It was a hot summers day and Rachana did mention that a swim in the dam would be a good idea to cool off and relax before the afternoon session.
My stomach did a somersault.
"Nothing to wear" I quickly replied, and went off to hide under a tree, in order to get "spiritual". Really I was afraid of getting myself muddy and dirty.
It was lonely under the tree.
After a while being on my own was not to my liking, and in the distance I could hear sounds of women laughing and singing. So I walked up to the dam, to watch, and just be an observer.
I was definitely not going in the water.
But when I arrived I got a big surprise, the water was winking with thousands of eyes, and out on a log sat a dozen or so women, all covered in mud, looking wild and forbidding.
Like sirens of old, they beckoned me in , calling out to join them, to be one of them.
I looked at the scene, the mud and the water, and then I took off my clothes, stood and shouted and waved - and along with my dress I discarded my mother's well behaved daughter.
The mud squished up between my toes.
What relief I felt as I sank down and got wet, and right then and there I decided to get as muddy as I possibly could, and swam
to that log as fast as I could.
Oh it felt great.
Once up on that log, my sisters lovingly transformed me - from heat to toe I was plastered with mud, and my hair was decorated in
the very best leaves and twigs that nature could give.
I was so happy.
And when they were finished I looked just like them, one of earth's original daughters, newly emerged from deep primordial waters.
Swimming in the dam can be an enlightening experience.
