She stood at the edge of the pool, her face a mosaic of fear and astonishment. The water seemed to ripple gently in the breeze, calling out to her inner most spirit to try and dive into the comforts of its depths and her mind racing to overcome the fear. The cold embrace of the water and the fear of no air...she did not know how to swim...how could she dive...
"Go on," the voice came from behind and she looked back at her mother, sitting impatiently at the chair by the poolside, the irritation at her hesitations too obvious on the beautiful face.
"You would not drown..."
"Wait up...I would jump." she said and raised one foot off the ground, deciding to take the leap. And then she kept it firmly back on the edge...sure the floor looked close enough but the markings said 17 ft...that was almost thrice her height. Gravity would simply pull her down...and she...
All thoughts left her mind as panic coursed through her spine. It was a firm push, a hand she was well aware of...and she was falling. There was no time to scream as water engulfed her and she was sinking. Deeper and deeper she fell and her feet touched the floor. Her face tilted to look out, to assess how far she was from air...from life and without realizing when her feet pushed her off the floor and she was rising through the cool cushion, her hands outstretched...ready to pierce the fine layer that lay between her and air...
The air rushed into her lungs as her mouth opened wide with first contact of air. Without knowing how, she was paddling with all her might and her hands closed around the edge of the pool, holding on to ground with all its might. Looking around she saw her mother, still standing from where she had pushed her and laughing at her. All fear seemed to leave her as a smile lighted her face.
"Liked it?"
"Don't push me like that!"
This memory just keeps coming back to me a lot. I learnt how to swim...to my trainer's delight in 3 days! It's been a while i have not been able t plunge into a pool and am aching for that comfort. Why am I reliving this moment off late so much? For this is something that goes on to define my mum...her spirit and her role and making me what I am. For a while now I am trying hard to surface...and recently I felt the layer of water breaking over my head and the fresh air filling my lungs with a new vigour...it was like my life was suspended for a while and I am just realizing after a long long time that I am still alive.
I apologise for the absence...and wish to thank a certain someone who reminded me that I need to push...Life is looking promising again...lets see where it takes me this time....
