Vidhi Bubna shares about her experiences scuba diving.
Before my first scuba dive in the Andaman Islands in India, I was expecting to see vibrant corals, marine life and immerse myself in stunning blue marine waters. As soon as I entered the ocean, I felt like I was in an underwater graveyard. The corals had turned white; there were no fishes around and the ocean felt polluted. I felt deeply emotional after my first scuba dive. How did I not deeply know about marine climate change? I had little exposure to the ocean before this and my school textbooks had not covered marine pollution deeply. The only way I found out was by scuba diving.
After I travelled across some government schools in India, I realized some students in rural India are not aware of marine life at all. I showed them images of turtles, only to get a response ‘Yes this is a cartoon character I see on television’. Some people don’t know how real marine life is because they have never seen it firsthand.
For me, scuba diving is totally worth the money. When I started initially, it did feel like I was investing more in this hobby than I had invested in any other hobby in my life. However, slowly scuba diving became a way of finding peace for me. The silence in the ocean feels meditative in contrast to my fast-paced life in a crowded city. Forty-five minutes of pure bliss where I can only hear my own breath.
Over the years, I have sacrificed spending time with my family during holidays to scuba dive. I’ve also spent one birthday on a remote island scuba diving four times a day. For me, it isn’t just a fun activity, it’s a way of life. When I’m scuba diving, I’m closest to who I am as a person. With a Perspective, I’m Vidhi Bubna.
Vidhi Bubna is a journalist and scuba diver.