Tags:
Journalism of Courage
MUMBAI, FEBRUARY 8: Last fortnight, India’s only institute for training lifeguards commenced operations at the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) branch, CBD Belapur. On offer at the YMCA Institute of Advanced Aquatic Training and Management is a 50-hour certificate course in practical lifeguarding.
As its American course instructor, Alex Cleveland will tell you, being a lifeguard is not always about “James Bond action or Pamela Lee rescues.” Cleveland (32) is an experienced aquatics specialist from Kentucky, USA, and is here on invitation from the National Council YMCA of India to share his expertise. He says, “If people sign up for the course just because they saw a slick advertisement or a TV serial, they are likely to quit soon. A lifeguard is more about creating a safe environment around the pool. It is more about enforcing rules, patrolling, checking the acidity (ph) level and chlorine count in the water.”
Those in the business concur with Cleveland: lifeguarding is no glamorousprofession. The average Indian lifeguard is most unlike your Baywatch prototypes: He does not wear swimsuits cut by summer fashion designers, does not carry fancy rescue equipment, and is not built like a model.
You need to go no farther than Worli village to find that out. With the ocean lashing at the doorsteps of the village homes, the youth here take to swimming early. At least half a dozen work as lifeguards in city pools, while many others are Water Safety Patrol members, performing honorary service during Ganapati immersions.
Jayendra Thakur is one of the lifeguards. He works at Otters, Bandra. “It is no lucrative job. After long hours, at times in two shifts, we get Rs 1,000-2,000. It is only love for the water and hope for a better future that keep us on.”
For the city’s lifeguards, hope is a job with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). “Lifeguards at BMC pools and city beaches get a regular salary. But you know how difficult it is to get into the BMC,” Jeeva, another lifeguardfrom the village, says.
These are the youth who enrol for the YMCA course, hoping the certificate will push them a couple of rungs higher in the ladder — may be fetch them a more paying job abroad.
For precedent, there is Thakur’s neighbour, Murugan Shanmugan (27), a triathlete who spent his childhood swimming in the ocean behind his house. He quit a peon’s job in a Dadar printing press to become a lifeguard. “I just wanted to be of service to others. I like being a lifeguard, I can save lives that way,” he explains.
While working at Police pool, Tardeo, Murugan enrolled for Cleveland’s one-off course two years ago. It helped him land a job in Doha, Qatar. Murugan is the only Indian lifeguard there.
He says the training under Cleveland helps him perform his job competently. “I was already a lifeguard, but the programme taught me correct rescue techniques and gave me tremendous confidence.” He cites the cardio-vascular pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) technique he learnt as a skill every lifeguardmust know. “If it is not done in the right way, the lifeguard can snap a bone in the victim’s chest.”
Murugan says he got to deploy the rescue techniques on two occasions in Doha: “Once I pulled out a 19-year-old boy who jumped in the deep end; the second time, it was a three-year baby. The parents had left him in the mini pool and the baby fell asleep!”
Even as Murugan endorses Cleveland’s course, the YMCA is holding discussions with government authorities to get official nod for the programme.
Leo Salins of Belapur YMCA says, “Apart from lifeguard training, the institute also offers training in pool management and progressive techniques for swimming instructors. The aim is to develop a sound aquatic culture in India.” The timing could not have been more accurate. With a number of water theme parks and resorts springing up in the country, the demand for trained specialists is only going to rise.
