👻1995 - A coconut Love Story 👻

I had been thinking about it for some time now but wasn't sure how I should approach it. I was 18years old... therefore legally adult and based on my 90kg structure at times I would pass of as a 1.5 times adult. But that thought had been eating up my mind for weeks ... perhaps months... I think years. 

I give it one final thought and decide that I had to do something about it. It was either Now or Never.

I walked into his house, next to ours. He was walking around the house with a sickle in his hand and a cap...well a self made farmer's hat. I took a deep breath and asked him... “Uncle can you teach me swimming?" 

He looked at me and asked "What the hell were u doing all these years?" 

Was that a yes or no, I wondered.

"I can teach your dad also if you want" he said.

"We can start in the evening, be here by 4pm". I was super delighted. 

"Remember when I teach, it's my way or the high way". Ok the delight went a notch lower on hearing it.

My house is right in front of the largest man made pond in Kerala; it could even be the largest in south India, though my dad claims it's the largest in India and my cousin claims it is the largest in Asia. With 14.5 acres in size (about 60,000 metres) "Chirakkal Chira" (The pond of chirakkal) continues to amaze a lot of people who visit the neighborhood. And in spite of having been around it, I had not learnt swimming until then. (Shame on Me)

The fact that all my cousins enjoyed the rainy seasons swimming in the pond and I had to be a mere watcher, used to trouble my mind. I thought that I had outgrown the age of learning the art of swimming. But I finally spoke to Rajan uncle, who should have been close to 60years of age then. 

If u were to see his 5ft tall, 50kg physique, u would even wonder if he would be able to hold on to my 90kg body if I was to drown. But his strength was not in his body, it was in his mind.

My cousins Sreerag and Sreenath were everyday swimmers and enjoyed rubbing salt on my wound by taunting me for not knowing it.

Anyway I broke the news of Rajan uncle accepting me as a disciple to them first. They broke out laughing. "You are done..." was the immediate response of the younger one. Speaking to them for 10mins brought my delight quotient down by almost 50%. 

Should I or not? I started thinking. I told my mom about my "enrollment" as a swimming student. She said "Really? Very good. I wish your sister had learnt it too. At least you felt like taking that step. Very good".

Ok, that was more positive.

By noon I was getting anxious about the classes. I had a light lunch as I didn’t want to add on to the 90kgs fearing that my uncle might miss to hold on to any extra kgs. 

Day 1:
At 3:45 I made that 47 seconds walk from our gate to his gate.

Sreerag and Sreenath were already there...."come in ...come in... dear student..." They shouted with a giggle.

Don't care about them, my mind said. You will be a renowned swimmer in a month.... Hopefully...if I am alive

Rajan uncle was there with a stick. "Seriously? A stick?" I asked Sreerag. "You have not seen the teacher in him. Wait and watch. Sorry, we will watch" he said with his usual mock.

The place where we were supposed to learn was not hidden from public. Whether I get beaten up by the stick or drown, everyone walking around the pond will see. With a deep sigh, I walked to the area that has the steps to get into the water.

Rajan uncle was there wearing a mundu (dhoti) and carrying one too. He looked at me head to toe and did some mental calculations and called Sreenath "Bring three not two, and large ones". I didn't understand. Does he mean to say one stick wasn't enough???

Sreenath ran in with three large dried coconuts. What on earth was that for? I wondered. He put the three coconuts in the large cloth he had in his hand and tied them to my waist. My eyes were about to pop out. What on earth was he doing? Why do I have three coconuts tied to my waist? As it is I was 90kg, was he making sure that I drown? Is that how he starts teaching? So many questions ran in my mind. He read it all and said."These days kids use rubber tubes to learn swimming, but what about the people who can't afford a swimming tube. These coconuts are your life jacket, make sure they are tight and secure enough"

I have googled enough to find a picture or anything written about this technique, but I am yet to find any historic evidence of anyone using coconuts to learn swimming. Google still has a long way to go I guess. Sunder C Pichai; please take note of the improvements required in Google.

