When Rahul went down forty feet under the water for the first time, he felt an inexplicable calm. The Great Barrier Reef has that kind of effect on people.
He saw the colorful corals and sea life - a world of its own. He hadn't experienced anything like this before his scuba dive.
There was no question of having such experiences in his routine, mundane corporate job. Thank God, he had left it.
It is amazing how a terminal illness brings one face to face with one's mortality. It makes it clear what the truly important things are in one's life.
In a week after the diagnosis last year, Rahul had resigned from his high-flying job. In the following six months, he had sold his house and car, divorced his wife when she revolted, parted with half of his money, and spent much of the rest left.
The next twelve months he had spent experiencing life as he wanted to. The scuba dive in the Great Barrier Reef was only the latest in the list.
An All-American odyssey, a road trip across Europe, a balloon ride in Kenya, a sky dive in South Africa, a sunset in Bali, and bungee jumping in New Zealand had preceded it.
Therefore, during his trip to Australia, just after the scuba dive, when he saw the message from his doctor about the latest cure to his terminal disease and its cost, he lost all his peace.
He tried to recover some of it. He went for another scuba dive. It was going to be his last. Or not?
Living poor was better than dying rich. Or not? He hoped to recover the cost for the treatment by sending a bill of all his spend since his resignation to his doctor.
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