It was the first time I went to a resort with my office mates. It was first time for too many things.
I had never been anywhere outside main city with my office-mates.
…never seen a resort before.
…never seen a swimming pool from close before.
…never stepped inside any natural or artificial water-body before, which also implies that I didn’t know swimming.
One of the most annoying things that I do whenever I go out with people is I don’t really enjoy myself doing what the rest of the people are doing. That doesn’t imply I don’t want others to enjoy, I just need my own space even when I am on a trip with some people. For example, if everyone has decided to play cricket, I would stay back. I don’t know how to play cricket, I don’t want to stay in the scorching heat for long. That ain’t fun for me. I suck at any game that requires targeting. I am terrible at many other things but that’s not the essence of this post. I like it when people don’t force me to do what they are doing because I cannot enjoy something which is forced on me, also I like exploring things at my own pace. If there was another person having the same weird taste as me or interested to accompany me, I would have been very happy. None of the people I hang out with is a disgusting introvert weirdo like me.
The first half of the day was fine, I was watching my friends playing. It was a sunny day, in the gazebo, it was cool and peaceful… there were so many trees around. Didn’t see a nice place like this in a while. Then I thought of exploring the resort by myself as my friends were busy in the game and nobody agreed to come with me. As I walked a little bit, the ground was out of my sight. I could no more hear them shouting and cheering. There were nice buildings, gardens and stuffs but no people. I didn’t go much far ’cause I didn’t want to get lost. What if a kidnapper appears out of nowhere? As a kid, we were taught about not talking to strangers, not receiving food or gifts from unknown people… always stay with your mom/dad/elders. Probably I took that lesson too seriously, I couldn’t explore anymore as I was having many irrational thoughts of getting kidnapped, murdered and even worse.
I came back to the gazebo again where I could be seen by my friends. Then it was time to have lunch. After lunch, we headed towards the pool… the freaking swimming pool! What would a person like me would do with a swim suit? Going into the pool was none of my plan. Nevertheless, I had to buy the suitable clothes(it was not really a swim suit). I just wanted to sit on the edge of the pool with my legs inside the pool. That was my plan. 2 of my friends already went inside it, it was 5 ft. deep. They were just standing in the water, doing nothing. Another friend who stepped in the water and came out immediately ’cause it was too cold. Soon people started asking me to join them. I understood that they won’t let me be this time. Standing inside 5 ft. deep water was far from anything I could imagine. All of a sudden one of my friends threw me into the pool. There was no time to resist or react, the next second I opened my eyes, my body was completely under water. I don’t remember how my head came above the water, my heart was racing too fast… even though my head was outside water, I was struggling to breathe, I was panting… I struggled to find the pole and get out of the water.
The whole thing happened within a minute but it was too much for me, I could not give them another chance to throw me into the pool again. I used to watch detective shows in my childhood. I remember watching one episode where a guy was found dead in a 5 ft. deep swimming pool. Probably for the person who don’t know swimming, even 5 ft water can be a death trap. One more thing I could realize while I was in the water, the water pressure. Please don’t feel like I am over-reacting (I actually am but also overwhelmed with experiencing something new that all of you have experienced in a normal way). The water pressure- it’s like a mild pressure on my body, under water I struggled hard to move in the desired direction.
After all this, I went far away from the people and sat beside the children’s pool which was 3 ft deep. Kids were swimming around, I was sitting on the edge with my legs inside the pool. If I had known to swim it could have been a fun experience. As the depth was quite less, I stepped on the floor, started walking in the water. This time I had little more control.
There was a cool water ride, that ended in a 2 ft. pool. When I came down into the pool through the ride, one of my friends pushed my head into the water for fun. I lost my grip on the air balloon, drowned. It took more time than usual for my body to find some balance, I was in the middle of the pool. I was so desperately reaching for the edge. Now it seems stupid to think that I couldn’t handle even 2 ft. of water… probably that was just the trailer of how it could have ended. Later I heard from the other people, some of them could see me struggling in the water from far but the people who were standing right behind me were not paying attention.
The rest of the trip was just fine but I could not stop thinking about my experience in the pool on that day…
Here’s one important thing to learn, if you ever see one friend or someone who doesn’t know how to swim and you think it would be fun to drag him/her inside the pool, make sure to think twice. ‘Cause no fun is more important than his/her life. Also help your friend to find balance. It might be an easy thing for you but difficult for another person. A little attention can prevent a lot of tragic incident to happen.
That’s all folks! Thanks for reading.
Image Credit : David Romualdo on Unsplash