I was in my early twenties and in college.. at an age when guys do crazy things and later when their hairlines recede think " hey, did I do all those things?". Well, one day we decided to go swimming at Thirumullavaram beach in Kollam - I had a few litres of toddy (the kallushappu was startegically placed near the beach) coursing through my veins... I was wearing a bermuda borrowed from a friend (which, when filled with water, used to slip down every other minute) and was serenely floating to viewers on the beach- the fact - I was testing my knowledge of acrobatics, desparately trying to find my feet on the shifting sea bed...
Ben, my good friend, was proudly showing off his scuba diving equipment (now am I exaggerating, he had a snorkel anyways..) gifted by his sister who had settled in Ireland, and thought it was a good time to come up underwater and pull my leg. It was unfortunate for me that I had just seen Jaws, the movie, Part I, just the day before and images of sharks ripping off human legs were vivid on my mind. The next thing I remember I had my lungs full of water and was struggling to breathe. I was sure that I had been caught by a blood thirsty tiger shark and for a moment I imagined that my legs had gone. Well, my friends came to my "rescue" and after bringing up all the seawater and the precious half-cooked "kallu" from my lungs, I felt better. But the incident made me decide that I would never go into the water again! Never!. I did'nt know swimming then, and never bothered to learn it. In later years I did go boating and I really love to do that if given the chance again. But there are times when I think whether the fun is worth it....
That brings me back to the subject I wanted to talk about - the recent tragedy at Thekkady -all those good people were there to get a chance to enjoy their hard earned holidays and one boat has shattered their dreams and the future of those young ones..
They would be alive now if the boat operators had a standard practice of issuing life jackets, especially when this boat had enough on board..
Well, now tourists have become a little more conscious of safety - they have started asking for life jackets. This will definitely help the government to make lifejackets mandatory for all tourists and those people who have to depend on boats for their transportation needs as other modes are not available.
I hope the government will do the needful to help save lives in the future by issuing the promised rules and regulations announced post accident. Or will it be another face saving exercise till the next tragedy?
What is the price of fun?
