Encounter with a Deadly Sea.

My childhood is a concoction of memories . I was about 7 - 8 years when with my family I went to visit my native place . It was our summer holidays ; a transition period between two terms in schools. Like all other summer holidays, that summer we went to visit my uncle and my cousins living in a small village on the border of Kerala and Karnataka. This place is a coast for Arabian Sea ( the sea which we only saw in our text book and atlas maps).

One day my dad , my brother and few other cousins and myself (the only girl in the male group) went out to the beach in the dusk. I do not know to swim , unlike my cousins , who would run towards water getting undressed and jump into the salty water and swim , I would just watch them swim holding onto dad's hand and wished that I could also swim like them like a fish. I was getting bored that day and so I decided to play a game.

My game was very simple , the rule was never to get my feet wet or washed by waves. So I would run away from the waves when the waves would hit the shore and run towards the sea when the waves retreated or died on the shore and wait for another wave to come . When the other wave came , I would again run away from the sea. I continued to play this for a while and then this accident occurred.

One of the wave held my foot and dragged me into the sea. I was completely drowned in the water . I closed my eyes and opened my mouth to scream but ended up drinking salt water. I had also drawn sea water into my lungs. As I coughed to expel the ingested water in my lungs , I would in turn draw more water in my lungs. I was panicking . I rose my hand crying for help but in vain. All my cousins were in the sea and my dad was busy talking to my brother. I was left alone to battle my situation .

To my luck , one of my cousin had just come to shore after his swim. He noticed my absence and started to look out for me and then he saw my little finger popping out of water . He did not realise it was me but he ran towards me to rescue . He held my little finger and pulled me out of the vicious sea . I was exhausted .My body was coated with a layer of sand . Taking deep breathe and coughing out all the salt water , I felt very relieved. I saw the dark side of the sea . My dad , my brother and cousins just walked off like nothing major had happened. I was quiet shocked at their reaction. I thought how heartless these men were who do not realise I had just escaped my death. As I walked along with the men back home , I turned my face to look at the deadly sea for the last time. I saw the sea grinning as if telling me " You will not get a second chance."