There, Dare! 2017
BY UNNAVA VENKATA RAMANA NITIN
When the sign-up survey came out, one of the questions on it was ‘How scared of heights are you? (1=Not scared at all and 10=AAARGGHHH)’. I thought to myself “Psh, I’m not that scared of heights…” I mean, I could look down from the 7th floor of a building and not even feel giddy and I knew this was going to be easy. However, when the day came to actually go for the height elements adventure that I had signed up for, I felt my confidence drain out so fast it was as if it had fallen from a height of fifteen meters, which coincidentally was the height at which I would later be doing the obstacle course.
The event was organized by the Special Projects unit under the CNYSC. We left early in the morning from Crespion for the Mega Adventure park at Sentosa. We were suited up with the harness and we went to the area where we could see the obstacles that we would later have to cross. I later realized that the obstacles I was looking at and was scared about was Level One which was only five meters above the ground – even though I signed up for Level Three, which was fifteen meters above the ground. After a quick safety briefing and a group photo we were climbing up the stairs to go to the starting point of our journey.
It was a completely new experience. Looking at the world from fifteen meters high changes a person even though they know a harness is there to protect them. I understood what people meant when they say ‘hold on for dear life’. I held my rope so hard I’m convinced I could have made diamonds if you put coal in my hands instead.
The obstacle course itself was designed with interesting elements. There were tightropes, narrow bridges, stirrups and even a bridge to jump across. Each obstacle felt similar in that my mind first went, “This doesn’t look that bad” to “Oh no please let this be over please please please” to “I can do this” to “NEVER AGAIN!!!” It was a very intense and exciting adventure and it really helped me to get over any fear of heights that I may have had.
The next thing that some of us experienced was the Mega Jump: a fifteen-foot leap of faith (faith in engineering and physics that is). It was a very fast experience but it was incredible. Many astronauts say that one of the reasons why ‘zero gravity’ feels so weird is because us humans are always experiencing a normal reaction force and a loss of this force makes the body very confused. I landed on the ground profoundly aware that g is in fact 9.81 m/s2.
The last thing we did was the MegaZip. In my opinion, this was the most fun leg of the event, mostly because we did nothing but slide to the other station on a zip line with a beautiful beach and trees below and in front of us. We shouted many different slogans as we slid to the other end. I distinctly recall shouting ‘ALL WE NEED IS 3.5’ which is alternative to our original cheer during the orientation camp which had ‘ALL WE NEED IS GPA’ – but I adjusted it to a more realistic standard after having gone through two semesters of university.
All in all, it was an eventful and draining morning. I learnt to conquer my fears and had a hearty lunch with my batch mates. Thank you, CNYSC for organizing this fun event!