In the real world some realities hit you so hard that you realize reality isn’t exactly what you thought it was! Confused? Well, that’s exactly how I was. Every actor has a dream to do something they haven’t done before. If you are a TV actor, you want to do theatre and films and vice versa. If you are doing a fiction show then you want to do a non-fiction also known as reality shows… though it’s not everyone who is fortunate enough to get the opportunity they are looking for. But a few chances came my way… The first was Kitchen Champion, a cooking reality show. Now now I am a good cook and those who have eaten my biryani can vouch for my culinary skills but look at the irony, I got I got eliminated in the biryani cooking episode in Kitchen Champion and I was like ‘Huh? What happened here?’ Then a game show came my way -- the Indian version of the international show, Wipe Out. So I was superrrrr excited as adventure sports is what I enjoy getting into but this show came with a condition -- participants were required to know swimming and I am scared of underwater ducking. Ask me to jump into a fire, go para gliding , roll down a hill in a huge ball (zorbing), water sports and rafting (with life jackets and swimming being no qualifying criteria), I am game. Adventure does not scare me, diving in water does so despite clearing my medicals and taking swimming classes all I could manage before the deciding day was paddle around in about five feet of water with floaters and I believed I was a bad swimmer and not ready to sign on the clause saying “Am a swimmer and under water diver”. The producers couldn’t do away with the condition and I had to move out. Though I later got to know that not all participants are ace swimmers, so left wondering whether non- swimmers signed on the dotted line just like that or did the rules change for some?? Why am I writing about this? Because I realised fear paralyses you so I have decided to learn and be comfortable, if not master all those skills that scare me… no matter what I am going to learn swimming, ride a bike….yeah yeah don’t laugh…mujhe cycle chalani nahi aati par Schumacher ke saath car race kar sakti hoon!!! Bottom line: If I could go past this …if not swim I would have at least drowned with Shah Rukh Khan as he anchors the show. Nonetheless, good luck to all participants, more courage to me and hoping to now work with SRK as compensation of losing this opportunity! Someone up there listening? You win some you lose some but having said that, what’s gonna come your way comes it anyway… such is life. Disclaimer: the views expressed in this column are those of the author and TellyChakkar does not necessarily subscribe to the same.