Summer of 2000!!
Her sister said ‘A swimming camp is being held in IIT campus during May for 15 days, what say?’
She was delighted!!....Ah great, lets enroll, we will learn to swim finally. But do they allow non-IITians?!! For the uninitiated, the world for IITians is divided into two; IITians and Non-IITians.
Sis said “yes, we aliens are allowed to enroll too!!”. So they organized for their fees and ICards. The lessons would be held in the IIT swimming pool, a good 20 minutes walk from their Main Gate, located in an isolated corner surrounded by jungle (okay, not quite....but lot of wilderness really).
The first day they woke up even before the Sun was up!!! At 4am it was still dark and they left home after freshening up, with their bag packed with swimsuits, water bottle, slippers and bananas (they were told after swimming one feels very hungry, hence the bananas!!). They walked from their home to the swimming club in IIT, with not a soul (human) visible on their way, other than few vehicles zipping past us. Ofcourse the dogs were present as usual, escorting them from their building gate to the compound gate. Inside the IIT complex especially, it was very scary since it was so secluded. Fortunately, the Leopards hadn’t discovered IIT as their hunting grounds yet. Finally they reached the venue, eager to discover the joys of splashing in the swimming pool (without drowning!!).
They were introduced to the couch and their batchmates. A group of about 30 people in every size and shape. Only 5 girls in the group include her and sis!!
Soon they were gathered around the pool. Their lessons started, not in the pool but around it, having to jog few rounds followed by some stretches including climbing up and down the stairs, close to the pool!! By the time they were done with the warm ups, they were indeed very warm :) finally it was the time to enter the pool. They were asked to change into their swimwear and get into the pool (smaller one). In the shower (they had to before entering the pool!!), water felt cold against warm bodies....brrrrrrrrrrrrr. Yes, even during the hottest month of May, you will find water chilled in the early morning especially if it is coming from an open pond surrounded by huge trees. They walked to the pool and took the plunge. Not literally!! Actually, they had to climb down the stairs (those little steel ones) into the pool!!! Again the shock of cool water, though a mild one.
The first lesson was to breath in, dip under the water and try to hold breath for as long as we could and then break the surface to gulp more air. This was relatively easy and fun. They were made to walk in the water too, in circles, clockwise and anti-clockwise. Mind you, it was not easy to walk in chest deep water!!!
Next, they were shown how to glide in the water. Stand against the wall, your palms together in boat shape stretched ahead and push one of your legs against the wall, gliding forward, snake like....
One after the other, they started to glide, everyone managed, ofcourse not perfectly, but they did. Only she lost her footing when she pushed her leg against the side wall and instead of gliding on the surface sank straight to the bottom of the pool!!!
She tried to stand up, but couldn’t....there was no support to hold on to. Under the water, her hands were flailing to hold on to something, to find firm ground under her, but she couldn’t find any!! She couldn’t hold her breath any longer and opened her mouth to gulp air....water entered her lungs!!! She broke the surface once but immediately went under again....gulping more water.....
A thought came to her, ‘end of my life?!!’. At the same time she was wondering why no one came to her help?!! Finally, she felt a hand....grabbing her and pulling her out of water....and she was on her feet, spluttering and coughing water out of her lungs....her eyes were burning....she was alive!!! The couch was concerned but she was more embarrassed than scarred. She wanted to continue with the lessons and did manage to glide on her second attempt :)
That summer she saw Titanic, a guy who invariably sank whenever he tried to swim and Godzilla, a guy who would suddenly rise up from the middle of the pool like the giant lizard....
She had a good time in the swimming camp that summer......atleast she learnt to float on water ;-) She loved floating on her back (even if that meant bumping her head into the wall, Ouch!!!). It felt wonderful to float on her back, looking up at the sky changing colour from twilight to dawn.
The summer of 2000 could have been the end of her but she had to live, to love....to love the one waiting for her, her soulmate!!
She was delighted!!....Ah great, lets enroll, we will learn to swim finally. But do they allow non-IITians?!! For the uninitiated, the world for IITians is divided into two; IITians and Non-IITians.
Sis said “yes, we aliens are allowed to enroll too!!”. So they organized for their fees and ICards. The lessons would be held in the IIT swimming pool, a good 20 minutes walk from their Main Gate, located in an isolated corner surrounded by jungle (okay, not quite....but lot of wilderness really).
The first day they woke up even before the Sun was up!!! At 4am it was still dark and they left home after freshening up, with their bag packed with swimsuits, water bottle, slippers and bananas (they were told after swimming one feels very hungry, hence the bananas!!). They walked from their home to the swimming club in IIT, with not a soul (human) visible on their way, other than few vehicles zipping past us. Ofcourse the dogs were present as usual, escorting them from their building gate to the compound gate. Inside the IIT complex especially, it was very scary since it was so secluded. Fortunately, the Leopards hadn’t discovered IIT as their hunting grounds yet. Finally they reached the venue, eager to discover the joys of splashing in the swimming pool (without drowning!!).
They were introduced to the couch and their batchmates. A group of about 30 people in every size and shape. Only 5 girls in the group include her and sis!!
Soon they were gathered around the pool. Their lessons started, not in the pool but around it, having to jog few rounds followed by some stretches including climbing up and down the stairs, close to the pool!! By the time they were done with the warm ups, they were indeed very warm :) finally it was the time to enter the pool. They were asked to change into their swimwear and get into the pool (smaller one). In the shower (they had to before entering the pool!!), water felt cold against warm bodies....brrrrrrrrrrrrr. Yes, even during the hottest month of May, you will find water chilled in the early morning especially if it is coming from an open pond surrounded by huge trees. They walked to the pool and took the plunge. Not literally!! Actually, they had to climb down the stairs (those little steel ones) into the pool!!! Again the shock of cool water, though a mild one.
The first lesson was to breath in, dip under the water and try to hold breath for as long as we could and then break the surface to gulp more air. This was relatively easy and fun. They were made to walk in the water too, in circles, clockwise and anti-clockwise. Mind you, it was not easy to walk in chest deep water!!!
Next, they were shown how to glide in the water. Stand against the wall, your palms together in boat shape stretched ahead and push one of your legs against the wall, gliding forward, snake like....
One after the other, they started to glide, everyone managed, ofcourse not perfectly, but they did. Only she lost her footing when she pushed her leg against the side wall and instead of gliding on the surface sank straight to the bottom of the pool!!!
She tried to stand up, but couldn’t....there was no support to hold on to. Under the water, her hands were flailing to hold on to something, to find firm ground under her, but she couldn’t find any!! She couldn’t hold her breath any longer and opened her mouth to gulp air....water entered her lungs!!! She broke the surface once but immediately went under again....gulping more water.....
A thought came to her, ‘end of my life?!!’. At the same time she was wondering why no one came to her help?!! Finally, she felt a hand....grabbing her and pulling her out of water....and she was on her feet, spluttering and coughing water out of her lungs....her eyes were burning....she was alive!!! The couch was concerned but she was more embarrassed than scarred. She wanted to continue with the lessons and did manage to glide on her second attempt :)
That summer she saw Titanic, a guy who invariably sank whenever he tried to swim and Godzilla, a guy who would suddenly rise up from the middle of the pool like the giant lizard....
She had a good time in the swimming camp that summer......atleast she learnt to float on water ;-) She loved floating on her back (even if that meant bumping her head into the wall, Ouch!!!). It felt wonderful to float on her back, looking up at the sky changing colour from twilight to dawn.
The summer of 2000 could have been the end of her but she had to live, to love....to love the one waiting for her, her soulmate!!
posted by Pulse @ 3:40 PM
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