{"id":475,"date":"2003-05-13T14:54:00","date_gmt":"2003-05-13T09:24:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sumankumar.com\/blog\/archives\/475"},"modified":"2003-05-13T14:54:00","modified_gmt":"2003-05-13T09:24:00","slug":"dont-wait-for-the-can","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sumankumar.com\/blog\/2003\/05\/dont-wait-for-the-can\/","title":{"rendered":"Don’t wait for the can"},"content":{"rendered":"

When I was 13 I wanted to learn swimming. And in Chittoor <\/a>the only way to do that was through the irrigation wells that fed the paddy, sugar cane crops. I set out to a field near my home, along with my friends (read: swimmers). I had my tummy in knots and was all nerves as I peered down from the top of the well to the blue-green translucent water. A small turtle lay nestled at the bed of the well, lazily flapping its limbs(?!). It was a huge well, a perfect circular structure that had a spiral stair case for one to get to the water level. Sudhakar, my chief instructor tied a 5 ltr plastic can around my naked waist. As I walked down the can kept slapping my butt. I was so damn sure that the the tight-shut lid would come-off the can and drown me. Sudhakar just smiled and I was puzzled by his benevolence. “Let’s go down” he said stepping down on to the stair case. I started. I would have crossed four steps when he spun around and pushed me down. I went down screaming. The brick-layered walls of the well echoed my scream. I landed flat on my belly. I don’t know how long I was under water; it felt like a long time. I went down, down, down , down… into a spiral abyss. I could see legs lashing out and someone’s jocks had slid down and he was pulling it up. And the can propelled me up. It seemed as if it had a mind of its own. I popped up on my back, gasping for breath. My belly was red and it stung as if I was slapped by Mike Tyson. I lay on my back, kicking and using my arms to stay in balance. The dipping sun peered through the leaves of the Gulmohar tree by the ‘pump-shed’. I thanked god that I was alive. Sudhakar said “this is not your english medium convent… you learn it the way it is meant to be.” I nodded. So he trained me for four days; how to paddle, the various strokes, and more. On the fifth day Sudhakar and my other friends decided that I didn’t need the can anymore. I was scared to death. I clung to a gulmohar tree’s trunk at the edge of the well and refused to step onto the staircase. “Why the hell did you volunteer? Swimming is 80% in your mind! Lose the fear. That’s it. I am ashamed of you – you spineless chicken-cum-gutter rat!” Sudhakar pounded me with his colossal verbal assault. I felt like dirt. I think he saw me cringing within myself in shame. “Do you trust me?” He asked softly. I nodded. And walked into the staircase. “…you shouldn’t trust anyone too much!” He said and before I realised I was once again falling into the well… I didn’t scream though. I went down. Down, down, down, down. Dark. Murky-green water. A frightened bubble left my mouth. I saw it rocket up. I was drowning. That thought clouded my brain. Clogged my thinking, and let panic take over. My body went limp I guess. I opened mouth and the water gushed in, choking me… I had a searing pain inside my chest. I thought my lungs would explode when something pulled me up by my hair.
I lay gasping and coughing at once. Sudhakar had saved me. “what the hell went wrong?” I yelled at him. “You were waiting for the can.” He said. “You were waiting for the can to bring you up. When there was no can.”
I learnt swimming that day. I never did wait for the can ever again. And I always quote Sudhakar when I see people refusing to wriggle out of holes. When people have ‘helplessness’ for an excuse. When people give up too soon. When people short-circuit their brains on their own volition. “Don’t wait for the can.” I tell them.