Finally, with a secure waist band around me....I was pushed into the water. Lo and behold, I did not sink to the bottom. The three coconuts were acting against gravity. The apple that fell on Newton's head explained gravity and the three coconuts on my waist were acting as the antidote to that finding.

It was time to start my classes. Rajan uncle sat on the steps and showed me the technique I should be using with my arms and legs. Sreenath would show that to me practically. So it was more like the announcement of safety instructions on the plane. Rajan uncle would do the announcement and Sreenath will show it to me. He should have tried his luck in the airlines industry I thought. Instead he ended up as a banker.

Now after a first few minutes or repetitions of the action, Rajan uncle threw a stone and asked me to float until there with the help of my life jacket. Once I reached there he told me to swim. I used all my strength to pull myself from point A to point B. We did that for two hours. And by then I was totally exhausted for the day. My arms, legs, the whole body seemed to be tearing apart. Yet, I was smiling.

Interestingly, Rajan uncle never stepped into the water on that day. He had appointed Sreenath and Sreerag as my body guards, just in case I decided, against my own wish, to go deep diving in the pond. I guess he believed in teaching swimming through distance education. 

Day 2:
I arrived with a body that was aching from head to toe. I think it was after a long time that day I felt most of the muscles in my body. Day 2 wasn't too different from Day 1. I had my life jacket...the three coconuts which I was getting very comfortable with, though they were hanging on to my tummy. Then I had my two body guards around and Rajan uncle with a stick in one hand and a few pebbles in the other. Everytime he would throw the pebble slightly away and would ask me to start swimming from there. It almost felt like he was throwing the ball to Tommy and saying "Tommy shoooo...” The only difference was that this Tommy didn't have to dive into the pond to get his sunken pebble.

Day 3:
I arrived to find Sreenath getting my coconut life jacket ready. Ok, something was definitely different. For one the three coconuts had become two and they seemed smaller. "Sree you forgot the third one", I said. He smiled at me and said "Ask him". I looked at Rajan uncle and before I could ask, "that's enough for you today" he said.
Sometimes he was like a radio, you just get to hear him, but you can't give your thoughts back.
"So will that keep me afloat?" I asked. "No, but if u drown, u will drown slowly". Now that sounds perfectly soothing, right? You are going to die, but don't worry only slowly.
I looked to the other side where Sreerag was holding on to his laughter and looking to the other side as if nothing had happened.
I entered the water and I immediately knew there was absolutely no way that was going to work as a life jacket. I stared at my so called body guards and they looked in the opposite direction. It looked as if this was all part of a plan: the plan to drown me. Rajan uncle started with the "Tommy...shoooo" almost immediately, throwing a stone to mark point A. Point B was always constant...the steps we start from. With all my courage and power I wanted to float to point A. But I realized that I was going down. The next 5 seconds seemed like 50... I was drinking as if I was in a bar; just that it was the water from the pond. I realized while I was drowning that I had to go back to point B. That's when for the first time the stick in his hand was held vertical. It took him two days to give it some work.
"You can swim, keep your legs straight and go for it". I gathered all my thoughts about life so far and saw a bunch of people on the road watching me as if I was in some Circus. Finally after pushing my hands and legs for 5mins I reached a point that was hardly 5 mtrs away. Just FYI: the depth at 5 mtrs is almost 10mtrs though. I almost reached that place and turned back as quickly as possible. The whole swim was hardly 15mtrs and something my body guards cover in 20 seconds, I managed to do that in almost 5mins. Those 5 mins literally took out all the energy out from me and it took me another 10 mins to regain normal breath. Rajan uncle made me do a few more rounds of the same and I must say that the 2 coconuts were now feeling ok. When we finished that day he looked at me and said "Good job, if you hadn't done that it would have been difficult to predict how long you could have taken. But now I know we can go across on the 7th day". As much as I enjoyed hearing that, the last sentence swept me off the feet. Across the pond was close to 300 mtrs.

