Nearly 400 people across varying age groups attended the Mumbai Underwater Festival at the Prabodhan Thackeray Sports Complex in Vile Parle on Saturday. The two-day festival, organised by Finkick Adventures, offered various activities including scuba diving, snorkelling, water hockey, under water obstacle course (for certified divers only), underwater Tic Tac Toe and a few talks by experts at the 50-meter, Olympic-sized swimming pool.
Nearly 400 people across varying age groups attended the Mumbai Underwater Festival at the Prabodhan Thackeray Sports Complex in Vile Parle on Saturday. The two-day festival, organised by Finkick Adventures, offered various activities including scuba diving, snorkelling, water hockey, under water obstacle course (for certified divers only), underwater Tic Tac Toe and a few talks by experts at the 50-meter, Olympic-sized swimming pool.
Three differently-abled participants — Mrunmai Abarol, Virali Modi and Ashok Munne — too took the plunge to partake in the activities. To manage the participants, 16 trainers, 10 lifeguards and 37 volunteers were present.
Photographer Digant Desai, disabled rights activist Virali Modi, and Finkick Adventures co-founder Kshitij Mittal shared their. While Mittal spoke about his work where he introduces people with disability to diving, Desai enthralled the audience with photographs that he clicked while diving in the oceans across the world. "I didn't think it would be possible for me to dive, but here I am! The experience has left me in awe," said Modi. "I feel it is necessary that people should be made aware that diving can be done by anyone, including people with disabilities. The body is weightless underwater so there is no need for fear."
Can't swim? You can scuba dive as I did
A pervading myth attached to the diving experience is that a person needs to know how to swim. When I entered the pool at the Mumbai Underwater Festival, an instructor told me that this isn't true. "Anyone who wants to scuba dive can indeed do it, swimming isn't a prerequisite."
I was made to start with snorkelling, for which we spent half an hour practising breathing through the snorkel while going to the bottom of the 7-foot pool.
The key, an instructor explained, is to relax and focus on breathing through the mouth. After some initial discomfort, I got used to breathing through the equipment and swimming through the water. Since I'm a not a swimmer, the dive fins helped, while the breathing was taken care of with the help of the snorkel. To make it more interesting, underwater hockey was clubbed with this activity, where participants were split into two teams. We had to go to the base of the pool and strike at a mini goal post in one of the corners.
An hour after frolicking underwater, I was taken to the deeper end of the pool, which was about 17 feet deep. During a clear briefing session, the instructor shared the technical details of the sport, helped strap oxygen cylinders on us and sent us to dive. The most important part of the scuba is to manage the water pressure that increases as you do deeper into the water. This was a bit unnerving, but the trainers were extremely helpful, and helped me stay calm through the entire scuba experience.
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 "Mumbai Underwater Festival")
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