An ode to swimming

By Shevlin Sebastian 

Photo: At the Raviz Hotel in Kollam, Kerala

Heavy rains hit Kochi in the last week of August. There was lightning, cloudbursts, and furious winds. This resulted in flooding in the low-lying areas. The non-performance of the public works department and the Cochin Corporation ensured it happens every year. 

There was an unspeakable dread about what damage this incessant rainfall was going to do. We Malayalis have remained shell-shocked following the disastrous flooding all over Kerala in 2018. It wrecked the lives of so many families. The floods destroyed thousands of houses, apart from roads and bridges.

So, I felt an intense relief when I woke up on a Saturday morning, stepped into the verandah, and saw a cerulean blue sky. Not a single cloud around. The sun was up and about. The leaves in the trees shone with a rare intensity. Thanks to the rains, all the dust had been wiped away. They were all ready to glow. 

And glow they did. 

I decided to go for a swim. 

At the pool, I encountered two blues. The chlorine blue of the water and the open sky above. As I set out, in freestyle mode, I admired the beauty of various designs, as the slanting Eastern sun hit the water. In the refracted light, I saw triangles, circles, quadrilaterals, squares, white stars and maps of countries. I blinked and thought, ‘Did I see that?’ 

I was not sure. 

When I turned my head to the left, to breathe, sunlight hit my iris. It felt like a massive ball of light. ‘This is what religions say, “I am the light,”’ I thought.

Is this like the light I am going to see at the moment of my death? So many people, who had medically died and returned to life had recounted seeing such a light in Raymond Moody’s classic book on near-death experiences called ‘Life After Life’?’ 

I blinked and turned my head to the other side. 

As I increased my speed, I could feel all the stale air being expelled from my lungs. Fresh air rushed in to fill the vacuum. 

It made me heady. 

Oh, the beauty of swimming. Every part of your body is in action. Since we are moving through water, there is no fear of a knee injury, a back sprain, or a torn hamstring. 

It did not take long before a sense of peace and relaxation pervaded me. I remembered reading somewhere that when water sloshes in the ears, it is like the sloshing sound you hear when you lie in water inside the womb. That’s why you feel peaceful in the pool. 

Is this true? 

I am not sure. Not all babies have a peaceful experience in the womb. Some mothers go through stressful times, for various reasons, during the nine months of their pregnancy. So, for that baby, the sloshing sound does not indicate peace and happiness. Rather, it reveals anxiety and fear. 

After several laps, I get up, climb out and stand on the deck, with my back to the sun. I am looking for vitamin D. Apparently, it is healthy for the spine and solves back pain. Again, is this true? Who knows? So many theories. How many of them are true? Nobody knows. And yet there are people who believe so deeply in ideological theories, they end up becoming fanatics. They experience no qualms or pricks of conscience as they shed the blood of ‘The Other’. 

I dive back into the pool and increase the speed as I reach the last laps. 

I can sense endorphins are being released into my bloodstream. 

The human body is such a wonderful instrument. So few of us look after it. We gorge on food, most of it unhealthy, we never exercise, and we put intense stress on it. We put on too much weight. And our tiny knees must bear this enormous load. Is it any surprise that the knees and the body break down as you age? 

I take a breather by doing a backstroke. Now I can see the entire arc of the sky above me. I have seen so many moods of the sky over so many years when I lie on my back. A jet black sky, with masses of clouds; a grey sky; a sky with silver streaks; and a blue sky with puffs of scudding clouds, which look like elongated pieces of cotton. 

Sometimes, I see a flight of birds moving forward in a triangular formation, their beating wings all synchronised. I have also seen commercial planes, Air Force jets, with their pointed tips, and the grey helicopters of the Indian Navy. 

I look at the sky and wonder where all the dead souls are? I know they are all up there. My dad, uncles, aunts, cousins, friends, former colleagues and… a former girlfriend who died in her late twenties. So many have moved on to the next dimension of reality. 

I stop at the shallow end and look at the coconut and other trees framing the pool. Sometimes, under a fierce wind, the leaves will fly away and land, with a sea-saw motion, on the surface of the pool. Then the veteran lifeguard will scoop it out using a butterfly net attached to a long pole. 

I love it when it rains hard. The pinpricks that hit my back… it feels as if you had a massage. 

So, finally, this session is over. As I climb up the steps, holding the rod with both my hands, I can sense dopamine surging through my brain. I feel happy, optimistic and positive.  

My body is singing along with my soul. 

I look forward to whatever the day has to offer. 

I know this day will never come again. 

I offer my silent thanks to the Universal Spirit for this wonderful, though temporary, life.