One Thing..

In life all we need to know is 'one thing', as simple as it may sound it is the most honest realization that I have ever had. I cannot claim to have explored an exceptionally wide array of experiences in life. I cannot claim to be the medallion at the end of the race. And I ain't no 'Sir Oracle; when I ope my lips, let no dog bark!”. I guess enough self-depreciating disclaimer, however we do grow wiser about some things as we go along.

When I learnt cycling back in first year in college, I would borrow it from my second year seniors and would try learning by myself in the free open spaces we had within the hostel compound. I took to the road only once I had learnt enough so that I wouldn't 'repeatedly' become the victim of cycle-hazing/ragging by the school kids who couldn't fathom how someone could make it to college without knowing something as basic as cycling. This fear wasn't a figment of my imagination; I learnt the hard way that you take to the road only when you can confidently be decently inconspicuous there! However this learning wasn't the 'one thing' that changed the course of my life. More basic than the fear of taking to the road was the challenge that I couldn't balance my cycle. I would focus on the wheel to make sure I wasn't banking either way and try to adjust the handle only to fall each time. Seeing me struggle 'the oracle doth spoke- child take your eyes off the wheels and look straight ahead...just don't look down.' He was the hostel guard; 'baba-ji' and he just shouted across to me from his watch tower and went back to smoking his bidi. Honestly that was the only fear I had to overcome, I didn't have to fight any rowdies or intimidation. I didn't have to learn to focus and align my eye, hands and feet and the wheel, I just had to learn to look away and look straight ahead. The rest would fall in place.

Yes it was that simple, just one thing to get the wind talking as I rode along in my purple ladybird!

The other anecdote isn't this prehistoric, this one is more recent. As I ran along the beach in Rio, I was jealous of all the people who could get into the waters and play with so much ease and absolutely no care for the world around. At that point swimming didn't just look like a physical activity it looked like a cultural hallmark. In India I felt our relationship with water is ostensibly sanctimonious or a little hypocratic in some ways. I have always loved the waters but I had never experienced this freedom and ease before. I'll have to admit that I have never been to Goa, and everywhere I did go I found myself around people who would walk gingerly along the shore secretly wishing they could throw themselves in the water with no care for the world. As a society we soak in so many inhibitions that we are afraid to be seen all free and wet and frolicking in water! All this critical realization wasn't the one learning that I needed in order to woo the waters when I went swimming this summer. 
I didn't enroll for any professional help and went all cultural. And what a cultural learning it was, my Chinese roommate was kind enough to religiously coach me for the first two days. Her Chinese bunch of friends took me under their wing and I was learning 'frog style' just as all Chinese kids in primary school! The south East Asians were the only persistent swimmers, the Americans loved to take a quick dip and then sloth and float in the summery sun. The learners, the having fun and the lazing crowd all shared the same lane and you could strike instant comradeship with the exchange of few smiles and sheepish grins. I persistently went every alternate day, initially just playing around and then slowly pushing myself a little harder. I observed others swim almost effortlessly but for me the waters were like a strong opponent that I had to fight with my hands, legs and my breathing. I had some what learnt to move my legs and hands which had some resemblance to the swimmers around me, but my breathing was killing me. I couldn't time it, and would end up coughing out or drinking in the water. I knew I was doing something wrong, I was missing something. One fine day after admiring for long a Korean guy who swam past me every time I was gaping for breathe I asked him for a helpful tip. He was caught a little off guard and in that slightly awkward exchange of English sentences mid water I could only pick up the word 'rhythm'. Yes that is the 'one' thing about swimming, following your own rhythm. 

The hands, legs, breathing all need to follow a rhythm and when you get one, the waters sing along.

Ah I feel so inadequate at times, learning to do all the things that most people seem to know since birth. And may be this should be a consolation for me that fundamentally I am just missing out on ‘one thing’ before I can join the elite club. So I tell myself it’s just ‘one thing’ that I really need to know before I can drive someday. Inshallah!