trekked and reached village ‘Ring’, where I met the villagers. They were very welcoming as they probably saw a outsider pretty long ago. They treated me with their traditional yak milk and bread. But my mind was on that cave. I asked them about the route. And guess what?! They told me exactly how to reach there! I got pretty excited, I forgot about all those dangers, put my foot forward and headed along like a noob.

Fortune Favored the Foolish

As I was heading, I gradually became aware about the wild boars with huge teeth front of them and those bears. There was nothing I could do if they attacked, but I kept my knife ready and made sound of plastic bottles all the way. But nature came with some surprise. There were a lot of leeches in that place, which had to be put away time to time or they sucks a lot of blood away. I kneeled down and untie my shoes to put away the leeches. While doing my right foot, I felt something cold on my left, which was behind my face. I turned around to see, and it was almost a 100 centimeters long, smooth, stout, cold the very famous “Pahari Bora Sap” or more famously known as the Chinese mountain pit viper ( or that’s what I was told by the villagers with the help of my very little description of that snake )

Those 6 Seconds

As soon as I felt that cold ass thing, I looked back. But God knows how, I didn’t freak out. I knew I was pretty close to death, and this might be the last and only opportunity I’ll get to save my life. I somehow held my nerves, and didn’t move a single bit. I stopped breathing, and blinking. I was sweating, and my sweat dropped into my eyelids. Now I could barely watch anything and my eyes became red and itchy. I was in a awkward pose, and my hands felt anesthetic. 4 seconds passed like that, to which I felt like an eternity. I still hadn’t done any movement yet. But at this moment I remember once telling myself to rub my eyes, maybe I’ll die but at least I’ll get rid of this itchiness. But somehow I gathered power to tell myself no. At this moment, the snake got over my foot, but it was still very close to me. After 5 more seconds of cautious waiting, I got up and ran downhill the fastest I could to that village.

The conclusion

As I came running downhill to village “ring”, with a shit scared look in my face and panting like an old dog, the villagers knew I had done something up there. They all took care of me, served me with water and fruits, healed my wounds, and gave me my favorite mint tea. As I told them what happened a while ago, they all freaked out and told me to thank the almighty for saving my life. Which I did. But I didn’t compromise with my desire to see that cave. I went on again the same day, this time with some local Buddhist monks, meditated and learned about Lord Buddha’s teachings from them, and came back safely. That was certainly the scariest moment of my life, yet an amazing day nonetheless!