Saturday, May 12, 2012

EXPLORATION UNDER WATER


I was introduced to scuba diving by Sachin, my husband who started diving with Indian Navy as a part of his combat diving training, ten years ago. Four years later when we met each other in 2006, he was already an avid recreational diver totally engulfed by the mysteries of the ocean. He introduced me to the abundance, diversity and vibrance of the ocean. After we got married in 2007, the first trip we took was to Goa; to dive and eat! Oh yes fortunately for both of us we are foodies and would unabashedly go on food excursions to different places. So coming back to diving, the Goa trip wasn’t as good as I had imagined as far as the diving is concerned. It was a rather dampener with ill fitting equipment, wet suit and combination of an average instructor and not so clear diving site. But I decided to keep my faith in diving as well as Sachin and we told ourselves we will do it once again.

So on the fifth wedding anniversary we decided to take a break from the monotony of work ,  ‘homemaking’ and looking after our three year old daughter Saee (“looking after part is vice versa); and booked us a month long diving vacation in the Havelock island east of Port blair in Andaman and Nicobar Islands of  India.

No one but you can tell what calls you to scuba diving. If you seek adventure you’ll find plenty, if you are looking for discovery, welcome to inner space. Most people will find it a cliché but the fact remains that we know the surface of the moon better than the depths of ocean. To me it is the serenity and peace that one experiences under water. It is a unique way to find solitude and sometimes even feel empty inside while you’re under water.

Of course I did not experience this the very first moment I got inside the water. Initially it felt a bit awkward with heavy gear and inhaling through my mouth! As I progressed inside the water, the feeling of lightness came along as easily as fishes to water. I started getting along with a new medium and a whole new world under water.  One of the major problems I faced while my first dive was equalisation, apart from getting adjusted to the gear and breathing under water.  To maintain the air volume as one descends, you need to add air to the space to keep up with the volume reduction, this concept is called equalisation. To equalise the air space in sinuses and ears one blows holding the nose tight, wriggle the jaw while ascending and press the forehead tightly. At first not being use to the medium it took a longer time for me to equalise thus resulting into ear pain. But as I got along in water it became easier with the second and third dive.

The joy of swimming along with the fishes, the flora and corals are inviting enough to take a plunge and be there. Till now I’ve seen and learnt to indentify barracudas who swim in large group, yellow, red and white snappers which make ocean so colourful, slugs and sea cucumbers which are to me friends of our own Garfield The cat, they lie down lazily on the ocean bed, jelly fishes, eels (ancestors of snakes probably), star fish and so on...

My exploration has just begun and I wish to continue it with Sachin as life and diving buddy...

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