Saturday, June 23, 2007

My experiments with death and some unimportant things.

Yesterday morning I never expected what was in store for me in that afternoon.We were having a weekend get together at a resort in ECR road in Chennai. Just ten of us were there in the group, first we had some nice breakfast. Then we proceeded to a so called game of volley ball coupled with 'bird watching’. Drinkers (read family men) abstained from both forms of the game.I don't know why this society does'nt treat me as a threat.It is my unfullfilled dream;live as a baddie for a day .Always either voulantarily or dodged by peer pressure, I will be the person who will be assigned to make a tough talk or an icebreaking with strangers.A career diplomat reduced to engineering ? :( Now there was group to be precise four girls and a 'few' boys chilling out near our group.They were the main target of our 'bird watching'.Everybody was mulling a chance to mingle with them.The mumbaikar and cricket are bedfellows.One of my friend spotted a bat in thier hand and suggested that we can have a match with them.And I took the inititative, I just went and asked them shall we play a match.And they just nodded yes.They said I did a great job.Well doing easy task which others are not willing is great or what ?

So it is always fun playing cricket with a group of strange and pretty girls.isn't it ?.But I was atleast expecting them to be some college girls while ogling at them.They were just in school.It is not that I mind watching them as long as they are cute and sexy.But my 26 year old mind has become so conservative now a days that I was trying to get away from them as soon as possible after i realised that they are more than ten years younger to me.Certain things I am finding very awkward to digest.The concept of 15 year olds coming with thier boyfriends in a resort is difficult for me to digest.Call it mere jealosuy or whatever.But this is a little too much for me.And on a lighter note the children grow so fast that guessing thier age can be quite tricky.Coming to the point...They won the match.How futile is this talk about deteriorating values ? Everyone including me to a certain extent is for it.Still we write condemning it. Hippocrazy and useless talk rules.May it be hiring,breeding or whatever young and beautiful rules the roost.Accept it or deny it I don't care.But to be frank it is really a confusing battle where I don't know which side am I.

Then after the lunch we moved to the swimming pool.Being a single kid I was brought up in a protective environment.And being a grandma's little kid and thanks to my introvert nature I missed the bus to learn swimming there itself.And in theme parks I never got inside the pool.Enjoy the rides.....watch 'them'..from the borders and have fun was my policy.

We have a very jovial head,I guess he is in his forties.A helluva kind of prankster.Moreover he had gulped down some decent quantity of RC inside sometime before.No!!! not the Roman Catholic the other one.;).With great amount of deliberations I got into the pool.There were three areas a 3ft , 5 ft and a 7 ft deep one.Seems I was irritating my boss with off-the-cuff remarks and unneccessary observations.Or to be plain he did'nt knew that my knowledge about water ends with drinking it.I was just slanting to the wall of the pool where the depth was 5 ft.he slowly came near me and pushed me...toward the 7 ft one and left me.....I was not perturbed until he left his hand from my body.And suddenly he left me alone in the 7 ft deep area and went offf....Not every keralites know swimming and not me.I was sinking in... drinking that chlorinated water...I tried to yell....more water went in...I was dying!!!.Man I was dying my eyes saw only the blue tiles.My mind was blank but I was trying hard to come up..But I had a very strong hope that it was a matter of seconds and someone will come and help me out,after all it is a swimming pool.It seems my boss understood the gravity of the situation.He came to rescue me...

And inside water a drowining non swimmer is an extremely powerful and dangerous creature.If you have wrong strategy and bad execution ideas you will be the one who will be executed along with him. I think when he tried to hold my hands and pull me out, my first reaction was to push him inside water.I climbed over him and put my head over the water.And then my saviour an ace swimmer and our administrative executive saw my jestures and he identified that something very wrong is happening inside the pool.He rushed to zone.Before that, my boss escaped from my clutches and was reorienting himself to make another save attempt.By the mean time this guy pushed me up...from down and pushed me towards the wall of the pool .My stomach was filled with chlorine water.And the shock factor was there.I could not believe that I was really dying seconds before..The only place where I was expecting to get drowned and die was in some ocean if any of the flight I board, crashes in the mid air.Never ever I expected to die drowing in a pool as I avoid them usually.They were saying, people who gets a bad experience initially gets so afraid that they avoid it completely.But I may be skillless..but none can't question my courage !!! I used a floatter and I was enjoying all the time inside the pool after my drowing experience.And I realised it is quite fun inside water and proving a point always inflates your ego.

I may have valid reasons for why I don't know how to ride a car or a bike.But no reason why I should not know swimming except my shyness to flaunt my seminude body in public.Hell or high waters I am going to...enrol in a swimming class today afternoon because it is a matter of life and death.And dying, drinking the chlorinated tasteless water is quite boring you know.

11 Comments:

Blogger Dotm said...

