Wheeling Through Life

When I met Aline, on a bright sunny afternoon, little did I know about what our conversation would ensue? A simple introductory question of “What do you do?” would lead me to wander into rather unchartered territory, and I would be left wondering about how she got to be who she is.

- Madhulika Ra Chauhan

So, to let you all in on the answer to that simple introductory question. Aline replied with a twinkle in her eye, “I’m a stunt artist.” “I perform bike and car stunts (2 wheels and one wheel). A side wheelie.”She perhaps had anticipated my response, as I stared blank-faced back at her. “Here, let me show you. That would be better than explaining,” she replied calmly, perhaps she had had several blank stares.

She opened a video on her phone and showed me a stunt she had performed not so long ago. To say the least, I was awed and flummoxed at the same time. Also, a strange fear stuck in my gut. “How can you do it ?” I asked.

“It’s easy,” she replied with a bright smile, the same I had seen her flashing in the video.

That answer perhaps wasn’t all that true. She told me she had become addicted to the adrenaline rush that she felt each time while performing for an audience. That wasn’t all.

To work as a professional stuntman or woman, one needs to be highly trained, dedicated, and open to performing tasks that would normally terrify most people. Stunts require synchronized precision, which comes with practice and dedication. She has been doing the stunts for the last 22 years, starting in the year 2000, with her husband and has been through phases like pregnancy and childbirth. Despite the odds, she has consistently lived through with this career choice and now even actively trains her son who’s all but eleven years old.

ROLE OF THE BRAIN