Sonia isn’t impressed with my style.
“You not having fun?” she asks. “Not comfortable in the water?”
I look around me at the long sandy stretches of Orissa’s Puri beach and wonder what impression I’m giving.
I assure both her and her cousin Pooja that I’m comfortable. More than comfortable. Having grown up near Virginia Beach and going often to the Outer Banks of North Carolina to visit grandparents, the ocean is like a second home to my family and me.
“Well, why you not swimming?” she asks, and again, I’m a little confused.
To me, I am swimming–dodging the bigger waves, doing a few front strokes before coming up for air again.
But as the sun warms above us, I see what she means–I’m not swimming Indian-style.
All around me, from barely clothed toddlers to grown women in dresses and scarves, no one is standing. No one is twisting sideways at approaching waves to keep their balance. No one is diving deftly beneath a breaker to escape being caught up in its spin cycle.
Everything I was ever taught about Best Beach Practice has been discarded like a pair of flip-flops on the sand.
It seems instead that the very point of this style of swimming is to lose your balance. To get caught up in those monster breakers. To spin around on your back, arms and legs bobbing above the surface, barely able to breathe because of the salt water…and loving every minute of it.
It’s like the greater the pounding, the harder they all laugh and shout to each other.
And I realize that if I’m going to earn any credibility with Sonia, Pooja, and the entire crowd of Indian tourists on this beach, I’m going to have to change my style. The next wave that comes, I jump…not to clear it, but only to give myself that much more height before falling bum-first into the water.
I’m barely up in time for the breaker that follows it, and because I haven’t properly regained my footing, I’m sent backwards, straight into another swimmer. Then another. And another. When I finally resurface and rush to apologize to those I’ve just knocked over, they’re all laughing too hard to hear me.
It’s like a game of bowling…only I’m the ball and everyone else are pins.
So as the morning passes, my hair growing evermore dishevelled and the pockets of my dress filling with sand, I think about how sometimes, you just have to give up any need to look cool. You have to give up the way you’ve always done things. You have to give up any idea that you know what you’re doing.
Sometimes, you just have to look a wave in the face and say, “Okay, I’m all yours.”
Haha that was a brilliant blog.. so you have learnt the indian way of sea swimming!? or is it non-swimming!? 🙂
Haha yes, I do believe it is…everyone kept asking me, “Why you not swimming?” I had some re-defining to do for sure! Thanks for the comment, 🙂 Off to Hyderabad now!
Oh, I just love this! Look at you!!! What a crack-up. Honestly, who’d think you have to swim like that? Favorite line: Sometimes you have to look a wave in the face and say, “I’m all yours.” Felt that way when my feet were dangling over the side of that airplane–right before my Tandem pushed me out.
Today, I am looking Jesus in the face and saying, “I’m all yours.” Amen. LIVE YOUR LIFE, sweet Candace Rose! I am so proud of you.
Thanks, Mama dearest! I can very much imagine the skydive being a similar “here goes nothing” approach 🙂 Always good to be stretched beyond our comfort zone I think…Love you lots and will catch up soon!
Nice one!. Good to know that you had a nice time in Puri, after that toiling journey!!.. And yeah, you picked up the Indian way of swimming too quickly I guess!. 😛
Haha thanks, Nirmit! Yes, it was definitely a bit of a mission getting here, but very worth it…the beach has been wonderful 🙂 Hope the studies are going well!
What was it like to swim in a dress?
Interesting! Half of me was concerned about flashing the incredibly modest Indian swimmers…the other half kept having to pull the dress up as it got so weighed down from the water. I’ll be grateful to return to a US/European beach at some point and even out this crazy tan I have going on 🙂
What a really cool experience! How many oceans have you swam in now? I guess your Mom and I taking you to Hawaii when your were 6 months old started your traveling adventures:)
Thanks, Dad! I guess the Bay of Bengal counts as the Indian Ocean, bringing my ocean count up to three 🙂 All that’s left is the Arctic–but I can’t say I’m rushing to cross that one off the list, haha. And I definitely think the first trip had an influence–check out the “About” page on my blog, there’s a pic of us by the waterfalls!
Candace! I am so glad I found your blog a few weeks ago! I’ve been meaning to comment on this post because I totally loved it. Sometimes it’s a good thing to lose our balance, yeah? It sounds like your travels are amazing, and I’m so excited to see you’re pursuing writing! Take care!
Rachel! It’s so good to hear from you–it’s been ages, hasn’t it? 🙂 I’m so happy you found my blog and said hello–how are you?! Whereabouts are you now? What are you to? Haha sorry for all the questions, but I’d love an update on how it’s all going!