Down deep to the bottom of the river it was a death chamber where some casualty or the other used to occur every now and then when some enthusiasts had a swim to a particular spot from where they never returned or returned dead. It was river Saryu flowing by the side of my school 3 KM away from my house. I was in my early teens. There was strict monitoring to see that no boys are allowed to go to the side of the river which used to get turbulentlly violent with its waves turning more and more aggressive at times. There were two minaret sort of pillars from where the expert swimmers and divers used to take a plunge into the river to adventurously enjoy its ferocious mood. To satisfy my anxiety as to what could it be there at the bottom of the river that caused some casualty every now and then, I couldn't resist my temptation to reach the spot to know the mystery. I had to swim the distance, take a dive on the spot and reach the point. I got breathless and had to abandon the search reaching the surface back. I tried again and this time I was able to locate a big log lying across the river. This log had a big gap in between which gave way to stormy currents of waves passing through it doubling in strength and pressure on account of the passage being too narrow to accommodate them and it was the very point where divers lost their control and were swallowed by the powerful gush of waves. Realising the situation, I clung to the log with whatever resistance I could afford not allowing the pressure of the currents to overtake me dragging me to a drowning point. Almost half dead in the process, I could somehow manage to reach back the surface. When I shared the mystsery with others, they were shocked in amazement but were equally so joyous on the great suspense being over. The news broke like a wild fire, huge crowd was there and the event was celebrated as if it was a big victory.
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