This Might Be It

It's 2010. I'm 22 years old. I'm sitting in our haunted-looking house in Nasik with four friends, and we're bored out of our minds.

This is back when Facebook was just for playing Poker and FarmVille. Instagram had just started. WhatsApp was still just for messages. And our internet was so slow - maybe 500kb per second - that nobody spent the whole day staring at their phones. When we got bored, we actually had to go outside.

So that's what we decide to do. It's 23 degrees outside, perfect weather. Grey skies, cool breeze. One of those days that makes you want to be anywhere but inside. We decide to take our bikes to a hill station three hours away. Three bikes, five people. We're young and stupid and think we're going to live forever.

On the way out, we stop and buy some beer. Just something to drink when we get there, you know? The ride up is beautiful. Hills everywhere, small villages next to ponds, green fields going on forever. Everything looks tiny compared to the mountains. We're having the time of our lives.

We get to the hill station around 2 PM. We drink our beer, joke around, take some pictures. By 5 PM, we're feeling good enough to ride back home. That's when I notice the sky getting darker. It starts to rain.

We're still 90 minutes from home when the rain gets heavy. The temperature drops to maybe 16 degrees. I'm driving, getting soaked. My hoodie is completely wet now, heavy on my shoulders. I'm doing 75-80 kilometers per hour with wind hitting me at 20 kilometers per hour. My body temperature is dropping fast.

We stop a couple times under some sheds, drink hot tea, try to warm up. But we keep going. By 8:30, we're home. We all go to our rooms, change clothes, and then - because we're young and stupid - we decide to keep drinking. This time it's rum, because we're all feeling cold.

I'm sitting there with my friends, music playing, sipping rum, and I start feeling cold in my spine. Not normal cold. Like my bones are freezing from the inside. I tell myself one more sip will make me feel better. It doesn't.

I lean over to my friend Suraj and whisper, "Can you take me to a doctor?"

Suraj finishes his drink, puts on more clothes, and we call a rickshaw. It's still raining hard outside.

The moment I get in that rickshaw, everything changes. My body starts freezing like a giant ice block. My fists close up and I can't open them. I have no control over my legs. My neck gets stiff. The only things I can still control are my mind, my eyes, and my knees. My feet start going numb.

Suraj looks at me and decides we're going to a hospital, not just a clinic. I can't argue with him even if I wanted to.

Next thing I know, I'm on a stretcher telling a nurse, "I can't feel my body."

I see the look on her face. She's confused. Scared. She doesn't know what to do. She goes looking for a doctor who's somewhere else in the hospital. When she comes back, she tries to put a glucose drip in my arm, but she can't find my vein. On her first try, she breaks the needle. I tell her it's not going to work. She tries again. It still doesn't work.

I look at the clock. It's 10 PM. I think to myself, it's getting late. The doctor probably won't get here in time. This might be it for me.

I'm thinking about dying. I tell Suraj not to call my parents. I don't want them to see me like this.

He says okay. The next thing I know, I'm in the ICU with four people around me, things stuck to my chest, and a machine beeping. My heart rate is 150-165. I start praying. I've never been that close to God, but right then, I'm trying everything. Then I pass out.

When I wake up the next morning, I'm stable. My fever is under control. And there's my girlfriend - now my wife - sitting next to me. In that moment, even though I'm 22 and completely messed up, I know she's the one. I know I have to do better if I want to keep her.

Then I find out that Suraj didn't keep his word. He called my parents right when they put me in the ICU. My parents didn't sleep that night. But he made the right choice.

Before my parents could get there, my friends and my future wife were by my side. Before I passed out, I told God I wouldn't mess up this bad ever again. I might come close to the edge, but not like this.

That day, I learned something important. I had people who cared about me other than my parents. I had chosen these people, and they had chosen me back.

You're born with some connections - your family, your relatives. Those are the defaults. But there are other connections you get to build yourself. These can either set you up for life or break you completely.

Choose your people carefully. Build your own tribe.

Let’s figure this out!

P.S. Two firsts here - sharing this story and learning how to tell it.