MARSHA'S MEMOIRS : WHEN THE ORIGINAL HOME BECKONED...

Following write-up is about my visit to India also my experience as a swimmer in India, which was originally published in www.daijiworld.com
Introduction by: www.daijiworld.com Editor-in-chief: Our young contributor Marsha occasionally finds time to write for us, amidst her extremely busy school and extra-curicular schedule. Since her last write-up in Daijiworld, she has had more feathers in her cap. In March 2006, her essay about her hobbies got published in Duke University TIPS newsletter. On April 22, 2006 she won the first place in cross country race at the Tulip Time Scholarship Games held by the Children's Better Health Institute, Indianapolis, Indiana. Besides, she won the first place in a Golf competition too, helping her win a $5000 college scholarship award. She missed the 1st place in swimming by just a three-fourth of a second. Unfortunately, there was no award for 2nd place winner.

August 3, 2006
Last time when I visited India, I was five years old but I remember most of my trip. I remember staying at my grandmother's house spending time with cousins.
Whenever I played with cats and dogs, my grandmother saying: "Chi, chi, Marsha… Don't touch the animals", Watching the way hens cluck, cluck and the peacocks flying around my grandma's coconut farm in the twilight hours of monsoon season and playing with the calves and a baby monkey at the house of one of my relatives who owned a huge farm in a place called Bilyadi... Also, I remember so vividly our taking a boat ride in a flooded river bank at a place called Udyavara.

Sometime in March this year, when my parents announced we were going to India I was really excited. Once again, I was eager to experience the sight, sound, scent and the taste of India and I had a goal to achieve in mind. I wanted to win a national medal in a swim meet in India. Finally, with the help of dual citizenship, which has been introduced by Indian government, I was able to compete. In order to be eligible for the competition, I became a member of the Swimming Federation of India and a member of Young challengers Swim Club, Bangalore.

The last few days before our trip were awfully hectic. Since we were leaving 10 days before our school closed for summer, my brother and I had to finish all our school work. But shopping for gifts for my cousins in India and helping my mom to pack suitcases the night before we left USA was pleasurable.

Oh, Bangalore !:Our journey was way too long to bear. We had 8 hours of layover in Detroit, 7 hours in Amsterdam, and three hours in Mumbai before we reached Bangalore Club guest house. My parents chose this guest house to be closer to the practice pool at the Bishop Cotton's Girls' School. Bangalore Club is one of the oldest, English-style clubs around India. Even though it had problems with the hot water and the menu, overall we had a fine experience at the club.

The next day, when I went to Bishop Cotton Girls' School pool for my much-awaited practice under a well-known coach Mohite, my enthusiasm quickly faded after swimming just a few laps. Even though my father, who had represented Karnataka state in athletics, had warned me about the challenges I might face with the environment and the method of coaching, I had not realized I had to swim in almost subzero water temperature and go through gruelling practice of almost 3 – 4 hours a day.

In the U.S., I had gotten spoiled with a heated pool with controlled temperature of 80 - 81°F (swimmers complain even if the temperature went down by just 3-5 degrees Fahrenheit). Since the school had a brand new indoor pool, it had no water heater installed as yet and I was frozen, my lips turned blue. I couldn't even feel my skin 2 hours after I got out of the pool.

Swimming against the current Though I was swimming along with high school swimmers in the U.S., I had practised just an hour-and-a-half a day with very friendly coaching method. Tears were rolling down while swimming, after swimming for 15 – 20 minutes. Coach Mohite said to me, "Marsha, I have so much of water in the pool, I don't need any tears!" I could not imagine how other swimmers at the pool were swimming in freezing water!

When I complained to him about the temperature of the water, he told me, "Why don't you swim fast? If you swim fast, you will not feel the water. OK, get into the pool and swim fast". If I complained about the cramps, after swimming backstrokes, he said. "Okay Marsha, let's work on breaststroke now. To be the better swimmer, you have to work on all the strokes". Also on different occasions, coach Mohite said to me, "To be the best, you need to tolerate the pain and dream about the medal! Do you realize you will be swimming against the best of the best swimmers of India in Karnataka state meet? Do you want to just participate in a state meet or win a medal in it? Are you ready to win a medal in a national level?" After a couple of days of my training, my mom couldn't handle my tears anymore. She gave me the option of either sticking to the training and swim up to the expectations of coach Mohite, or quit swimming and go back to my grand mother's house. After all, Coach Mohite was doing a favour by giving his valuable time to coach me. I had never been a quitter and I didn't want to quit that easily now. I wanted to go through all way to national level. I opted for my mom's first option. After 3-4 days, I stopped crying because I started dreaming about the medal. Also, I kind of got used to the temperature (not totally). Mangalore break
Karnataka state swim meet in Mangalore was a different and pleasurable experience. In contrast to the US, where outdoor swim meets are cancelled when it thundered or rained heavily, I had to practise and compete in a meet held under a pouring rain. Recently, southeastern states swim meet in the US was was cancelled and postponed for a day due to electricity outage, but in Mangalore… organizers were equipped with back-up electricity power generator. Unlike in the US, where I am known as the "Indian girl" in swim meets, I was delighted to see a whole lot of them in a competition. In a state competition, I bagged a silver medal in 50 metres backstroke and bronze medal in 100 metres backstroke. I got selected for 50 metres backstroke event to represent Karnataka state in a national level competition.

Hard work paid off: After the state meet, Coach Mohite continued to motivate me for the national competition. I went through a gruelling 3 – 4 hours' practice a day, sometimes just getting a half an hour break in between. National Competition was held at the Jain International residential school swimming pool. State-of-the-art, Olympic-size JIS swimming pool was one of the best I have swam in thus far. Swimmers had flocked from all over India to take part in this huge annual event. Wearing a Karnataka state uniform, taking part in a march-past at the opening and closing ceremony was the highlight of the swim meet. Most of all, making it all the way through the finals and winning a bronze medal was the paramount event of my trip. It was a payback after going through the toughest training under a dedicated coach Mohite. After the meet, I went through two more weeks of training. Before I left, I promised my coach to work harder and dream for the gold.

Sweet memories: Visiting the office of Daijiworld crew in Mangalore was one of the memorable experiences of my trip to India. At last, I was able to see how the office looks like and the how the crew functions! I was overwhelmed by the warm welcome I got from each and everyone at the office. After corresponding through emails with the editor for so long, I was able to meet him personally. They gave me a beautiful present too. I have carried it safely and placed it on my dresser table.

Since I had to swim at the southeastern swim meet in the U.S., I had to get back to the US early. I have come back to Johnson City with packed with pleasant memories visiting the Daijiworld office. I have learned from coach Mohite how to be the better swimmer.

Marsha and her brother Vivek with Daijiworld's Mangalore teamMost of all, I have been cherishing the fond memories of eating juicy, ripe mallika mangoes (much tastier than the mangos we get here. I hope, the US government will allow them to be imported soon) and alluringly tasteful jackfruit, making new friends, playing cricket with my grandma's neighbourhood kids, playing with a month-old kittens, a new stray puppy that I made my aunt adopt and whatever limited time I spent with my grandma, cousins and the rest of my relatives.