Tomar Shawhore

Once upon a time, I was quite an 'Active' kid, as my mother used to complain ever so often! Climbing up tress, across walls, and down from roof tops used to be like having bread and milk to me! (Ya, my staple breakfast diet used to consist of 3 slices of bread and a glass of milk.) That was then, though. The last time I did any adventurous climbing was when I climbed out of the First Floor Balconey of a house in Manipal, when I thought (mistakenly, as it turned out) that I had been locked in. Almost seven years back.

The fly-over under construction was about 50 feet above ground. I wanted to get on top of it to get a clear, nested-bird's-eye view of the sprawling campus next to it. I first thought of walking up the ramp under construction right there... but soon discovered that it stopped in mid air - perfect for shooting a high speed sequence where Sandra Bullock drives a bus flying straight across a 40 feet chasm - and didn't join the main flyover. And it was not high enough to get the view I wanted.

Looking around, I could see one of those workers ladders going up to the top - one of those affairs with flat metal rungs & no handrails, with a framework which looks as if it will fall apart if a rose petal was to land on one of the rungs. Well, I am not a rose petal, by any stretch of imagination, irrespective of who is imagining, whether it be Jules Verne or Michael Crichtn or Isaac Asimov or even Escher himself! But then, I reasoned, nor would be at least some of the workers who use this ladder daily on the way to office. So I decided to climb it.

It was then I realised how brave the folks in our country really are, to be using this method to access one's workplace nonchalantly every day, and without thinking of what would happen if they were to miss a footing after going up half the way. I wasn't nonchalant at all. In fact I was really scared. Imagine walking up the above-described path (not to heaven as I was hoping all the way up and down) with a Camera on a Tripod in one hand, and hardly daring to hold the framework with the other, of the fear that something will come lose! I would have kept my eyes closed all the way up as Dusty Miller did all the way up the cliffs of Navarone - but then something told me that was not really the right thing to do in the situation!

It took me about 15 everlasting minutes to reach the top. It was worth it, I got what I wanted and more. The view was not really breathtaking or anything, that is hard to get in the city. But the flyover under construction was itself really interesting, snaking its way all the way up to horizon. I got a couple of more shots than I expected, you can find them in some of the 'lyrics-less' sections of the song. I am embedding the official version of the video below. You are also welcome to visit the Youtube Link and leave your comments to Anupam - the composer, singer & protagonist. Here's the video.