Swimming has been my secret productivity tool. I don’t just go to the pool for fun or fitness—it’s where I get some of my best thinking done. But let me start from the beginning. Growing up in Udgir, a small town in the Latur district of Maharashtra, the idea of swimming seemed far-fetched. Latur, known for the devastating 1993 earthquake and its water crisis, even had water brought in by train to help the region. For someone raised in an area plagued by severe water shortages, swimming pools were unheard of, and natural water bodies were scarce.
Despite this, the desire to be in water never left me. I sought out every opportunity to swim, no matter how rare. Some of the best chances came during family visits to our ancestral town, Degloor, in a neighboring district, where a peaceful stream offered the perfect spot to splash around. But my first real swimming lessons came in Wai, a small town near Pune, where my mom’s aunt lived. I’ll never forget the Krishna River, which flows through the town, lined with beautiful ghats. It was here that my brother and I learned to swim using a traditional method—a pair of pajama pants (known as लेंगा) tied at both ends to create a buoyant float. We quickly picked it up, but with few chances to swim back home, it would be years before I swam again.
That chance came when a beautiful open well was built on a friend’s farm in my hometown. After graduation, when I started teaching at a local engineering college, those years were filled with excitement around swimming. Well-swimming is very different from pools with lanes. You often swim in place, enjoying the cool water, but the real thrill was jumping from the motor shed roof—40 feet above—into the deep water below. Those fearless leaps erased any lingering fear of water.
A couple of years later, I qualified for a postgraduate engineering course with top grades and had several solid options, one of which was IIT Bombay. I chose IIT Bombay for many reasons, but one of the unspoken ones was the Olympic-sized swimming pool. I eagerly shared my love for swimming with my friends, though I struggled to name different strokes—I didn’t even know they existed! During my one and a half years at IIT Bombay, I rarely missed a day at the pool. It was here I learned proper breathing techniques and nearly perfected freestyle swimming.
After IIT, my swimming journey continued across cities—first to Hyderabad, then Mumbai, and now Pune. Each place I lived was carefully chosen near a good pool. In Hyderabad, it was Bowenpally, where my kids took their first dips. In Mumbai, I swam at the Sher-e-Punjab Gymkhana and later at the Nahar Amrit Shakti Clubhouse. Sher-e-Punjab had diving boards, a rarity, while at Nahar, I focused on intensive swimming, mastering 800 meters of non-stop laps.
When house hunting in Pune, I was excited to find two pools in the plans for Kalpataru Jade in Baner, one an Olympic-length pool still under construction. While waiting for it to be completed, I’ve been swimming regularly in the smaller but impressive 20-meter pool.
My current swimming routine is all about non-stop, intensive freestyle laps. The point of sharing this long journey is that once you’re in the habit of swimming with your head mostly underwater, only coming up occasionally for air, it can feel lonely during those 45 minutes. Most of the time, you’re staring at the bottom of the pool, with the occasional swimmer passing by—though that’s only on busier days.
I can’t stand idle time, even while walking or at the gym—I always have my Kindle or Audible with me. But swimming offers no such distractions. That’s when I began experimenting with focused thinking in this solitude. With no interruptions, no phone, no ebooks, and no audiobooks, it’s just me and my thoughts.
During those laps, I often work through challenging problems from my job or personal goals. It not only breaks the monotony of endless strokes but also helps me generate solutions, making my time in the water both productive and enjoyable.
If you’re looking for a way to boost both your fitness and focus, I highly recommend taking a dip. You might be surprised at how much clarity you can find beneath the surface.
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