Till last month, T. Shiney, a second-year M.Sc. student at Union Christian College, Aluva, didn’t know how to swim.
Then after 15 days of training, she swam across the Periyar, not once but twice before another exhilarating swimming session lasting over an hour in Vembanad Lake.
Ms. Shiney was among the seven athletes, including six girls, from UC College to achieve the feat, thanks to training by Saji Valasseril, who has been guiding children and elders alike in the Periyar for the past 10 years.
“In February, a girl from our college drowned in the Periyar. That coupled with the desire to learn swimming from childhood motivated me. The coach was also very helpful and attentive to even minute details,” she said.
Swimming seems to have emerged as the new-found passion of students, and at least a section of the faculty members of the college. R. Reshmi, a faculty member of the physics department, also swam across the Periyar earlier this month.
Initially, the physical education department of the college sent 15 students for swimming lessons at its own risk. Eight of them left midway to participate in various sporting events.
“We plan to take it up as a campaign from the next academic year since a majority of students don’t know how to swim. If at least 25% of students learn to swim, that would be an achievement.
After last year’s flood, students also seem to be interested in learning swimming. An awareness class by Mr. Valasseril for students and parents on the need to acquire a survival skill like swimming is also being planned,” said M. Bindu, a faculty of the physical education department, who herself is now learning swimming with an eye to cross the Periyar.
Another four students in the immediate neighbourhood of the college have already started attending training sessions.
Mr. Valasseril said he was prepared to coach a batch of up to 300 students from the college.
Though he does not usually accept students without their parents to monitor their coaching, Mr. Valasseril was prepared to make a compromise for college students considering that it would not be practical for parents from far-flung areas to accompany their wards.
“It would be fine if 10 parents for every 20 students were present during training,” he said.