Swimming lessons with Dr Sanghavi
DIPNA JACOB DRIVEN by the passion to swim and explore the underwater life, Dr Ragendra Sanghavi has been teaching people in Muscat to swim since 1984 free without expecting anything in return.
A medical doctor by profession, Dr Sanghavi has taught swimming to more than 1,000 interested students in the past 32 years.
“I started swimming in 1984 at the beach near InterContinental Hotel. The sea is very shallow, the water table is very gradual, and a beautiful place for learners. However after 1989, due to traffic, we shifted to Qantab beach. Qantab again is a beautiful beach where the depth of the water is very gradual and I have been swimming there for more than 25 years. I coached many students at Qantab. It is my passion to swim and to teach swimming to others. When I see people standing on the shore, I would go to them and ask, even though I am a complete stranger, ‘Do you know swimming? Would you like to learn swimming?’ This way, I had offered to teach many to swim. Gradually my team had expanded. More than 1,000 people must have had learnt swimming from me. But then, after learning to swim, many people dropped out and stopped coming.”
Dubbed as Alawi Swimming Academy, named after the clinic Dr Sanghavi is practising medi- cine, currently, the swimming group comprises more than 155 students learning swimming from Dr Sanghavi and 11 other coaches, whom he had groomed, on Fridays and Saturdays early morning at Kalbuh Park. Dr Sanghavi owes his success and philanthropic activity to his wife Mainakee Sanghavi who has been a pillar of support all these years in continuing his coaching activities.
With the summer kicking in and as one of the refreshing sport, Dr Sanghavi spoke about the benefits of swimming saying, “Swimming is considered as one of the best exercises. The reason behind is that there is no gravity effect in the water and almost all the muscles of the body get into action. Also in swimming, we practise the rhythmical breathing, which is called pranayama. If we do freestyle swimming, we reap the double benefit of exercise and pranayama through one sport. Swimming in the sea is again very beneficial for the skin as you are with nature and not exposed to any kind of chemicals like in the pool. The bonus benefit is that you get to see a lot of new and beautiful creatures in the sea.”
Dr Sanghavi always advises his students to drink a lot of water and to snack on a banana or dates before swimming in the sea. “The reason behind eating bananas or dates and drinking ample quantity of water is to hike up the energy to swim a long distance. When you are learning to swim, you might not swim long distance but you waste a lot of energy. Then if you are on an empty stomach, you will give up because you will feel weak. Drinking a lot of fluid, especially water is a must. Otherwise, if the body does not have enough water you get leg cramp. God forbid that if you are in the deep sea and suddenly you get leg cramp, you will create an emergency. To avoid the emergency, it is better to eat something before you come and drink plenty of water. So you can sustain it for at least one and a half to two hours.”
He added, “Usually, the cramp is the commonest emergency we have seen. However thanks to God, because of the sea water, buoyancy is more, usually the person if we comfort him or her, they float.
“If the person is in the shallow water, we try to stretch them and relieve the cramp. If the person is in deep where he or she cannot stand, we reassure the person with confidence and try to bring him to the shore and stretch them.”
Krishna K. Nair, one of the coaches added, “Through experience, we will able to feel when we are getting a cramp. Immediately we have to slow down. The most common place one gets cramp is in the leg. When you feel like getting cramps in the leg, float on your back and keep