Trueaccount Quotes

“The Jungle was alive. A throbbing entity with its own rules of engagement. And the rules were fairly simple. That you did not try to engage with it. That you had to let it own you. The Jungle had ears and eyes. It found your fears faster than you found your strength. And word travelled fast, really fast. Especially if raging waters criss-crossed through its hear. If you did not square off with your fears, the Jungle would square off with you.”
― Nidhie Sharma, INVICTUS

“I suppose the precise moment when death swoops in to snatch your soul isn't actually terrifying. The nanoseconds preceding it are like Final Destination 6 playing out at 120 frames per second. The Jeep hurtling down, me inside it, being tossed around violently, screaming, watching the freefall knowing that the gas tank has 60 gallons of petrol in it and seeing a protruding rock fifty metres ahead. Now that is cruel!”
― Nidhie Sharma, INVICTUS

“I had always hoped to die in my sleep with a peaceful look and a rose-tinted lip balm on, so the idea of having my mangled charred parts picked from a hundred mile radius was mortifying. That was no way to go if the Gods loved you, I reasoned. At thirteen, most of us beleived that we were loved. I did go home and write up that will, just in case they didn't”
― Nidhie Sharma, INVICTUS

“Army Brat: an acronym for Born, raised and transferred. Brats, irreverent, sometimes more reckless than courageous and unabashedly basking in the reflected glory and adoration our fathers deservedly received. But mostly we were gypsies--agile quick-witted and tough bunch of youngsters growing up in a world that barricaded the rest of the universe out and kept us cocooned within ours.
The brats moved every two years across the country, from one cantonment to another, inadvertently learning to adapt and engage faster than their 'civilian' counterparts changed their iphones.
Resilience was a byproduct of this lifestyle.
Our wings were our roots. And those wings had brought my father to Tawang, a sensitive military base near out border with China.”
― Nidhie Sharma, INVICTUS

“So Tawang it was for three summers. Three spectacular summers, new friendships and an accidental adventure that is still fresh in my mind.
Tawang was and is special in so many ways. Ten thousand feet above sea level, home to the oldest monastery in Asia, with clouds that floated right into the military barracks.”
― Nidhie Sharma, INVICTUS

“The journey back to civilisation was often a whole lot faster and just as dramatic. On an MI-17 helicopter no less! Sitting atop and around military cargo. The best way to describe the Tawang sojourn was to compare it to a VR game, where one went from 'Jack and the Beanstalk' to the land of Black Hawk Down, all within nine weeks”
― Nidhie Sharma, INVICTUS

“I’ve held on to those memories for the longest; never
letting them go because it takes time – sometimes years –
to truly understand how a childhood adventure can impact
you.
When I look back, I marvel at how surreal that day had
been. It was the kind of misadventure one had only seen
in the movies and in all those stories the protagonists were
adults, some of whom did not make it. But we were just
children, and this was happening to us. And this was as real
as it could get.
For years after, numerous existential questions raced
through my head: Was God testing us? Were we handpicked
for it? Was it preordained? Th en the fog started to lift and I
saw it for what it was: a day in the jungle. Also, a day when
everything went wrong. I’d read somewhere that adversity
does not build character, it reveals it. We were tested, we
were pushed to the limits of our physical and emotional
endurance. We made it out alive, and it is important that
this experience be shared.”
― Nidhie Sharma, INVICTUS

“With my popped ears, I could only hear the muffled humming of the MI-17’s powerful blades, so I focused my attention on what I could see. As the chopper followed
its regular flight path towards Tezpur, I saw snow-capped mountain peaks nestling azure water bodies between them. And since the water was just a few metres below us, there
was no mistaking it for something else. Water for the gods– some might’ve said – and while the peaks were covered in snow, the small lakes had dazzling blue water. That sight, the
kind which often appears in heavily photoshopped pictures on Instagram these days, was indescribable. Breathtaking
would be an absolute understatement.

I had never witnessed anything like that before or after, and from that summer on, I learnt to accept the mystifying miracles of nature and its inherent fury, in equal parts. And
by the time the summer ended, I finally understood what a paradox truly meant.”
― Nidhie Sharma, INVICTUS