The Fall

Small children can associate only one word with their “falling” – pain. They react in 2 ways. The braver ones depending on how bad the “fall” is, will just get up, dust themselves and carry on as if nothing happened. The weaker ones will start bawling while the friends and well wishers would gather and nurse them with soothing words and first aid.
As an adult, “falling” comes with 2 strings attached to it. The first is “humiliation” and this comes before “pain”. Who has made the rule that adults cant fall and hurt themselves? Then why is it that the first thing you do after you fall is look around to count the no of eyes that have you caught you in the act?

Yesterday I fell. Yes, at a shopping centre. Yes, amidst some 50 pairs of eyes. There was this small elevation of not more than 2 inches on the floor. Then there was this dog sitting a few meters away. I think he understood my phobia for them because he was eyeing me and deciding whether he wanted to bark or let me pass. I was waiting for him to pounce on me, while trudging ahead. With both eyes on him, it was but obvious that I missed to see that protrusion on the floor. I tripped and fell. Luckily, I fell on my knees and not on my face. Dash dash kgs of weight forced upon the knee along with the impact of the fall, sent a shooting pain through me. Nevertheless, the next second, I mustered enough courage to stand up. A few benevolent souls and a few curious ones came to me asking me if I was fine. I replied “Oh yes, yes, I am OK”. Then they went on to explain how something needs to be done about that elevation while noone knows what and who should do it. I took the escape route as soon as possible to the shop I was heading. It was then that the word “pain” started taking its form. I managed to reach home, rubbed some pain relief gel. Today morning the throbbing pain continues as I limp but life continues too.

A few years back I sprained my ankle in almost the same manner. At that time I was coming down the stairs in my office and managed to miss a step and twist my ankle. Again, got conscious and ran out the first thing, only to wake up the next day to a severely swollen foot and had to take the day off.

The number of times I have bumped into people while turning the corner cannot be counted on my fingers. Is it patience that I lack or concentration?

Clumsy me!!!