VELLORE: Poised on the edge of the farm well, Yazhini is nearly four feet above the surface of the water. There’s no show of hesitation as she dives in; she does a neat lap across the well and meets her father Angmuthu, positioned on the opposite edge of the well. They will be at this for two hours, a step-up from the one-hour sessions she had been used to in the months before the lockdown was put in place. Sidebar: Yazhini is two years old.
For the 43-year-old father, a farmer, teaching his infant daughter to swim was just a matter of aiding her growth; as commonplace as teaching her to pick herself up after a fall. Residing in a quiet corner of Melmonavur in Vellore district, the well in his farmland provided ideal grounds for the exercise too. And so, there was simply no reason to wait.
“It was about six months ago when I first took her to the well. I guided her into the water, holding her hand and letting her get over the initial fear,” Angamuthu narrates. The child responded as well as he could have hoped for. So began the lessons -- with a can tied around her waist, acting as a buoyant, Yazhini got to waddle in the well day after day, kicking and pushing till her limbs grew strong enough to keep her afloat. Now, she swims with support and is comfortable diving from a height of eight feet, Angamuthu declares.
Yazhini’s prowess notwithstanding, he makes sure to be swimming alongside her at every practice session. Just to let her know she is safe around him. That is why her mother Dhanalakshmi has no qualms sending the kid off to the well every day. If anything, she is happy that the child gets to tick this life skill off the list at such a young age. Especially when children below the age of 14 years made up 13 per cent of people who died of drowning in the country in 2018.
Yazhini may have picked up swimming even before she could run well, but she isn’t alone. Her siblings -- Sushmitha (10) and Ashwin (7) -- got there before her. Ashwin, who got his first lessons when he was two-and-a-half years old, is now enrolled in the swimming academy in Kancheepuram. For him, the swimming sessions have progressed from being just a domestic, play-time activity to one with prospects and promise for the future. While teaching his kids to swim came easily to Angamuthu, pushing his son through the grind for what’s to come called for more than just grit and technique. Taking his son back and forth to the academy is enough to burn through the family’s extra cash. Perhaps a free bus pass, courtesy the collector, could let them sustain the lessons and child’s pipeline dreams.