Swimming Madness
This is from the time when I didn't know how to swim. I can recall two incidents from that time which are worth mentioning. The first one was at chhatth'2000 and the second at chhatth'2001.
In our village we used give aragh at the bank of the river opposite to our village as that bank had sand. We used to call it baluahi ghat. So, the day before teenagers from our gaon used to swim across to decorate the other bank. Decoration was a symbol of reserving the place for us. We used ribbons, series bulbs, banana trees etc, to decorate the place.
Back to the point, it was the day before the festival. All teenagers were crossing the river. There was a boat also and as I was a novice swimmer(that would also be boasting, I just used to throw my arms and legs), I was on the boat. As the boat reached the mid river my uncle asked if I knew swimming. I don't know what occurred to me, I nodded in yes. Then he just said jump in the water why the hell are you on the boat, enjoy man. Without thinking twice I jumped in to the water and started throwing my arms and legs in fury in the direction towards the bank. I just kept on beating the water till sand came in my hands. After that only I considered myself to be safe.
The boat came behind me and my uncle asked, "Tell me seriously, Do you know to swim? You were just beating the water, you were not even looking where are you heading towards." I said nothing. He warned me not to try this type of silly thing ever.
The second incident was a year from that incident. This time another guy who was equally inexperienced in swimming came and asked shall we cross the river on our own. I said yes. But this time I was a little scared remembering the past experience and also this time we had to cross the full river. I wasn't sure whether my lungs would support me for that long. So, I was reciting gayatri mantra in my mind. We started, after I reached half cross the river my breathe would not have been able to keep up. But the last year I had regularly run 1500m in the morning and this came to help. I realized this only when I saw myself at ease with my breathe. But, I anticipated the shore much earlier and tried to stand vertically and measure the depth. This had catastrophic effect. I started sinking in and I was not able to pull myself to the surface. Now, I was also out of breathe. This ate up all my confidence. But then also I recollected myseld and I started beating the water fanatically. A dying person will do anything he can to survive. I also did the same. I also called for help BACHAO. To worsen the already bad situation, exactly the same thing was experienced by the guy who had started the journey with me. He was also yelling BACHAO BACHAO. A man from the opposite shore and a guy from our village end jumped into the water. In the meantime beating the water helped me and finally I was on the surface and started swimming. I reached the shore on my own. The opposite shore was nearer to us, so the man who jumped from the opposite shore must have been in dilemma for sometime as in whom to save. But he must have observed that I've come to the surface on my own and started swimming so he headed towards the other guy and was able to save him. Thank god nothing untoward happened on that day.
These two experiences were good from the learning point of view. Now I can swim easily and have never faced a similar situation. Whenever I get opportunity I just jump into the water and try different things first in shallow water and then in deep water. That's all for now. BBye Happy swimming.
In our village we used give aragh at the bank of the river opposite to our village as that bank had sand. We used to call it baluahi ghat. So, the day before teenagers from our gaon used to swim across to decorate the other bank. Decoration was a symbol of reserving the place for us. We used ribbons, series bulbs, banana trees etc, to decorate the place.
Back to the point, it was the day before the festival. All teenagers were crossing the river. There was a boat also and as I was a novice swimmer(that would also be boasting, I just used to throw my arms and legs), I was on the boat. As the boat reached the mid river my uncle asked if I knew swimming. I don't know what occurred to me, I nodded in yes. Then he just said jump in the water why the hell are you on the boat, enjoy man. Without thinking twice I jumped in to the water and started throwing my arms and legs in fury in the direction towards the bank. I just kept on beating the water till sand came in my hands. After that only I considered myself to be safe.
The boat came behind me and my uncle asked, "Tell me seriously, Do you know to swim? You were just beating the water, you were not even looking where are you heading towards." I said nothing. He warned me not to try this type of silly thing ever.
The second incident was a year from that incident. This time another guy who was equally inexperienced in swimming came and asked shall we cross the river on our own. I said yes. But this time I was a little scared remembering the past experience and also this time we had to cross the full river. I wasn't sure whether my lungs would support me for that long. So, I was reciting gayatri mantra in my mind. We started, after I reached half cross the river my breathe would not have been able to keep up. But the last year I had regularly run 1500m in the morning and this came to help. I realized this only when I saw myself at ease with my breathe. But, I anticipated the shore much earlier and tried to stand vertically and measure the depth. This had catastrophic effect. I started sinking in and I was not able to pull myself to the surface. Now, I was also out of breathe. This ate up all my confidence. But then also I recollected myseld and I started beating the water fanatically. A dying person will do anything he can to survive. I also did the same. I also called for help BACHAO. To worsen the already bad situation, exactly the same thing was experienced by the guy who had started the journey with me. He was also yelling BACHAO BACHAO. A man from the opposite shore and a guy from our village end jumped into the water. In the meantime beating the water helped me and finally I was on the surface and started swimming. I reached the shore on my own. The opposite shore was nearer to us, so the man who jumped from the opposite shore must have been in dilemma for sometime as in whom to save. But he must have observed that I've come to the surface on my own and started swimming so he headed towards the other guy and was able to save him. Thank god nothing untoward happened on that day.
These two experiences were good from the learning point of view. Now I can swim easily and have never faced a similar situation. Whenever I get opportunity I just jump into the water and try different things first in shallow water and then in deep water. That's all for now. BBye Happy swimming.
Comments
These stories seemed to be a full fledged horror show... I hope this article is not the creation of author's detrimental mind but a real story.. Both way u r win win situation. Either u r at echelons of swimming or writing...WIN-WIN :)