Please read the chapters in order starting from Drowning — Chapter 0
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By now Varuns gasps had turned into more desperate cries of “Aaaahhh…”
I glanced at him and saw a horrible sight. He was being flung back and forth, completely bukakked by Mother Nature. Imagine yourself at the end of a massive sprint, and then multiply it by 10 — that’s what his face looked like, red like the sun.
Through my struggling paddles I had been able to swim away a little from my spot. I was trying to follow a few wave breaks, I was trying to mix a bit of parallel swim with a forward dash, Even I was struggling to float for long without tiring myself.
I was floating on my back to get some air and trying to motion Varun to do the same, but he was no longer in a sound state of mind. A combination of not having his glasses or lenses, having swallowed the saline water, and drowning had sent his senses to overdrive.
I had a choice to make, either swim to the shore by myself and call the lifeguards or go back there with Varun, and wait for help. His gasps had started growing dimmer. I could already see bodies wrapped up in white sheets.
By this time I had started a timer in my head. It’s called 3, 3, 3 — or the three threes. The rule goes something like this — an average human may survive — 3 weeks without food, 3 days without water, and 3 minutes without breath. That number probably shrinks further when you are drowning.
I felt somehow that there was no point in going back alone, not without Varun. As dim and dark I was, returning alone would be futile. That guilt would be impossible to recover from.
There was a real chance that we would both tire out and drown. So I decided to make peace with everything — mum, dad, 27, an unfulfilled life & whoever and stopped thinking. After a grand total of 10 seconds of thought and rest, I turned around.
“Varun! Varun! back par jaa — aa raha hoon!”
I tried to freestyle in his direction. About 15 seconds in, I could no longer hear Varun's flailing cry. I couldn’t hear his cries of “Aaah” anymore. I popped my head out to confirm with my eyes what my ears were informing me. Yes! his luminous trunks were no longer visible.
I lost my head in that moment as well. I lost all emergency composure and calmness I had initially exhibited. Immediately I screamed for help in SUpratiks direction and I swam. I may never have swum harder in my life in the past. With every stroke a new image would pop in my head — Lifeguards recovering our corpses, White sheets over our bodies, Supratik making the call to our homes, how would he call my home — he didn’t have my mother’s number — Oh yes — he would tell Utkarsh and Pranay and they would inform — our parents, my sister would have to fly back from London, they’d all be inconsolable, Supratik scarred and traumatized, all my friends getting the news. It felt like it was all too sudden. I had always felt that I would have some time to plan my departure.
Above all, I didn’t think Varun would make it. It had been 12 seconds since I had heard him make that God-awful, swine-like gasp for a breath. It may not sound much, but the effects of time are grossly magnified when one is in a state of mental emergency and life-threatening panic.
By the time I reached his spot, somehow by sheer will, he had managed to pull himself out of the violent whirlpool. I immediately gave him a swimming shoulder to rest on. I asked him to get on his back, for the back float does not require any effort, but this was in vain. Varun was in no control.
I continued shouting for help. And we waited!
I am not sure if I could hear Varun gasp anymore but he was resting on my shoulder. He was now breathing normally without making that haunting sound. I was on my back. I tried to float with him holding me. We couldn’t move. I was too tired to put in the effort anyways. I stopped trying. I was in relief already. Dying together was better than surviving alone.
After what might have been a minute or two I finally saw HIM….. Jesus!
He swam gallantly across the distance as if he indeed could walk on water. His long hair somehow, didn’t bother him at all. JESUS knows what JESUS does, and his ways are not my ways — for God moves mysteriously. He reached out to us and extended his arm. I asked him to take Varun first. Off they went, with Jesus rescuing his sheep. I could rest now. I wasn’t afraid anymore. I must have waited for 4 or 5 minutes while I waited for more help to arrive. I did not really want to swim anymore.
I saw Supratik through my peripheral vision, running around like a madman. I had stopped screaming for help a few minutes ago. I was simply floating on my back. Suddenly, I saw a lifeguard running with a surfboard toward me. He floated like a leaf with the board, paddling small, quick flaps. He reached my spot in no time. However, it felt like a trap, because the rips are notoriously hard to get away from if you don’t swim parallel.
He asked me to hold the board as he tried to make his way to the shore. We must have been off-coast significantly by now because the lifeguard couldn’t swim either.
About 20 seconds later, another lifeguard in a jet ski arrived at our point to yield us some helpful current through his motor. With the assisted current we swam safely back to the shore.
I was not in shock, however, I should have been, because Supratik saw me and hugged. He blasted, “DUde, are you okay?” I replied smiling sheepishly, “Yeah! Where’s Varun?” I was really no longer in shock. I was back to normal the moment I saw Jesus. Supratik did not like it.
And then began his roasting — “Not funny at all, ANISH.”
Everything’s funny if you are stupid enough!