#15: Scuba Dooba Doo
Dear Reader,
I’m not the kind of person who goes out of their way and dives into adventure sports or activities. I think I’m more of a city girl, but I’m always open to such ventures and will not hesitate to say yes. Summer 2019 took me to the Andamans, it felt blissful to be disconnected from the world I know back home, with there being hardly any signal present. With water, water everywhere and its different colours manifesting by playing with the sunlight, it truly was mesmerizing. We were passing through one of the many islands, and at Havelock, on an impulse (which is astonishing), my parents, brother and I took the leap and decided to try out scuba diving.
After signing a waiver - which was a tad unnerving, we donned our wetsuits and set out to the dive location in a jeep. My heart was racing, with my mind filled with equal parts excitement and nervousness. To everyone’s dismay, I had a slight cold during this time and was vexed that I may not be able to go through with this after all. We finally reached the place, got off the jeep, and waded a certain distance into the water. The instructors that we had the fortune to train with, were brilliant. My mind kept going back to my cold, but my instructor made me feel so at ease and calmed me down by making conversation about Chennai(he was familiar with the area as well). After practising going under for a short while and demonstrating the signs(thumbs up for wanting to ascend, thumbs down for descent, how we say super with our hands is to signify that we’re doing okay, and the way we rattle our hands to say that something went okay / it was so-so signifies that there’s something wrong and you point to what’s causing trouble), we started our descent.
Weirdly enough, I remember this vividly and hazily at the same time. I knew that I didn’t want to ever forget this, so after the dive, I scrambled to get my phone and wrote down whatever I remembered from being underwater - the events that happened, the things I saw, everything. For a moment, I closed my eyes and when I opened them, hues of blue, stretching as far as the eye could see, was all around me. It seemed terrifying, like in those nature documentaries where the narrator says in a mysterious voice,“I wonder what’s there beyond the edge”. But then, suddenly, a school of fish rushed past me, and I was brought back to reality. I felt like a spectator, lucky enough to catch a glimpse of what really goes down underwater. Fish kept staring at me with their big beady eyes, I was raving about this for days, I couldn’t get over it!
Two motorbikes were abandoned underwater, I honestly did not expect to see old, rusting, covered-with-sea life bikes here! But I was fascinated nonetheless. The corals looked beautiful and I took a handful of sand and it felt like it just disintegrated in my palms. I’m pretty sure I saw Nemo and Dory amongst the many fish that passed by. I’m doubtful as to how to describe moving in the water, but the whole time I was just in total awe. I’m not much of a naturalist myself, but I feel that this is definitely something that would go on a bucket list and is something that everyone should experience. The instructors brought an old timey looking camera and they took silly pictures of all of us as well!
Time flies when you’re having fun, and it was time to ascend slowly. I was reminded of when I first heard of Bend’s disease, in Chemistry classes at school, which happens if you ascend too quickly. I was the last to come up, and the next hour was spent recounting all of it with the others. Unfortunately, I had a bout of asthma after the dive, the cold water exacerbated it, but I regret nothing and I’m looking forward to reliving this again!
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If you’re too into TV shows, comme moi, subscribe to Continue Watching!
Small win(s) of the week
I thought of adding this new column to the newsletter! I feel that we mustn’t be too hard on ourselves, and celebrate the small wins in our daily life, which will ultimately motivate us to do more and more.
If you, dear Reader, want to share your small win of the week, do message me and it shall be included, anonymous or not, that’s up to you!
This week, I finally sat down and did something daunting that I’d been avoiding for weeks together - for a solid two hours, I made a study schedule for my exams, the final version is ready, after much deliberation!
Here’s what a couple of friends had sent over -
S spent much less time on her phone than usual this week / / A worked out every day this week and got a good start on her project work / / A was very grateful to have been there at her childhood friend’s wedding, to help her get dressed, run errands, help organise and finally see her marry her longtime boyfriend and love.
Have a great week ahead!
—adithi.
Scuba diving sounds like a really lovely experience. And I'd forgotten how gorgeous TED-Ed animations were.