Summer vibes mean pool time! As a quadriplegic, swimming in isn’t just splashing around water — it’s a triumph over limits. Each stroke tells a story of resilience, every ripple a reminder of freedom. In the water, I’m weightless, boundless, and unstoppable. It’s where I find peace and power, defying expectations with every lap.

Swimming is one of my biggest joys and I have great memories associated with it.

Swimming before Spinal Cord Injury

As a kid I once ran away from the swimming pool when my teacher forcefully tried to teach me. She followed me on her scooter all the way home, and I was shouting ‘Bachao Bachao’ to all the strangers on the road People from my hometown might know of this place called Bal Jagat in Nagpur.

Swimming in a Goa resort with cousins

When Nagpur got its first Olympic size swimming pool by NIT, I was the first one to enrol. I had a blast learning to swim. My classmate from school and a fellow learner, Ruchika, would get the plastic cap of a pen, and we would dive into the pool to search for it. I will go here every day at 5 AM… keep my hair open on my way back as I rode the Scooty so that it would dry and I’ll be ready for my class at 7 AM. This is just the beginning of my love affair with water.

My chacha built a beautiful swimming pool at his farmhouse in Junnar, near Pune. When I moved to Mumbai for work I would drive down ~150Kms almost every weekend just to spend hours in the pool. It was the perfect heaven with trees towering the pool.

Swimming after Spinal Cord Injury

The first time I went inside the pool after my spinal cord injury was with Kshitiz. He is a scuba diver/ instructor and has trained to work with people with disabilities. Read more about my experience with him here: https://mrunmaiy.com/into-the-blue-training-for-scuba-diving/

In the swimming pool with Kshitiz and his colleague, wearing a life jacket

In the swimming pool with Kavitha Maam

Since then I went to multiple pools in Nagpur, but everybody refused to let me in. Nobody wanted to take a chance of allowing someone with a disability in the pool. There was no swimming instructor brave enough to work with me. In the last 13 years of SCI, I have found two instructors, one in Nagpur and one in Bangalore with great difficulty. They helped me to relive the joy of being in water.

Finally today my mom is my companion who keeps a close eye on me when we are in the water. I can move my arms in the pool with the belief that she’s got my back. She started learning to swim last year so that she is comfortable handling me in water. The title image of the blog is my mom keeping and watchful eye on me when inside the pool.

Long story in short- when you really want something, the universe will find a way to give it to you. And parents of course are the biggest blessing.

I’m blessed to have a supportive family. It’s only because of them that I’ve been able to have the joy of being in the pool.