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A sea of reminiscences
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Old-timers who swam in the sea as a hobby still regard a walk on the seashore as an exhilarating pastime...
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THERE IS a legitimate concern about the degradation of our beaches because we have learnt to appreciate them in more ways than one as a national asset. As a frequent sea-bather in the past, I am reminded of the days when the Marina Beach, right across the road facing Queen Mary's College, was a swimmer's paradise in the mornings with the sands litter-free with absolutely no hawkers around.
My mind goes back to1949 when I visited the beach every morning for a swim along with a companion, an English professor. Elliot's Beach was also a spot for swimmers during those days, but it was a little far away and had earned an ill-merited reputation of being a risky place to bathe because of the toll of accidental drownings reported. As a grim reminder, there was a stone memorial on Elliot's Beach to a Danish sailor who lost his life in a rescue operation.
Well, returning to the paradise that it was, Marina Beach, vivid are the memories of A.A. Hayles, the editor of the daily The Madras Mail. He was the president of the Madras Seabather's Association. Every morning he would enter the waters where it was least rough and for 45 minutes dog-paddle, hardly ever shifting his location. I came to know that he was once a swimmer who could venture out to the middle of the sea, but with encroaching, he preferred the dog-paddle which offered sufficient exercise to keep him in the pink of health.
There were two life-saving guards on the payroll of the Association and while they were required to be in the ocean keeping watch, they were often seen amusing themselves in conversation, looking away from the ocean. No sooner than they spotted Hayles' car at a distance they would jump into the waters and start swimming around for fear of getting a blasting from the boss for dereliction of duties.
I learnt from Hayles one day that with his appetite nicely worked up by his swim, he would go home to enjoy a hearty lunch and thereafter return to the office to write the editorial and attend to other newspaper chores. The editorial would be written as his paper was an eveninger, and it was important that he commented on what was up-to-date and by the same token, topical.
Another luminary of the time who was an ocean-addict at the Marina was S.K. Chettur of the Indian Civil Service, known for his literary interests, and contributing to The Hindu in those days. He once mooted the idea of installing a wire-net of sorts to prevent swimmers from straying out far into the risky waters, but the plan fell through.
Talking of writers and editors who were sea swimmers, there are quite a few others too. Byron swam the Hellespont, and among Indians there was the V.D. Savarkar who made his escape from a ship mid-sea. Malcolm Muggeridge while teaching in Alwaye (Kerala) earned a reputation as swimmer, and as foremost figure in the Fourth Estate, he recounts his fascinating chronicles about his swimming during wartime across the oceans, off-the-coast of Mozambique, though the episode described, happened to be a trifle morbid.
Pothan Joseph who never missed a weekend at the Juhu Beach during his long years in Bombay mentions in his memoirs: "The greatest thrill I had was in saving a young man from drowning in the Juhu sea. It was risky, and his young bride was screaming from the shore. When he was saved she explained her relief". Old timers who are no more able to swim, for one reason of the other, still regard a walk on the seashore as amongst the more exhilarating of pastimes. It's not only the ozone that stimulates but as some psychologists confirm, the sensuous sound of the ocean by itself acts as a tranquillizer.
JAIBOY JOSEPH
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