Glad everything turned out ok for you. I remember that terrible fear when you think you are going to die from drowning. I grew up about a half mile from the canal where we learned to swim on our own. Luckily none of us drowned with no adults handy. I remember swimming across the canal, climbing up the bank, standing on a flat stone in the wall near the top and diving off and swimming back across the canal. Then years later my family was visiting at an Aunt and Uncles farm where we went hunting for a calf that didn`t come to the barn with the cows. There was snow on the ground at the time. Our Uncle shouted for us to stay away from the old well as he hadn`t replaced the rotting boards over it. Then my youngest brother yelled back that we were a long way from the well. Magic words, last ones I heard as I fell down that well with an older brother falling in behind me. There was this pump pipe falling in with us and I grabbed it and started shimming up that pole as it was falling. I managed to get the tips of my fingers on one hand grabbing onto the well top. Just as my fingers started to slip back off, my father was there grabbing my arm and pulling me the rest of the way up. I was so small then that the well water was over my head and I was sure I was going to die. An awful fear to handle. It left me with fear if water goes over my head and so I stopped going swimming. But one day, while camping near the water, when my youngest son was just a couple years old, he suddenly ran down the pier and jumped into the deep water. I forgot to be afraid for myself and just ran, jumped in, swam under water, found him and swam with him back to shore. But that didn`t cure me of the fear of drowning after it was over. Today I still have that fear. Glad you have decided to learn to swim, living thru that fear once is more than enough. Glad you are ok. .

6:10 PM  
Blogger Flyaway Mind said...

me too have experienced this gasping & drowning under water, when we went to some waterfalls.. and it's game amongst our friend's grp to push & drown each other.. it's terrible if water is deep & u cant come up on ur own...

4:31 AM  
Blogger Seema said...

"He did'nt knew that my knowledge about water ends with drinking it"...LOL that was a modest confession i must agree !

Some extremities in life get the best out of you...so all the best and get going on swimming !

11:03 PM  
Blogger pophabhi said...

Man....Go start swimming around. And that case of ocean, plane...Even I had thot that it might be a sure case of drown n death. Kai kodu for the similar thot!

3:36 AM  
Blogger ~*. D E E P A .* ~ said...

the fear of srowning is horrible .... and the first time u float in water is just as bad .... suddenly ur legs become horizontal ... and u wonder how to get back to being vertical ....

velieve me the 1st time u float in water, ur bp and heartbeat crosses all limits !

12:30 PM  
Blogger Dotm said...

I see you haven`t posted lately.
How are the swimming lessons going? Good luck!

4:15 PM  
Blogger Known Stranger said...

blog nanbaray.. want to read all your posts and write more but just not able to due to no much access to net and stressfull period i am enjoying ..... will soon come to read your page .... dont mind and i am happy tht you keep track of my post and reading. i am delighted...

11:14 PM  
Blogger The Prophet Of Frivolity said...

Shall I tell you something quite frankly? Don't take it in a negative sense. Your english is just horrible..I find it hard to read your posts completely. I don't mean to say that i am Shakepeare..Far from that.You have great imagination and style but the language botches up everything. Take this as a positive comment for heavens sake.Even the 'who am I' portion, which is meant to be a window to what you are,makes my head spin. Good luck.

7:19 AM  
Blogger Priyankari said...

That is truly terrible! And I know how the feeling of drowning is! Faced a lot while learning to swim.
BTW, I must tell you that you are a good story teller. Previously thought it to be quite a long post...but donno wen reached through it till the end...keep it up!

10:29 PM  
Blogger neermathalam said...

@valiyammomme...
u r a godess of expereinces...
the comment sud have been a post...
;)..thanks for all the patience to go through a long post and..u rocks as usual..!!!..so many post gonna come..:)
@flyway mind
and it's game amongst our friend's grp to push & drown each other...
Bad game I must say...;)....
thanks for your visit...
@seema..
only written in rage ..not yet started swimming lessons.. this september is the subhmuhurat i have chosen for it...
even death won't change my procrastination..:(...not like that...Had to come abroad for a short stint..some other important things shaped up....i know it is bad to say excuses...
@abhi...
athre enthe bozzum cheythullu...pulli thanthe kai onnu enikku thannu...
@deepa...
don't do don't do...trying to frighten me...???;)
@poet
u r always welcome here...!!! thnks for the visit
@prophet...
thanks for the comment.Anyway could you please throw some light where things are going wrong it will atleast help my GMAT prep.whether the grammer part or the usuage of words part.I think in malayalam and translate to english.may be that is the fundamental problem.or may be pure lack of editing...whatever keep visting...and keep suggesting..we all are learners.
@priyankari...
I am happy that I could make you read the whole post...:)...
I appreciate your patience...there is another long post there try that..too..he he
thanks for those encouraging words...thanks for your visit to my lighthouse.

5:38 AM  
Blogger Unknown said...

Fighting with death is sure an unforgettable experience!
I don’t know swimming as well...for the same reasons u listed in the post! But still I am so fond of water... pools, theme parks and even sea!
Nice flow and excellent language!!!

Neetha.

3:17 AM  

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