In one summer, my brother-in-law i.e., my Mama’s son said that he would take me to the village and teach me swimming. I had only ten days of summer vacation. He took me to Regadi Mamidipally village, Ranga Reddy District, Telangana.

I remember my mother sharing an incident, that happened in one of the wells’ in the village. Once a man came to take a bath in the well, before that he was washing his clothes while sitting on the steps. Suddenly, the dead body of a woman surfaced from the well and it was floating. Having seen this happening unexpectedly, he feared so much that he ran away from the well leaving the clothes behind. After that, he was in shock for several days. This particular lady surfaced, had committed suicide by jumping into this well. Villagers were searching for her for the past three days elsewhere. Nobody had an idea, that she jumped to death in this particular well. Those committing suicide often leave their chappals near the well as a clue, so that people would know and search in the well. To retrieve the submerged bodies, people often used Reni-Campa, it is thorny berries plant branches. It is tied to a rope and dropped into the water and moved in all directions. The dress gets stuck into this bush, and the dead body is retrieved. With so many such incidents happened in the past, while going to the well, I had my own imagination and fear. What if there is someone drowned in the well and yet to be surfaced?

Summer is the best time to learn swimming. The water would be warm and relatively shallow. I was taken to a well, at around 10 a.m. in the morning. Being summer it was already very hot and I was sweating a lot. The first day, my brother-in-law requested a young boy returning after swimming, to give his float. This float is a piece of dry Shagamatta plant trunk. Shagamatta is an agave plant - from a mature plant, a trunk emerges from the centre of the plant about 20 to 30 feet in height. If cut before the trunk emerges that is the heart (piña) of the plant, from which Tequila drink can be prepared. When it is cut and dried, it is one of the lightest wood materials, which is available locally. It absorbs water very slowly, so every day after swimming, it should be dried. People often kept it on the hot tin roof.

The float had a diameter of about one foot, this piece of float about two and a half feet in length is tied with Paggam-thadu - a thin and strong rope made up of Jute, otherwise, it is used for tying the bullocks to control them. We could see old people, especially in the summer, making such ropes by rolling jute fibre on their thighs, occasionally wet it with their saliva and water. The float is tied to the waist in such a way that it is on the backside of the waist. It was not so convenient and painful at the waist, as the float pulled the body up through this rope. As this was the only option, so I have used it.

Some children are afraid of water. Along with me, my brother-in-law wanted to take another boy for swimming. But having come to know about brother-in-law’s plan, this boy started running all over the village. With the help of five other children finally, we could catch him. We all left to the well by lifting this boy as he cried. After reaching the well he ran away again. He never learnt swimming in his life. Sometimes, fear is the cause of losing beautiful experiences in life.

This well was favourite for children as it is close to the village and had relatively clean water. Many boys were swimming and diving into the well from the rim of the well. I could also hear their cacophony shouting and the water splashing sounds.

I took off the shirt, and with my Chaddi (Short), I was ready. My brother-in-law tied the float and took me down the well over the steps. To learn swimming, he asked me to make cups with my palms and push water underneath my belly continuously and start hitting the water with my two legs alternatively. I started practising it and soon I could move around. In the well, I swam across to the place where a steel pipe was connected to a diesel engine and it was submerged in the water. It was used as a place to rest by holding it and return back to the steps. To an fro, I practised. It was so crowded with many other children enjoying the cool waters in the hot summer. Some children were playing games such as diving deep and getting the soil from the bottom or finding a coin thrown intentionally. Some were hiding underneath the steps or by holding their breathing were submerged inside the well, it was playing police and thief game. That is to catch someone who is hiding by chasing. Some were bullying other small children by drowning them in the water for some time and making them cry. It was a mess altogether. I had to wade through this kind of situation to learn. But with scorching mid-summer bright and hot day outside, and the cool water in the well gave us some relief. Being in the water and swimming was a pleasure. We returned home in the afternoon after spending 2 to 3 hours in the well and continued for the next eight days. By the time we returned home we were very hungry and tired.

Within eight days, I could learn to swim. On the tenth day as I need to leave the village early. My brother-in-law wanted me to practice once again. He took me to the well by 6:00 a.m. It was slightly chilly outside. He asked me to jump from the top of the well directly into the well. I jumped, the water was warm, I felt the ultimate freedom without the float. We both did swimming for some time and left back to the city.

Children diving into the water