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My First Dip
Quite often, while relaxing at my house in Dubai, I take trips down memory lane to my homeland, Kerala, just across the Arabian Sea.

When I re-live this particular memory, a shiver runs down my spine. I still feel the greenness of the water that surrounded me as I was drowning in the depths of our kulam (pond) at my Illam (paternal home), Moothedath Mana. The sound of water bubbles still resonates as I recall those drowning moments in the depths of the kulam. My five-year-old mind couldn't comprehend the gravity of the situation then, and had no idea what was going on!!! Which now, my grown-up self realizes, and a grateful smile follows.

I was on my summer vacation in Kerala, along with my parents and elder sister. I had come to the kulam to have a bath, along with my cousins, accompanied by our mothers. Already I was in a super-excited mode, walking through the paddy fields, running under the swaying coconut trees, sitting on a coconut tree leaf as it was pulled by someone, picking up tamarind from the ground and savoring the sour, rich pulp, etc.

My mother was bathing me on the steps of the kulam (pond) leading to the water. Impatiently, my eyes focused on my cousins who were already in the kulam. All of them were familiar with the kulam, and some of them knew how to swim. For them, bathing in a kulam was a regular affair. For me, it was a once-a-year affair. Since I was only five, this would be my first visit to be etched in my memory.

Of course, I didn't have the faintest idea of taking a dip in the pond, let alone swimming. But the little kid I was, just couldn't resist seeing my cousins playing in the water. So, I jumped into the pond!

The green water surrounded me. And amidst the green, I saw fishes. The only sound that was resonating in my eardrums was the sound of water pressure, like ‘hmmmmm…’. I was gasping for air. Slowly, as I started drowning in to the depths of the pond, the green around me faded and darkness took its place. I still wonder, if the reason for that darkness was my eyes being closed, or the depth of the pond. I guess I had almost stopped breathing by then, as I felt water rushing in to my nostrils, and like I was being sucked into the depths of the pond.

Before I could be sucked further into the depths, I felt a hand around me and was pulled up. It was an angel’s hand. My little heart smiled immediately as the hand touched me, because my heart knew that it was the safest hand, the hand of my dearest mother.

Yes, that day, my mother pulled me out from the depths of the water and saved my life! Or should I say she gave me birth again that day?

My dearest mother. I love you!

© Krishnan
#WritcoQuote #MyMother #mom #love #reallife #microtale