Nearly 20 years ago, a little boy ran down a rocky stretch of Kovalam beach in Kerala, thrilled with his first look at the sea. He stepped into the water gingerly, allowing the gentle waves to lap at his tiny feet.
The boy then ventured further – and further – into the inviting arms of the sea. But he slipped and fell and the waves, no longer gentle, carried him away. As he bobbed up and down, his gaze turned to the shore where his mother stood, gesturing wildly and shouting for help -- ironically in Hindi and not in her native Malayalam.
As he flailed his arms in a desperate attempt to keep afloat, sea water found its way up his nose and he panicked. The little boy had never experienced such helplessness before.
Suddenly, he felt someone grab him. A group of men playing beach volleyball had seen the little boy struggle and rushed to save him. He didn't look at their faces, he had eyes only for his mother as the Good Samaritans bore him back to her -- safe and unscathed.
That little boy was me. And I am still scared of drowning.
RELATED POST
Suicide Blues
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Popular Posts
-
Meet Sona Mohapatra. The singer with the "ancient" voice who floored audiences with her debut album Sona . Pop star, folk singer, ... -
It's been only a month since 95 FM was test-launched in Delhi by a firm called Clear Media. And this new radio station has already creat...
-
Click here for the Richard Gere - Shilpa Shetty kissing controversy Another one bites the dust. It's funny how Big Brother is finding i... -
The mere mention of Richard Gere makes most women go weak in the knees. Some would give an arm and a leg to touch the Pretty Woman star and... -
I don't believe in stereotypes but some of the things in the following 'forwarded email' do ring true. If you are Bengali , you ...
-
November 1965. The second India-Pakistan war had ended. Mankind had yet to conquer the moon. A group of schoolgirls (seven of them from Infa... -
(Read Part I of this post here ) I feel sad for the blind and the aged. The people who are at others' mercy when it comes to crossing th... -
That's right. Being a victim of racism is turning out to be a win-win situation for Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty. No publicity is bad... -
Click here for the Richard Gere - Shilpa Shetty kissing controversy Sex, Love and Attitude A discussion on teenage pregnancies leads into a... -
Perhaps my most abiding memory of last week's trip to Darjeeling and Sikkim is that of taxi drivers obsessively cleaning their cabs....
I'm scared of water too.. I love the beach but I wont go in deep.
ReplyDeleteI almost drowned in the Madras club swimming pool (ya...i know nothing compared to the sea) as a 9 year old. I don't know how to swim and I am scared of drowning too...(shivers)
ReplyDelete