Right foot forward… always

On a recent visit to north eastern India, I escaped near disaster on one of the famed ‘living bridges’ in Meghalaya. Living bridges that span gushing rivers are wondrous natural phenomena of this region. They are built not of stone, cement or iron but of the living roots of the Ficus Elastica, a type of rubber plant adapted to this region. The long, strong and tenacious roots of these trees are plaited and pulled across the river, till they form a roughly woven bridge. It takes from 25 to 30 years to build one of these natural wonders but once complete they can carry villagers and tourists from one bank of the river to the other.
Our group of four along with a guide motored and then trekked a couple of kilometers to one such bridge in Cherrapunjee. Long forgotten geography lessons came alive as we recalled that the town of Cherrapunjee was famed for receiving the highest rainfall in the world. The ingenuity of nature and of the local Khasi people in the making of a living bridge has to be seen to be believed. Every person who walks across gives the long roots a twist or a knot to strengthen and lengthen it.
With our guide leading the way, we stepped gingerly on to the bridge. Even as my grandson Arman warned "Nana, don’t put your foot there,” stupid me probed with my right foot, asking "Don’t put my foot ‘where?’” and my right foot slipped deep into one of the gaps formed by the roots. With the river gushing below, frothing over big black rocks and me with one leg dangling over the river from a height of 30 ft or more, everyone was shell-shocked for a minute. Fortunately, we were very close to the beginning of the bridge and thanks to help from others in the group I was pulled out and set back on my feet. Apart from small grazes and bruises and a big fright, I was fine.

That night as I lay me down to sleep I thought of the Parsi adage: Jamna pag thi kaam sharu karvanu (begin everything with your right foot forward). "Absurd!” I thought out aloud. In the span of the past one year I had had three mishaps, all with my right leg.
Once on our regular evening walk in Nagpur, traversing the same path we always took, I had stepped into a pothole, twisted my ankle and fractured it. Yes, my right ankle. The incident resulted in my hobbling around in a "boot cast” for six weeks.
A couple of months later, we went to visit good friends. In response to the doorbell two of their dogs rushed out barking. We also have dogs and I am not terrified of them. Even as I was saying, "Good dog, Stay! Stay!” the bitch caught my calf in a vicious grip with her teeth. For the next 10 days the back of my leg changed colors like a glorious sunset — pink, purple and crimson!
What is the big deal about the "right foot forward” I thought, as I went to bed that night. Wherever I had put my right foot out first, I had gotten into trouble.
When I awoke the next morning it dawned upon me with a flash. There is much wisdom in all our old sayings, including "Jamna pag thi kaam sharu karo.”
In every case I had escaped something much worse! I could have been bitten by a rabid stray instead of a friend’s pet dog who had been given regular vaccinations. I could have broken my knee along with my ankle in the pothole. And instead of dangling over the river in Meghalaya, I could have fallen through. It made me realize how much I had to be grateful for, to God.
Dadar Ahura Mazda ni meherbani (thanks to Ahura Mazda’s grace) I am alive and kicking and ready, yet again, to put my right foot forward!