Friday, August 22, 2008

Of twins and a fish that chewed off more than what it should have.

It has been a long time since I posted anything, inspite of wanting to. Somehow I could not
bring myself to string together some words to make a post. Was kind of feeling rotten for the past few days, for quite a few reasons, some of which seemed to cloud my thought process
every time I tried to think of something else.

Anyway, today was good. In the sense that I finally got some clarity on what was troubling
me. Ofcourse after putting in some effort. Anyway, I am atleast glad that it is clear.

In general news, last week was kind of both happy and a little distressing. Happy because a
close friend and his wife were blessed with twin babies. I had always hoped that me and my
wife would have twins - a boy and a girl, making the family complete in one go. Ofcourse it
was not to happen that way. Anyway, I sure was so glad when I got the SMS from my friend sharing his happy news.

Since you drop in here regularly, Congratulations again, man.

It is tough raising a single kid. So raising twins is going to be tougher, but then kids bring such
joy to people all around, and in many cases help healing broken relationships too. So, just enjoy each moment.

Last week also had me distressed. I had gone to Kerala very eager to try out my brand new Shimano fishing gear. Since unlike the conventional line, this needs to be flung far, I needed to find a place with no trees around, where the line could get entangled, which in Kerala is a tough job given the greenery all around.

Finally I thought it would be best to fish from the top of the bridge on the river, which did
work partly. Only partly because the river being in spate, the current would drag the line underneath the bridge taking it away from my view. So, I try the other side of the bridge
and get a bite. Well, actually a real big bite, with the line bending as if it would snap. I try
to reel in the fish, but it looks too strong, from the tension in the line.

I was already having visions of how big the fish would be, how I would boast about it, the pictures I would take and finally about how people back home would be happy that I literally brought home dinner. But looks like the fish somehow caught scent of my thought process and just left the hook and vanished. Just like that. Was so disappointing.

I reel back the line to check if the bait is still there and it is then that I see another fishing line below in the river. Ha, who is there ? So I walk around and under the bridge and see that I can walk to the first pillar of the bridge through just a feet or so of water and it is a terrific place to fish.

Try for an hour or so, without much success. Then I feel tension in the line. I wait a few mins
to confirm that the fish is indeed hooked and then start reeling the line in. After reeling in a
few metres, the fishing rod is bent in a C shape and the line wont come in any more. Infact, inspite of the anti-reverse lock, the line gets pulled out a couple of times.

I try all the tricks I know, but after a certain point, it comes to a stage where nothing works.
If I do anything more, the line might snap. But, how long can you just stand there. So I pull
a bit more and then the unthinkable happens - the fishing rod broke. Yes, it just snapped like
a twig. And it runs along the line into the water. I am left with half the rod and the line is still
not cut.

Since I have anyway broken my gear, I think it is OK to give it all my effort and pull. Then
the thread also snaps. Fishing done for the day, I return home with no fish, but atleast a big
tale for people back home.

The fishing rod is made of 2 pieces which are 3-feet each in length, of which the upper half broke.The other half is intact. Need to figure out how to get a replacement. But if the fishes
are thinking that they defeated me, they are mistaken. I am taking a friend's canoe tomorrow and fishing with what is left of the Shimano.

Will not rest until I have caught atleast 1 fish with that 65$ gear. :-)

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