Twice a week, my determination and grit are severely tested. For the second time I am taking the UT swimming course for absolute beginners because I did not do much swimming in the ten classes of the first course - I was still getting used to the idea of being in the water until the ninth class! I did manage to learn to flap my legs about, but not with the right balance of accuracy and consistency. And when I did strike the right balance, I was encouraged to swim in the adult pool. Depth at the shallow end? 1.8 meters. Panic and anxiety hit, I unlearnt everything and was back to square one. When the leg stroke is right, I forget to breathe correctly. When the breathing is great, the hand movement is not good enough. There is a fair degree of hostility between the water and me.
Hence I decided to take the absolute beginners course for a second time, this time with my spouse who, like me, never swam before. Can you imagine how I felt when in our second class, the coach told me, 'Look at your husband. Do what he is doing.' And I thought 'I' would be giving him tips!
Pratip Sengupta, fourth-year PhD, CT, another absolute beginner says, 'I always wanted to learn to swim but I come from Nagpur, a small town in Central India and we did not have a swimming pool. So I am learning it now, I have the time, and it's a lot of fun.'
Yupeing Xu of China, third-year PhD, CTW says, 'I have some experience of swimming back home. I taught myself to swim but I know just one style. I want to learn other styles and improve upon my technique too.'
So it is a refresher course for Yupeing as well as for Shonkhu Roychowdhary of India, second-year PhD, CT. He says, 'To be honest, I did not know this course was for absolute beginners! I learnt swimming when I was around ten or so. I have joined this course to learn the breast-stroke. I can swim only in the free-style.' 'Look at the sky', says the coach to Angela Ratna Sembiring of Indonesia, Master's student, EEMCS, as she attempts the backstroke. Angela says, 'I have never swum before. I wanted to learn but I felt that I was too old to learn and also a little ashamed. But I realised that all the other people to join this course would have to be at least as old as me! I really like our coach. He is fantastic for beginners like me.'
The coach in question is Henk Siers, who has been giving swimming lessons at the UT for the past thirty-three years. He trains around a hundred and twenty children in a week, and is also a water polo coach. Henk has a huge reservoir of patience - a blessing for people slow on the uptake. He says about beginners, 'Some of the instructions are easy to give in English because they are standard. On other occassions, I have to think about what I want to say because I need to translate my thoughts from Dutch to English.'
It is almost time for my class. Why am I the only one battling with swimming? Hopefully, one day soon, the animosity will end and I shall become good friends with the water.
Deepa Talasila
