Even before I learned to swim, I had dreamed of diving deep into seas and floating through colorful coral gardens and rainbow schools of fish.
You can say that I am habitually over-imaginative about the heights or depths I can aspire to reach. Therefore, when the opportunity arose of being posted in a country that consists of over 13000 islands , I took it as a divine signal that diving into the blue depths was in my destiny. But when finally confronted with the challenge of having to tip myself over the boat’s edge into the depths with 30 kilos of scuba gear strapped on and lead weights around my waist, terror took control of my being !
Fighting the rush of ‘flight response” hormones in my bloodstream, I put my trust (and life) in the instructor’s hands, and followed her by just keeling over headfirst into the water from the edge of the boat – and voila , I inadvertently somersaulted in the water and floated upright along with fellow scuba learners !
The next terror to beat down was deflating the BCD (the inflatable neoprene vest divers wear), so we could sink into the water to start our dives. Again – nothing but blind trust to depend on – and then slowly I was sinking down down down, breathing from the air tank through the mouth,till suddenly, the blue fantasyland of the Java sea took over my mindspace and I forgot to be scared
I am really hoping and expecting that BLOGGING will have things in common with my experience of learning to dive. Wanting to have my blogs published and read by many people with interest in subjects I write about – seems to be fraught with an intimidatingly endless amount of preparatory education about the technicalities of electronic media. I have tried to update myself about the basic pre-requisites, and am feeling ready to take the first plunge – so here goes !
I now live in India. A social development professional by training and career, now retired and indulging my passions for travelling, painting, dancing and choreography, and writing. I belong to the generation that began writing with pen and paper, graduated to computers and word processors, but delved into social and web media late in life – only after retiring.
I am talking to you from my perch on the best phase of life – retirement . When you no longer have to make a living , no longer answerable to bosses, no longer responsible for your team performances and bottom lines …. and free to do your own thing – like learning how to become a blogger, or travel to Antarctica …
So here I am, starting to learn how to blog, mainly to share my insights and learning gained from travelling around the world , to all 7 continents , to seek experiences not available on packaged and guided tours. Travel has been my greatest teacher – as for many , so much so that I can say it has shaped the person I am today. And it has been an exhilarating , sometimes scary, often unpredictable but always ultimately rewarding journey , in many senses of the word.
Hope my subsequent posts will interest you and influence your wanderlust positively.
Cheers
Nila
A good beginning. Enjoyed reading your post. Keep at it.