The plan
Thonnur lake is 30 km's from Mysore, and around 130 kms from Bangalore. We'd have to take the Bangalore-Mysore highway and then deviate from it somewhere along the way in order to reach the lake. Since a few of us wanted to return soon, we decided to leave the city at 5 in the morning. It was Friday now, and I had barely done any swimming all week even though I have a swimming pool right inside my apartment. Naveen, on the other hand, had been going to the pool near his house, where we had both swam together on multiple occasions, all week long and was ready for the long swim on Saturday. Since we were starting from Naveen's place at 4.30 in the morning, I'd have to leave my house by at least 4, which meant that I'd have to hit the sack at sometime around 9 in order to get a good nights rest. Well, that didn't happen, and I ended up staying awake all night playing counter-strike.
I reached Naveen's place at 4.30 am, sharp. However, Ram was running late and that gave us time to watch a couple of Youtube videos on how to tread water effortlessly and how to save a drowning person. It was 5.30 when he came and we got into the car. We were 4 of us now, and after picking up one more person we were on our way to Thonnur. After searching the town for a while, we found a decent place to have breakfast and then continued with the journey. Only 10 percent of the journey was left, as per Ram. The approach to the lake was such that the parking was on the left side and on the right there was a long sandy bund that ran along the periphery of the lake, from which a couple of steps descended. People from nearby villages often use these steps to place prayer garlands in the water and perform Hindu rituals.
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| The lake bund |
Taking the plunge
We reached the first rest point, which was this cluster of boulders rising out from the mainland on the right, which was almost midway to our destination. Naveen and I were the first to reach here and were already running out of breath as we were used to swimming fast, rather than farther. Rambala swam at a much more relaxed pace than us, and was really good at maintaining a steady breath rate. He was totally calm and relaxed when he came, and didn't look like he needed a break. We waited for 5 more minutes, took a couple of deep breaths, and then resumed the swim to the beach. It was during this second leg that I realized how important it was to maintain a steady stroke and breath rate, as just within a few minutes of starting, Naveen and Ram were way ahead of me. They were so far ahead, that they reached the beach with 20 minutes to spare before I could reach them. I took plenty of breaks in between to take deep breaths in the water, the first thing that one learns during swimming classes.
When I did finally reach the beach, Naveen and Ram were ready to start for the bund. I asked them to spare me a few more minutes to rest and they obliged. I definitely did not want to swim alone while going back, just like how I had to while getting here. We waited for ten minutes and then started for the bund. This time we had to give double the effort while swimming as the wind was blowing in the opposite direction and was pushing us towards the rocks on the left. It was Ram who started first on the way back, and Naveen and I kept guessing why he kept swimming towards the rocks on the left instead of just straight. It was only when we ourselves started swimming, that we found out why. After a while, the three of us were pretty much in a line on the extreme left of our intended return route, and had to keep making corrections every now and then in order to stay in the center of it.
The water was choppy, the wind was blowing heavily, and I now had to turn my neck towards the left to breathe, instead of right, in order to prevent myself from being hit by water on every breath turn. It was hard, but not impossible. I also had to keep swimming towards my right, just to stay on a straight line that would lead to the bund. This time, Naveen and Ram were far far away and I could not even meet them at the rest point in the middle. I was totally worn out by the time I reached the rocks as we had to make double the effort to swim at a good pace, so I spent quite a while resting there and could see Ram and Naveen almost reaching the bund. A couple of village kids had also reached that spot by then and were watching us swim in sheer disbelief. I got out of the water and sat on a boulder for five more minutes and then started for the bund. By this time, Naveen and Ram had already reached it and were waiting for me.
Back to the city
I took another good 20 minutes to reach them, and after that, started changing into casuals and packing up. Between the three of us, we calculated that we would have swum a total distance of around 1.5 kms, although we felt like we had done 3kms owing to the extra effort we had to put in while getting back. We then took a couple of group photos and then left from there by 11.30. We had an early lunch at one of the restaurants on the highway. It was just noon, but the crowd in the restaurant wasn't slim. I guess everyone was just taking a break from driving on the highway. Since it wasn't lunch time yet, the restaurant did not serve lunch items and we had to make do with whatever else they had. I felt like I was having a second breakfast. However, long distance swimming and post swim hunger makes you appreciate anything that you feed your body with and so, we all ate much more food than we would usually do.
We reached the city at 3.30, bid our goodbyes as each got dropped at their respective drop points. I got back to Naveen's place and then we went out to get some food. We ate again since the restaurant food wasn't sufficient, chatted for a while before sleep started kicking in for me. I then remembered that I hadn't slept for 32 hours straight, so immediately left for home after eating. I reached home withing 20 minutes, and went straight to bed. Nope, the sleep attack was too bad to even shower before getting into the bed. I was really happy with my newly acquired confidence of treading open waters. I woke up sometime in the night again and went back to sleep. When I woke up again, I got to know that I had slept for 16 hours straight. Now that was something! I promised myself never to go sleep deprived again; if I didn't sleep well, I wouldn't go for the swim.
