One wave at a time

"Suck in your stomach and fly through this", Kyra told herself as she paddled on her 10 foot long surfboard through the icy blue water towards what seemed to be an emerging wave. Steadying her petite figure just in time to catch the middle of the wave, she held her breath as she glided along effortlessly. "Why did I ever quit surfing?", she thought to herself as she raced towards the shore where her 2 best friends, Lilo and Marie were sleeping on their lazy chairs enjoying the gorgeous Bali sunshine.

Anyone looking at Kyra with her lovely wheatish skin, chocolate brown eyes and scarlett Johansson smile wouldn't have believed that she had gone through an emotional roller coaster ride only a few months ago, that too with death in the passengers seat. Everyone swore that being the fighter that she was got her through early detected breast cancer.

The trip to Bali with her girls was in celebration of this victory. Just after she got here, the 3 of them agreed that the only thing on their agenda for the next 2 weeks was fun. Not that the coast was any stranger to Kyra. She had practically lived on the beach since she was a baby, surfing her way through tiny waves and then moving on to the bigger, tougher waves that even competitive athletes would be scared to tackle and even though it had been years since she's climbed into an ocean because of her job at one of the best law firms in New York, she felt right at home.

With the sun slowly sinking away, they moved on to Jiko's, the local bar right by the beach. With tourist season at its peak and the band playing its best set, the crowd was wild there. As everyone including Lilo and Marie shaked and shimmied to the rhumba, mojitos in hand, Kyra sipped thoughtfully on her passion fruit shake marvelling as the flavors of Bali sank in.

Tomorrow would be the big day, the annual Surfs up competition where only the best showed up and thrashed waves that reached the heights of buildings. Kyras parents had a fit when she told them about her decision to sign up for it but agreed after okaying it with her oncologist Dr Fernandes, who gave her the green signal even though she was still a little weak from the chemo, if she was up just to have a good time and fine with not winning.

So without the pep talk, she would wake up at the crack of dawn with nothing but her surfboard and her Lakme sun expert, pushing her body to heights she never thought were possible until she got back into the true shape and form of the surfer inside her.

On the morning of the competition, after a light breakfast, they set out to the western coastline. A crowd had already worked its way up even though the sun was just beginning to peak up through the horizon. "Whatever happens out there today Kyra", Lilo began, "know that we are so proud of you and how far you've come".

The first few rounds were a piece of cake and she managed to stay in the top 5. Infact, everything was going exactly as Kyra had planned. Unfortunately Mother Nature tipped in a little surprise at the last moment. It was during the final wave, that Kyra, now about 2 miles away from the shore noticed something weird. It almost looked as if the current was swirling in the middle, like a giant black hole waiting to suck anything in its way into the deep blue. She also noted how her competitors No.45 and No.13 weren't aware of what was in store for them and were actually swimming towards it. Just as she felt like her heart would beat out of her chest, no.45 managed to hitch on a wave and ended his session gracely tunneling through it in a classic tube. Unfortunately No.13 was still paddling towards the tornado like formation in the ocean. She cursed her luck as the most beautiful wave started to form just 10m from where she was floating. If there was ever a God, this would be the moment he was testing her - she could surf up this monster of a wave and drive home with a shiny new trophy and an *in your face* look for her parents or she could put aside everything about this vacation and how it was supposed to be about her and save Mr.13.

She almost felt like slapping herself for even thinking that there could be a choice. Ignoring her chance at the top step on the ladder of surfer success, she swam towards No.13, her chances of winning this sinking like he was. By now he was already aware of the trouble he was in and started screaming for help. Using all the training she remembered from her days at camp, Kyra hurled herself into the chaos, throwing her safety rope round Mr.13 and pulled him onto her surf board. Not a minute too soon since Mr.13 collapsed out of a mixture of shock and exhaustion.

With one hand holding onto him and the other paddling both of them back to shore, it was a few moments before everyone realized what was happening and sent for help. Since these incidents were apparently very common during surfing tournaments, no leniency was shown towards Kyra and her heroism and No.45 walked away with the trophy.

For some reason though, none of this bothered her. She had managed to win the biggest battle she had ever come across - death. She knew that it was because of everything she went through that she would be able to live with that courage and determination for the rest of her life, riding it one wave at a time.


PS - this has been entered into the Lakme Diva competition on IndiBlogger.com
http://www.indiblogger.in/topic.php?topic=55