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!