Day 4: Things went the same way. Tommy had to fetch the ball from further away everytime. Today I got a unique opportunity to enjoy a different company while swimming. While I was swimming back from the imaginary point A, I realised that there was a tiny snake also swimming with me in the same direction. I shrieked at the sight and shouted "snake snake..." Sreenath who was just behind me, said "Shut up and swim. Don't scare the snake else it will come to you. It will go where it has planned to spend the evening". Easy to say but to practically do that was no easy job. I had to hammer my hands, make sure my legs were straight and also ignore the snake that was swimming alongside. Almost as if I had to do three people's job at the same time.
It is not that I haven't seen snakes. In my village, they used to be frequent trespassers in every compound. Some were venomous, some non-venomous. But we used to co- exist. If we didn't bother each other, life was good. Once in a while we got the chance to see the mongoose chasing the snake or the snake chasing the frog. All this was a regular sight, but that was the first time I was swimming with one.
Luckily as Sree said, it went its way and I went mine.

Day 5: Today, there was yet another strategic blow to me. The two coconuts had become just one. I must admit I was less shocked on that day. Somehow the confidence was there that I could manage with that. I swam decently well that day. (Please note when I say well, it is always in comparison with the previous day)

Day 6: Today I was asked to come early in the morning instead of evening. Rajan uncle announced that I won't use the coconuts at all. I looked at him. "You didn't drown until now, you won't die today also, don't worry", he said. It wasn't as if I had a chance to protest. Today for a change, he didn't throw the pebbles far away. He wanted to be sure that I was able to pull my body without the support of the life jacket. I think it was more to test my confidence.I started with shorter distances without any support and went slightly longer. There was an evening session too which was just a repetition.
At the end of the day he said "tomorrow we go across.”
I told my mom that I was going across and she looked at me and asked "Already?" I said that it wasn’t my choice but uncle's decision. "If its Rajettan's (ettan means elder brother) decision, it should be good".
It sounded strange for mom to say that and showed the confidence she had in him as a teacher. A teacher who didn’t enter the water and taught swimming standing at least 10 mtrs away. No wonder distance learning is a success.

Day 7: I looked at my Point A. It was almost three hundred metres away. Rajan uncle quickly uttered a mental prayer and put his hand on my head blessing me and said "Today is your final exam. Swim 5-8 mtrs along the perimeter of the pond. They will be behind you. If you feel you can't go till the end without break, it's alright. just swim towards the perimeter and take rest. But you can't stop completely, u need to take a few minutes rest and again get going. Today you will swim across. Go for it." My lovely body guards Sreerag and Sreenath were supposed to swim behind me, I could swim close to the perimeter and I could take rest if required, I think this was more than enough for me to feel confident.
It took me close to 40 mins to go across. I didn't take a break. I would swim and then would float a bit and then swim again. Rajan uncle walked all the way on the perimeter of the pond until we reached the end.
One week back I didn't know how to swim; today I crossed the 300 metre milestone. It was a big thing in my world then. That was the start and then several rainy seasons followed where we would swim across the pond, back and forth. 

Like the people in armed forces add stars on their shoulder as they got promoted, in my case the promotion to being a swimmer was based on the lesser number of coconuts on my waist😁

18 years later in 2013 Aug, I was home with family for Onam. My mind was filled with a thought again. Should I or shouldn't I? Nevertheless I walked into his house again. 
He was walking around as usual working on itsy bitsy things. "Rajan uncle, can you teach him swimming?" I asked. A four and half year old ADI was holding on to my hand.
"How old is he now", he asked me. "Four and half", I said. "I taught his dad, surely I can teach him", he said with a smile.
He gave one look at him and said "He might be good with just one coconut".
History repeated itself...AGAIN.

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