One morning the writer saw Saheb standing by the gate of the neighbourhood club. Two young men were playing tennis. Saheb was in tennis shoes. On enquiry, Saheb told that some rich boy discarded them because there was a hole in one of them. So he felt no harm in wearing them. It was rather good on his part that the dream of wearing shoes had come true.

More than 20,000 children are illegally working in glass-blowing factories in Firozabad. They work around furnaces in high temperatures to weld glasses. They work in dingy cells without light and air. Their eyes are adjusted to “the dark than to the light outside. Many of them become victims of losing their eye-sight before they become adults. They work all day long

The story teaches us the lesson of determination and will power. As a result of an unfortunate incident with a bully, the writer had developed an extreme fear of the water. However, he decides to face his fear and works hard until he becomes a good swimmer. He encounters the fear again and again by deliberately challenging himself to swim in various places. In this way, he is able to get rid of his fear completely.

He frightened and he planned to implement some strategy to come out of water. He planned when his feet hit the bottom, he would make a big jump and come to the surface, lie flat on it and paddle to the edge of the pool. But it seemed like a long way down.Those nine feet were more like ninety and before he touched bottom his lungs were ready to burst. And his feet hit bottom he summoned all his strength and done that, but he thought he will come up to the surface like a cork. But that planned not worked, at last he felt to call his mother for help.

At the age of ten or eleven William O. Douglas decided to learn and swim at the Y. M.C. A. pool because it was only two or three feet deep at the shallow end. He had an aversion to the water but he felt comfortable when he paddled with his new water wings in the water. One day he went to the pool when no one else was there. He was waiting for others to come. Then there came a big bruiser of a boy and yelled; “Hi, skinny! How’d you like to be ducked ?” With that he picked Douglas and tossed him into the deep end. He landed in a sitting position, swallowed water and went at once to the bottom. He feared to be drowned. This misadventure caused a last of trouble to Douglas

When Douglas went down inside the water for the third time, his limbs became weak and he was in a state of trance. He felt he was in oblivion. He did not remember anything. After he gained his consciousness, he recalled that he was lying on his stomach and was vomiting. He also felt that the boy who had thrown him in water was getting scolding. To prevent himself from chastisement the boy said that he was just joking with Douglas.

William Douglas, speaks about the ‘misadventure’ which happened at the YMCA swimming pool when he was about ten or eleven years old. A big bully threw Douglas into the deep end of the pool when no one was around. As Douglas realized that he was drowning, he made several attempts to save himself, but all in vain. Finally, he felt that he would die and became unconscious. When he gained consciousness, he was lying outside the pool. Apparently, somebody had rescued him.

Douglas went down to the bottom of nine feet deep water for the first time. Nine feet seemed to him like more than ninety feet. He grew panicky. Before, he could touch the bottom, his lungs were about to burst. He felt paralysed. He was buried in the water. His breath was gone and terror overpowered his heart.

When Douglas was drowning in the pool he had a plan to save himself , according   to the plan he would first reach the bottom of the pool hit the floor and kick himself up and jump like a cork and reach at the top surface then he would swim and reach the edge

Douglas had a keen desire to wade into the water since his childhood. But he had developed an aversion from the water. When he was at the age of three or four, his father took him to the beach in California both were standing together at the surf. There came a wave that knocked him down and swept over him. Consequently, he was burried in the water. His breath was gone and a deep terror overpowered his heart.

After his misadventure in the pool at the Y.M.C.A., Douglas was amidst the fear of water. He realised that his fishing trips, canoeing, swimming and boating were over. He tried his best to overcome it but the haunting fear of the water followed him everywhere. Finally he decided to engage an instructor to learn to swim and to overcome his fear. He went to the pool and practised for five days a week, an hour each day. The instructor put a belt around him and a rope was attached to the belt. The rope went through a pulley that ran an overhead cable. Douglas held one end of the rope and went back and forth across the pool. On each trip, some of the terror would seize him up. After three months, the tension began to decrease.

Piece by piece he shed the panic. He taught him to put his face under water and exhale. He also learnt how to raise his nose and inhale. This exercise was repeated hundreds of times.

Now he was able to shed part of the fear that seized him under water. He went to Lake Wentworth Triggs Island and Slamp Act Island. He swam two miles across the lake. Now he was determined and he swam on. He shouted with joy and he had conquered his fear of water.

After his misadventure in the pool at the Y.M.C.A., Douglas was amidst the fear of water. He realised that his fishing trips, canoeing, swimming and boating were over. He tried his best to overcome it but the haunting fear of the water followed him everywhere. Finally he decided to engage an instructor to learn to swim and to overcome his fear. He went to the pool and practised for five days a week, an hour each day. The instructor put a belt around him and a rope was attached to the belt. The rope went through a pulley that ran an overhead cable. Douglas held one end of the rope and went back and forth across the pool. On each trip, some of the terror would seize him up. After three months, the tension began to decrease.
Piece by piece he shed the panic. He taught him to put his face under water and exhale. He also learnt how to raise his nose and inhale. This exercise was repeated hundreds of times.
Now he was able to shed part of the fear that seized him under water. He went to Lake Wentworth Triggs Island and Slamp Act Island. He swam two miles across the lake. Now he was determined and he swam on. He shouted with joy and he had conquered his fear of water.

1. A huge silence meant we are able to achieve peace in this silence. It helps us in analysing ourselves and our actions, interrupting the sadness of threatening ourselves with death.
2. The poet refers to the ‘sadness’ which arises due to the fact that people fail to understand themselves. They have no time to introspect about their actions and their consequences.