My experiments with drowning

I have been thinking about writing this piece for quite some time. I will recount few(to be pricise two) of my adventures in Caribbean. The idea of the title came from Duh who had the pleasure of actually watching me in action in the sea.

Before we start, I don't know how to swim.

Event 1: I am into extreme sports like ..bogey boarding. (If you guys doubt it ask golu..not about me being into extreme sports but if bogey boarding is an extreme sport)

I saw few people little deep into the sea where the waves don't push you to the shore but you just float on them. It seemed pretty cool so I tried it. It was fun. After some time (may be 10 mins or so) when I thought I have had enough of it I wanted to get back to the shore. But no waves would push me towards the right side and no matter how hard I try I could not swim (while being on the board) towards the shore. And also what I did not realize is that in such case the water keeps pushing you back little when the wave retreats and so I had reached enough deep water where I can drown.

I had read somewhere that most people drown coz they panic so my reaction was to look for Duh and wave towards him. But Duh to my not so surprise could not see me. Then I see this black dude(BD) swimming little far from me.

Me: Hey!
BD: Hey Maan!
Me: Nice weather!!
BD(clearly not interested): yeah!
me: how deep is the water?
BD(will you please shut up expression): Not much..
Me: The thing is, I do not know how to swim.
BD(with an expression of "what the fuck"): Hang on.

He pulled me out towards the beach. I realized how difficult it is to pull some one. That strong dude also took quite a long time (so it seemed!) to pull me by just 15ft or so.


Event 2: I go snorkeling. The crew had planned two sessions, and before the second one duly ask all persons who are not competent swimmers to stay out as the currents were very strong. Ofcourse, I am not one to be stopped by such silly things and decide to get down with the life jacket. :)

Soon after we get into water they realize the currents are too strong which were taking everyone away from our catamaran and the crew asked everyone to stop snorkeling and get on board. One of them started pulling me towards the catamaran. He took me very near the catamaran and then asked me to get on it, forgetting the minor detail that I just cant swim, not even the 10 ft he wanted me to swim. And he just leaves me there. I wanted to convey the same to him but the snorkeling equipment wouldn't allow me to. And just then my life jacket decides it had had enough and decides to shrink. (I remembered the line "If you really desire something the the whole universe conspires to get you there. Somehow it seemed the universe had got mis-communicated about my drowning desires!!) I somehow catch one of the ropes coming out of the catamaran and hang there( again without panicking or at least not showing any signs of it) After getting few more people into the catamaran, he sees me still in water and asks me what am I doing there. Of course I could not reply him again due to the snorkeling equipment which still covered my mouth. So I just stayed there shaking my head - which somewhere rang a bell in him and he goes - oh shit!! You dont know how to swim ..