They say water is colorless, odorless and tasteless; but to me, it appeared to be dark, deadly and poisonous. It was something that one would never wish to come across in one’s life and for a non-swimmer like me, it was no less than a direct invitation from YAMRAJ, the god of death.
My eyes had started to turn blind to the surrounding; all I could sense was Water, Water and only Water. My Central Nervous System had a stimulus, sufficient enough to activate sympathetic responses in my body. There were continuous Flexion and Extension movements at all my joints. My muscles were completely involved in performing abduction-adduction and internal-external rotation at shoulder joint, only to take me out and enable me to catch some oxygen, for which all my tissues were striving. On the other hand, gravity was pulling me downwards. It seemed as if mother earth wanted to take me into her. It was arduous to control breathing and abstain from getting water into my mouth. My sensory functions were intact by then, and all I was craving for was the tactile sensation of my friend’s hand over my back, who was teaching me swimming, a few seconds back. But I could not get that. It was a state of despair. Then, for the tiniest moment, the surrounding came to stand-still for me. I had an overwhelming sense of being wrenched from life at the most inappropriate moment imaginable. I had an image of people shaking their heads over my death. I always dreamt of seeing myself in an apron and there I was, imagining my body wrapped in a shroud; ironically both are of the same color, the color that indicates peace but there was not a single piece of peace within me at that time. I was all restless. I started regretting about not having registered for organ donation. I could see many of my dreams getting shattered.
“Poor Prati!”, said a corner of my heart; “You will die without having a love story”
“Shut up you moron”, replied my brain; “No love in this world could be more than my love for a few puffs of oxygen right now.”
But, I didn’t get any oxygen; though, I did get something. It was his T-shirt. I realized, my friend was somewhere nearby. I could hear his words, “Try Prati… This is how you learn swimming”.
I traced his T-shirt, and as soon as I got hold of him, I jumped over him, just like a monkey climbing a tree. Finally, I was exposed to OXYGEN, free oxygen, not the dissolved one in water. I gathered enough of it and started hyperventilating.
Once I settled my relationship with oxygen, I noticed my friend struggling to swim. His orientation was disturbed. After all, he was having a mass of 62 kgs over his back which was sufficient enough to push him down in water. The feeling of guilt I had at that time can never be described in words. Though he was a good swimmer but somewhere or the other, I was endangering his life. I didn’t know what to do and was completely clueless. But he wasn’t. He had a mischievous plan prepared in his mind and putting that plan into action, he again threw me into the pool. Once again I started sinking. It was a one-to-one encounter with death. It was only when he realized that I was unable to cope up, he held me and help me come out and settle at the corner.
After getting myself adjusted, I had a look at the surrounding. The bluish sky had never appeared so pleasing to my eyes. The Aso-Palav tree in the near vicinity was more refreshing than any other thing in this world, after all, I was one of the sources of oxygen. I could hear birds chirping. As I was not wearing my specs, the view was hazy, yet lively. But I could clearly see the faces of my friends who were just by my side. And finally, my gaze drew towards my SAVIOR. He was all soaked, covered in a white T-shirt showing a picture of HULK over it. Indeed, he acted like a hulk that day, but ironically, he was only the villain with the notorious mind.
Now when I look back and think of that incident, I realize how important it is to take timely decisions in life. Most of the regrets people have are not for the things they did, but for the things they didn’t. Life is meant to be lived and living is an art. Don’t postpone your noble deeds, don’t hide your talent, don’t plan much about future and more importantly don’t mourn over your past. The more you plan for future, the more scared you will be in your present. Don’t let death scare you. Live in such a way that when death knocks on your door, you can confidently say “Take me, I have done my part” and if you cannot do so, then train yourself to give the toughest fight to death, and snatch away your part of time to finish the pending tasks.
