Swimming

Photo Credit: Margot Pandone

So I learnt swimming today.

It felt good to write that line as I have always wanted to be able to swim. It was more of a personal goal rather than a life-saving skill.

My first stint at swimming was when I was about ten. My grandparents had a stream in their backyard and that was where I first developed my love for water. My cousins and I would go there to play on the sand and in water. So the time came for me to try my hand at swimming and I guess that was it.

I don't remember the reasons for not pursuing swimming then but my cousins did help me try to learn. I guess my biggest fear was drifting away and never being able to return, since it was a flowing stream and the downstream of it was filled with rocks. Watching a lot of movies didn't help either.

This time it was different. It was a pool, with clear blue water that was disinfected. I couldn't possibly drift away to oblivion. The pool had it's boundaries and I would be contained within it. Thus began my second stint at swimming.

This time I was prepared. I remembered my old lessons from cousins. They had told me the exact same thing, except I had the support of the edge. It was easier to balance my body and keep it horizontal.

In retrospect, it would have been adventurous to say I had learnt to swim in a stream rather than a pool. But the feeling of triumph, at learning something that I thought was not possible, filled me with confidence that was lacking in my life. Although I don't have a bucket list, I am going to add "swimming" to the list of things that I have done in my life.