Invictus

One May day Feli came back home from her swimming at Blue Trident and announced that she was signed up to participate in a national level swimming competition at Hyderabad in early July. All of us were super excited from the get go.

I and Sam relayed this thrilling news to Joe when he came to help set up house on May 29th. And Feli told him she was starting training in June. He congratulated her and said this was exciting. Then she told us how she was going to start learning how to dive in June. This rather gave him pause and he asked if he heard right and she was only just learning how to dive and she was competing in July? She nodded and said: yes, I’m learning how to dive in June. As someone who had assumed by ‘training’, she’d meant more like finesse and extra details, and not learning the basics, he expressed certain lament. Which we realise was understandable. And perhaps, should have been a given.

It only hit me then that in my immense excitement over her news, I’d not even thought about her not knowing how to dive. Yet. But I guess that’s what sisters do: insane support even for the most mental Herculean tasks. As long as my sister wants to do this, I support, kind of a deal.

And so it was that she trained for a month. And she did train hard. Sometimes her muscles were sore and she could only raise her arms a certain height. But it did not deter her from trying. She’d drive a long distance out, rain or shine, and trained. She’d belly-flop but she did not give up. In time, she could dive. And as she puts it, increased her lung power. She fully intends to make use of this newfound lung power to good music use. I love this indomitable spirit of hers. We all do. She is in our constant prayers.

When we dropped her off at Lengpui airport, her team lined up to take pictures. Five girls with determined looks on their faces, each wearing their own ID cards around their necks, holding their banner up, smiling for the camera. Someone mentioned how other Indian states would probably send in a hundred swimmers, people who’ve been prepping for ages. They started to resemble those five escaped aquarium fishes from Finding Nemo. Alternatively, an image starts getting conjured in our heads of a sea of Rottweilers standing around, all grim and tall. And there in their midst, five little fluffy white hill dogs, heads raised and chins up.

Perhaps we are not just rooting for the underdogs; perhaps we are rooting for the under-puppies. Nonetheless, here they are, masters of their fates, captains of their destinies. I love this team. I hope they win. I hope they have fun. I hope this event will always remain a core happy memory. I hope to hear good stories when they come back home. I’d drink to that.