Yes, Mysore had standard swimming pools in those 80s...
Mother enrolled me for swimming lessons in CFTRI campus when I was all of ten. In Mysore, looking back, its amazing that we had this swimming pool complete with a diving board. From 4 ft it went deep till 10 ft! Gopal Uncle taught me to float and beat my legs too. All of this in water four feet deep. The pool was crowded but nobody minded. Everybody took a shower before entering too.
The trouble and anxiety started when he asked me to swim free style in 6 ft deep water. I heard that a friend started to swim in the six-foot section of the pool, but retreated to the four-foot section. I followed her. After that, Gopal Uncle stopped bothering about me.
Mother was busy with her full-time job as a scientist and a player of Table tennis too. She never checked what my progress was, and neither did I have the good sense to let her know. After some arguments, I quit at the age of eleven, while most of my other friends had learnt to swim. A nasty classmate even remarked to my friend that I would just "stand in a corner and practise leg-beating," I wonder if she knows I know and still remember.
Mysore to Delhi..
Mother enrolled me for swimming lessons in CFTRI campus when I was all of ten. In Mysore, looking back, its amazing that we had this swimming pool complete with a diving board. From 4 ft it went deep till 10 ft! Gopal Uncle taught me to float and beat my legs too. All of this in water four feet deep. The pool was crowded but nobody minded. Everybody took a shower before entering too.
The trouble and anxiety started when he asked me to swim free style in 6 ft deep water. I heard that a friend started to swim in the six-foot section of the pool, but retreated to the four-foot section. I followed her. After that, Gopal Uncle stopped bothering about me.
Mother was busy with her full-time job as a scientist and a player of Table tennis too. She never checked what my progress was, and neither did I have the good sense to let her know. After some arguments, I quit at the age of eleven, while most of my other friends had learnt to swim. A nasty classmate even remarked to my friend that I would just "stand in a corner and practise leg-beating," I wonder if she knows I know and still remember.
Mysore to Delhi..
Time passed, I left my childhood and adolescence in Mysore, got married and moved to Delhi. We moved into our own apartment, with a pool! A rarity in 2005. Still no progress. Indian women think a hundred times before entering water, I've observed. In the five years we stayed in our lovely apartment , I would have entered the water five times.
Delhi to Singapore...
We moved to a luxury condominium in Singapore in 2013. There came Coach Nic in my life. She swam like a fish, she taught me graceful strokes but alas, couldn't get rid of my anxiety in water. Try as I might, I could not exhale and inhale without my feet going down! "You are almost there" she never stopped saying, bless her. She had the patience of a Buddha with me.
That was three years ago. We moved to another beautiful condo on the same street four months ago. I asked friends in my new condominium to practice strokes with me and was surprised to know what fears lay hidden in their minds! " What if I get water in my mouth", "what if I slip" and so on, made me feel like a pro at swimming....Was glad to know that my misery had company.
A new coach was also hired, a few months back, since there was a group of friends who wanted to start swimming. That was for one hour only. One by one, they dropped out stating they would first overcome their fear of water, with the help of their kids, husband, etc. No amount of pleading and encouraging helped.
Breakthrough of sorts...
Last month I pushed myself into the pool. This itself was a major break-through because I always looked for company to enter water. The only progress was that I made new friends, equally phobic. Well, I didn't give up, went two days ago. It was a blessing that there was no one to chat with, because I introspected every mistake of mine, armed with a gamut of theory on swimming and breathing.
And voila......!
This morning too, I went for practice, but without much gusto...Lo and Behold! I finished my first full breadth (not a length but what the heck, its a beginning!) without pausing. Hmm? Was that a dream? Did I really exhale in water and inhale with my neck out? Then my second... The breathing was laboured but I finished six rounds!
WHAT? Yes!! I can say I swam today! And if I could do it, so could you!
