Nowhere to run!

Ever battered by a hail storm with hail stone sizes ranging from green peas to playing marbles to ping pong ball size stones and have nowhere to run for cover but to endure it for 8-10 mins and still survive?

Well,that is what i and a couple of my friends exactly did.

We had gone to Itasca for the long weekend.It is the birth place of the great mississippi river which flows through the heart of America.We went kayaking on Lake Itasca.Most of my friends were doing it for the first time.We were frolicking about. I was on a single seat kayak and am very comfortable with handling kayaks having done it quite many times. Being the naughty kind or sadistic kind or the goonda kind and having the advantage of greater control over my kayak i started going round two of my friends(Mahesh and Sheia) who are on a two seater kayak and were beginners and couldnt handle it so well.Its like those old movies where in the goondas come around in bikes and go round and round menacingly around a poor helpless soul ,scaring him/her to death. I was kinda doing the same thing and started splashing water on my friends using my oars.

Poor souls!Were they drenched!I was having the sadistic fun of my life!! lol!
They were trying very hard to get water on me but not much success.Sheia is screaming continuously like 'he is not wet at all,this is just not fair''Mahesh,dont let him go,we have to get him wet today'.

Well talking about fairness .. someone above immediately heard her and decided to take charge of things and by jove - Did he take charge!!

The first big drop fell 'pit' ...then it increased a bit 'pit,pit,pit' . Sheia goes all happy ..'its raining ..its raining ..there is justice in this world...thank you god for hearing me' . I am laughing.We are in the middle of the lake.

My laughter turns to ecstasy when the first hail stone falls on my kayak 'tak'.I scream around -'hey hailstones..hey hailstones'... i pick it up and gulp it down and shoot a big smile..

Within seconds this ecstasy and laughter turns to horror.All of a sudden we have a flurry of hailstones,it starts hitting you.I am only in a T shirt and a bermuda and i have nothing to cover myself with.Boy,do they hit hard.They start hitting my outstretched bare leg on the kayak and its like stones being thrown across to you.My legs hurts i bring it in into a squatting position,i try to cover my head with my hands,but get whacked by a couple of big ones on my fingers and they hurt real bad. I already have a couple of tiny cuts on my legs due to the falling stones which bleed a little. My immediate reaction is to reach shore as quickly as possible and I shout at others to do the same.But i realize we are too very far off and suddenly the waters have turned very choppy due to the rain and waves have become higher and the wind has increased and kayaks wobble dangerously in these waters and it becomes difficult to handle the kayak and there is no way we can reach shore in these conditions. Panic strikes.I know we wont die atleast due to drowning because we have life jackets on. I want to remove my life jacket and cover my head with it but at the same time i think its safer strapped on,what if the kayak capsizes?I just sit on the kayak cross legged and bend my head down in between my knees with hands covering my head and just endure the hail storm,they batter us. I dont know how long it lasts,its seems like an eternity and finally it subsides,i just lift my head and look around ,everyone's safe.Just as suddenly it came,the skies suddenly open up and the clouds clear and everything calms down. I just cannot believe it.

While the battering was going on,i happened to look onto the waters and it was one of the most beautiful scenes i have ever seen in my entire life. All around me i have jumping fountains nearly 1 to 2 feet.Every hail stone which hits the water splashes water nearly a feet or two high and with millions hitting the water at the same time the whole lake was a dancing fountain and i am inbetween. I was like stunned by this scene.I think i will remember this scene for a very long time. Ironically i wished i had my camera then to capture this scene.With my life at stake i want to capture a snap.Lol!!

Once the rain and hail subsided,the whole lake is white with floating hailstones.What a scene!Within 5-10 mins the sun comes out and everything melts and there is no evidence of a hail storm. You just wonder did the whole thing ever happen? Yeah it did! Because i have evidence on my body with red marks everywhere!!and a couple of bleeding cuts.

All of us come back safely ashore.What was horror minutes back suddenly becomes a joyous and incredible moment,We feel like heroes,we all get on shore and scream at each other and pat each other and talk at the top of our lungs as to how each one of us survived it and how it was an incredible experience.Sigh ...life ...