Write to me: <\/b>suman ‘at’ sumankumar ‘dot’ com<\/p>\n

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When I was 13 I wanted to learn swimming. And in Chittoor the only way to do that was through the irrigation wells that fed the paddy, sugar cane crops. I set out to a field near my home, along with my friends (read: swimmers). I had my tummy in knots and was all nerves […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[57],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-475","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-stories"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false,"jetpack-portfolio-admin-thumb":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Suman Kumar","author_link":"https:\/\/sumankumar.com\/blog\/author\/suman-kumar\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"When I was 13 I wanted to learn swimming. And in Chittoor the only way to do that was through the irrigation wells that fed the paddy, sugar cane crops. I set out to a field near my home, along with my friends (read: swimmers). I had my tummy in knots and was all nerves…","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2Gbk8-7F","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":929,"url":"https:\/\/sumankumar.com\/blog\/2006\/10\/making-water-from-thin-air\/","url_meta":{"origin":475,"position":0},"title":"Making Water From Thin Air","author":"Suman Kumar","date":"October 7, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"A company that developed technology capable of creating water out of thin air nearly anywhere in the world is now under contract to nourish U.S. soldiers serving in Iraq.\"This is our secret sauce,\" Sher said. \"Like Kentucky Fried Chicken, it tastes good, but we won't tell you what's in it.\"He\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"science\"","block_context":{"text":"science","link":"https:\/\/sumankumar.com\/blog\/tag\/science\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1112,"url":"https:\/\/sumankumar.com\/blog\/2009\/10\/kids-playing-in-water\/","url_meta":{"origin":475,"position":1},"title":"Kids playing in water","author":"Suman Kumar","date":"October 5, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"The park next to my apartment. That sprinkler was awesome. even i played for a while.","rel":"","context":"In "general"","block_context":{"text":"general","link":"https:\/\/sumankumar.com\/blog\/category\/general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":471,"url":"https:\/\/sumankumar.com\/blog\/2003\/04\/water-melons-mangoes-and-early-morning-school\/","url_meta":{"origin":475,"position":2},"title":"Water Melons, Mangoes, and early morning school","author":"Suman Kumar","date":"April 15, 2003","format":false,"excerpt":"The heat in Indore is unbearable. You don't perspire too much here like in Chennai so the heat sticks within and your pee turns yellow and it burns! This time of the year back in Chittoor when I was in school; I used to get up early in the morning\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "stories"","block_context":{"text":"stories","link":"https:\/\/sumankumar.com\/blog\/category\/stories\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":695,"url":"https:\/\/sumankumar.com\/blog\/2005\/03\/how-to-cook-maggi\/","url_meta":{"origin":475,"position":3},"title":"How to cook Maggi","author":"Suman Kumar","date":"March 31, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Got this through an e-mail forward: Four simple steps to cook Maggi: Step 1: Boil one cup of water Step 2: As soon as Ganguly goes for batting, put the noodles in the boiled water and put the tastemaker. Step 3: Stir till Ganguly is on field. Step 4: As\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1093,"url":"https:\/\/sumankumar.com\/blog\/2010\/05\/stories-from-chennai\/","url_meta":{"origin":475,"position":4},"title":"Stories from Chennai","author":"Suman Kumar","date":"May 14, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"I always saw Chennai in Yellow. It could be the harsh sun. Or probably the bright colored Sambar with a wild, turmeric fragrance. The Chennai in early 80s was a different world. There were no high-rise apartment complexes. Barring the LIC building on Mount road, which was the tallest in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "stories"","block_context":{"text":"stories","link":"https:\/\/sumankumar.com\/blog\/category\/stories\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":631,"url":"https:\/\/sumankumar.com\/blog\/2004\/12\/latest-report-from-relief-volunteers-orur-kuppam-ennore\/","url_meta":{"origin":475,"position":5},"title":"Latest Report from Relief Volunteers (Orur Kuppam & Ennore)","author":"Suman Kumar","date":"December 31, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Visit to Orur Kuppam and Ennore As is evident now, the huts and belongings of the families residing in the coasts were washed away on Sunday. Psychological help and reconstructing their lives is a priority now. Volunteers visited the fishing hamlets and slums beyond Ennore and Orur Kuppam in the\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sumankumar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sumankumar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sumankumar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sumankumar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sumankumar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=475"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sumankumar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sumankumar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=475"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sumankumar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=475"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sumankumar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=475"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}