Ravings of a Nomadic Mind

It was June 5th 1996, the three month holiday was coming to an end. CBSE Tenth board results were coming today. It was a Fun Holiday and they had seen and done a lot of things that they had never dreamed of. Ankit woke up early and looked out of the tent, the sun had risen but wasnt high enough to light the valley they were in. It was going to be a bright cloudless day and it was going to be perfect for what they had planned. they hills were a myriad shade of brown just before the rains and they were out climbing in the Aravali's. the height provided some respite from the hot Rajasthan summers, but it was still tough going and although they had packed a lot of water the day before when they set off from Mount Abu it was still going to be close by the end of the day.

Hearing a noise behind him Ankit turned around and saw Shaun crawl out of the tent and getting ready for his morning run. They both laced up there shoes and went for their morning run. when they came back to see that every one was still curled up in their sleeping bags against the early morning chill. They set about making coffee and tea and people started to roll over in the strong caffeine smell by eight every one was out of the bed and ready for a hard days climb.

After Brakefast every one was ready and checking the gear for faults, once that was done they set their sights on the 120 foot cliff that was going to be their last climb for the holidays. shaun took the lead and started up the wall belaying the rope as he went, Amita was second and Ankit was third. Ankit looked up and realised that Shaun was going real fast up the wall and Amita was still stuck at the bottom, some how she was finding the going slower or she was pacing herself better. Amita reached 10 feet and Ankit Started up the rock face after her, at barely five feet of the ground he heard the rope tug and looked up to see Shaun come of the wall at 35 feet and saw gravit take over, he had a very bad taste in his mouth.

Ankit let go of the wall and he and Shaun hit the ground at the same time Shaun some how landed on his feet and then fell over back wards. When Ankit got to him he was trying to sit up but some how his lower body wasnt responding to what he was trying to do and he looked to be in pain. Shaun said he had broken his hip and it looked bad, amita came of the wall and every one corwded around, Ankit taking charge got them in line to get Shaun out of there, they used wood to imbobilize the hip and used a sleeping bag as a stretcher and took him to the van they were using.

The drive to Jodhpur was long and it was apparent that Shaun was in a great deal of pain. Every time they hit a bump his face grimaced and the fact that he was on the floor of the van between the seats wasnt helping either.

that night at the hospital even after three x rays the break in his hips was not visible, the doctors thought it was a muscle rupture or tear and hence it was not showing then Amita suggested why dont you X ray the whole body and then they found the fracture, the T 12 vertebrae had broken and was the break was pressing into his Spinal chord. the bad just got worse.