This post is not enlightening or profound or at least doesn’t pretend to me like my other posts. I am, honestly, just trying to find excuses to write more. There are just so many thoughts in my head these days. Not sure if all are interesting but some surely are.

In any case, I wanna talk about this new hobby that I have found. In truth, swimming is less of a hobby and more of an absolute necessity in this absurdly hellish summer in Delhi. So yeah, I have joined the IIT Delhi pool and been going three times a week for the past 2-3 weeks now. This is a stark decrease of 50% from last year and the year before when I used to go every single day (What can I say man, the joints don’t feel the same way?)

Anyone who has sunk their head underwater and released their breath in a slow controlled manner will testify to the utter peace and calm you feel. No wonder underwater meditation is a thing and even Dhuryodhan did it at the end of Mahabharata! It just feels so natural to be inside water, you know - feels like my domain in some sense¹. Why?

A safe space

It’s because when I am underwater, the noise completely shuts down. The chaos and the oppressive meaninglessness of the daily drudgery wears off and for a moment, I feel free. Inside water, suspended by the chlorinated blue, I feel like I’m in my safe space. And even, physically, I mean. With no ground and the viscous fluid cushioning me, I feel like in the void, in total control of my motion, I can do a backflip or a frontflip or do anything I want. Control. Control. Freedom.

My restless mind

Swimming is not the first thing I have tried, of course. You see, my mind gets bored so easily and just completely shuts things off. It’s not just the privilege of being curious that’s enough but the timing and the location and a whole load of other factors needs to fall in place in order for a thing that you plan to be realised. I picked up Taekwondo again only to fail due to the disproportionate time that it was taking. Similar, I left studying Mandarin because there was no clear defined goal I was building towards.

What can I say? Being curious or hungry is not always enough. A ton of other things need to align.

The Domino Effect

I think it is no big surprise but by just focusing on one activity I have slowly been pulling up on other aspects like better nutrition, better sleep schedule. It’s like this domino effect when everything is in its right place . Optimising time for work and play and trying to learn to value my own time. I am currently thinking of starting running on alternate days to keep the cardio rhythm. But again, as any sportsperson will tell you, it’s not the initiation that’s hard - it’s the discipline to sustain.

Anyways, the other day I surprised myself by swimming 50 m. Now, I wanna crack 100 m. Upwards and onwards.

Footnotes

1: At least to me, it does. May not be a widely held belief.