Konnichiha(Hello in Japanese) everyone!

After people snatching my turn from me...and informing all about a disease which is as rare as Yusuf's posts...I get my Turn. Today, Our classteacher discussed about swimming very involvingly coz he doesn't know to swim and wants to learn. Now this reminded me of 3 stories in my life related to the same. All of them are very unique in their own sense...

Story I : My family took off to a beach for another outing...around 5 years back on a friday...The tide was normal, the weather perfect, and everyone was happy. After an hour of good fun...we were about to head back to our place...and suddenly i see my dad rushing towards the sea. Before I could say something...he was in and started swimming very rapidly...I stood shocked seeing the new adventure, thinking maybe he and his friends might be having a race. I noticed the red flag going up to indicate the high tide... After a while I was looking for my dad and I gazed towards the sea, where I saw 2 hands asking for help...and I was sure they were my dad's...

I couldn't swim at that time and so I rushed towards the life guard and informed him of my dad out there...He took his floaters and other things with him and ran towards the water...Within a few minutes he managed to get hold of my dad and return back...I was scared and puzzled...because my dad would never do such a stupid thing if it were a race or anything else...On asking, I found out that there was another boy drowning at the far end whom my dad saw and went to save, alone...he managed to save the boy but himself got caught in the waves which turned worse by then...My dad hasn't gone swimming on the beach after that incident coz he thought it was very scary.

Story II : My English Teacher, Mr Mahmood narrated it to me, and it is a true one that he encountered. In the year 1993...he was here in dubai and went for a beach outing with his colleagues...He is a good swimmer and an amazing athlete still...at the age of 55. The fact that he has competed at the national level in Boxing in India, says it all.

So he was a good swimmer and had gone swimming in Indian rivers many times...and thought it mustn't be very difficult and obviously it wasn't. He swum and swum and swum...After a while, he looked back and saw tiny heads at the beachside. So thought to return...now...the waves that were coming back...got better of him...coz he had never before encountered such ferocious ones...everytime he would swim some 10 ft, the returning wave would push him back 20 ft...after a while...he couldn't see any heads...just had an idea of where the land was...He was tired, physically and mentally...and nervous as well...and all of a sudden, out of the blue, he is reminded of a novel he read, where a prisoner had escaped from an island and survived...he relaxed himself...let his body float for a period of 5 to 10 mins and then started his efforts...by this time...he was somewhere in the middle of the sea...and couldn't see anything but sea.

He started counting...1,2,3...12...and the wave returned...he ducked in...came up again, started moving and would count for the returning wave so that he could duck...slowly, he began to see the land and the tiny heads...he gained on confidence...and kept on doing the same...reached the shore and thanked god with a pledge of never ever returning back to the sea...and he still hasn't...

Story III : It is about me...yes! The one that you all have been waiting for. I wanted to learn to swim after what happened in Story I, so I got hold of one of my good friend Naveen, who is a good swimmer...to teach me how to swim. I paid for both of us for a private swimming pool in a hotel...

The first day...I was about 13 or 14 and had always swum in shallow waters in small pools at the time when there were no girls in the water, not coz it was forbidden, coz i was shy...Yeah I am quiet shy when i meet people for the first time...So I wore my tight lil swimming gear and came out and saw some 15 girls in the water at the time...shocked! And felt very weird...mixture of shyness and embarrassment. They looked at me for some reason like they knew already, that I can't swim!

So my friends here is all used to this and said , "come, relax! Just jump in..." I was like, "whoa man! chill I am here to learn, not to die!" he said it was ok and nothing would happen coz he would save me...He was talking to me while sitting outside on on the deeper side of the pool...and asked me to jump in the deeper side without even touching the water! I was like, "I'm ready! But will you be able to save me?"and he was like it would be just fine and nothing could go wrong...I said, "fine!" and Jumped in...My feet rubbed the tiled at the bottom and I kind of bounced from there and got stuck somewhre in the middle...and started doing the traditional..."HELP! HELP!" Naveen was sitting about a meter away from me and let me be there for some time so that my fear of water would go...and in mean time, i, In trying to survive somehow got hold of naveen's leg that he was using to just play with water...I could do nothing but strive to survive...i pulled his leg...and he being very skinny...was easily pulled and within a second, i could feel his long and curly hairs below my legs in the water...!!!

He was unaware of anything of such sort...and was more in a shock about what had happened! He tried to remove my leg...but I didn't allow coz he was my support on whom I was able to stand and may be get one or 2 breaths...Somehow after stuggling a lot...he managed to save his life and then pull me out...

"Are you gone mad?" His first words that I heard after recovering from the trauma..."I am scared of teaching you now!" he said and didn't come for swimming for 2 days but then somehow I got him to agree but it was definitely one of the funniest & deadly experiences I ever had...and thanks to Naveen, I can swim to survive now!

Bubye...Swim well

- RJ Pareek