Ripples over my head

I was crouching on the floor. Looking up at the dimly lit surface floating over my head. The pressure on my temples and neck was increasing, generating a slow but intense pain.

Visibility around me was very low, that one being the darkest and the deepest corner. Nobody could be spotted around a radius of 3 feet. Not that I was trying to find anything else. My focus laid on the surface above me, where a spectacle was unfolding itself steadily.

The surface was light blue in color. Exact shade would be what I called 'Sky-Blue' in pre-school art classes. At multiple points of the surface, white spots were appearing now and then. In a millisecond, the big white dots cascaded radially outwards, forming spirals of increasing size. Yes, ripples. After a few seconds, the entire surface came alive with vibrant ripples. Hundreds and Thousands of ripples. Ripples of varying sizes. Forming, overlapping, merging but never dying out. What a mesmerizing piece of animation in blue-and-white by mother nature!

Ripples were something that have amazed me since childhood (along with million other supremely mundane suff). I loved watching the ripples on surface of a pond. I loved throwing pebbles and creating them and occasionally - doing a 'Byangachi' (tadpole). If you can throw a flat faced stone in pond, and make it bounce for 3 or more times on water before it sinks, you achieve the glory of having performed a Byangachi.

Whatever.

So, while looking at the ripples, I always wondered how they looked like, when seen from beneath the surface. Sadly, I never got a chance to know. When it started drizzling in a lazy afternoon, my childhood curiosity arose again. Health Club was nearby, with a Swimming Pool filled with very clear water.

That's why - I was squatting like a toad at the bottom of the pool (I can hear you saying: "Dude, get a life."). Even as I was awed by the imagery above, the situation beneath was not comfortable. The mounting pressure threatened to crack my head. Absolute lack of air ensured the collapse of my lungs. I was forced to rise and swim upwards in search of fresh air.

Resurfacing, I was invited by huge balls of raindrops indiscriminately landing in every square-centmetre of the Pool. I looked up again, at the real sky, which was hosting a traffic jam of thick, black rainclouds. A flash of light ripped through the sky, accompanied by a booming sound. More lightnings followed.

The Alarm started ringing, instructors firmly ordering us get out of the Pool asap. Swimming pools are theoritically favourite landing spots of lightning bolts.

We quickly rushed out of the water and took refuge in the adjacent dry, carpeted area that was more insulated than the perennially wet zone surrounding the pool. Only problem was, some prize cermony was being held there and sudden appearence of wet men in swimming trunks didn't amuse the audience at all. But, that is a different story.

Waiting there, in topless glory, was a satisfied me. None of the ladies and gentlemen (clothed and not) around knew what Ripples looked like, from other side of water.