My first swimming lesson

Mumbai summers are typically sultry and hot. We lived in Gokhale wadi on Manpada road, Dombivili the middle class population paradise. Mangalore tiled roofs made matters worse where my father and myself would splash water on the top of the roof on Saturdays and Sundays so as to maintain cool inside. However it was our USHA brand fan which provided much comfort and it is still working for today. My father is expert in making lemon juice. I would always tease my mother on this.

My fellow Gokhale Wadi ( wadi is a cluster of dwellings now not to be seen) buddies always had a novel way to pass the time in Summer holidays. Anil Lonkar was a expert swimmer and he was one of the smoothest divers and rarely would the water splash. In our town there was a swimming pool but we could not afford Rs8/- per hour in 1988 for using the pool and we never had pocket money more than 50 odd paise at our disposal.

Anil knew a quite lot of open "wells" where he used to go for swimming. In "Marathi" it is called , " Vihir"(well) in Hindi it is called, "Bawdi". The simmering summer ensured Anil always carried a spare inner wear so that if he goes for a swim he kept it handy. He broached upon the idea of going to , Mothi Vihir( big well) located now in Gandhi nagar main road. For a non swimmer like me the "mothi vihir" looked like a big pond. It must have been more than 35 feet diameter well and how deep only Anil could tell it. He had the knack of bringing back the silvery coins once thrown into the well and he would wait for clear 10 seconds before he could dive into that greenish water and retrieve the coin.

It was Anil Lonkar our senior who undertook the arduous task of training us Swimming. At first being the lone child to our parents I sensed some moral responsibility to inform them about my proposed training regime with Anil being the coach. My parents said, Strict NO! that was disheartening to me and I had said "Yes" to Anil and others. Parents apprehensions were well founded as they would tell the stories of their childhood how some one went to learn swimming and got drowned. And they as protective as ever never wanted me to experiment that sought of mis-adventure of learning to swim. I did mention that Anil was a expert swimmer but my father was stubborn. The next best thing was to convince my mother at least allow me to watch them swimming. She obliged with a rider.

Anil had wisely invested in handmade rope made of coconut shell fibres which is locally called," Rassi" pronounced " Ras-see" both in Marathi and Hindi language for such summer training programmes. Now it cost a lot to learn swimming. But there was easily approachable Anil who had volunteered to coach us on swimming.

Although I had promised that I will not enter the Well somehow I was determined to take a dip in the water and come back. Secretly I had managed to smuggle a inner wear out of our cupboard without my mother noticing it. Anil the expert he was tied the rope to my waist with a noose knot. There I was standing on the parapet wall of the well. When I saw below some 8 feet it unnerved me. Was it worth learning swimming. Sudden anxiety coupled with fear was sitting right in my head. Anil dived into those green water. And he instructed me to take the plunge. Unsure what will happen. I feared the water will enter my nose and with no ground to support my feet below the moment was fidgety. Again I trusted Anil on this ignoring the warning issued by my mother. I took the plunge!

Inside water, i could feel blood rushing in to my heart. I could hear water sound making all noises. Fortunately Anil had instructed me what to do after taking the plunge. I did exactly that after forced drinking of well water. I could also feel the tension of the rope on my waist. Somebody was pulling me up. And gasping for breath i could see the surface and the ordeal was over. No words could thank Babu who was at the helm of affairs of handling that heavy rope.

Somehow my parents came to know that I had gone for learning to swim. Somebody had leaked the information. And thus came to an end the Swimming experience. Till date I get dreams where I swim in the very well I took first plunge into.

Other fortunate ones who were quite younger to me learnt the swimming. But life has different things in store. That time I was novice now I swim against the current society,which I learnt on my own. And there is no Anil to coach me! And neither it is a Well, but its a ocean.