Summary of Swimming Lessons,Bankura University,English Hons

Rohinton Mistry’s short story “Swimming Lessons” presents the inner struggle of an immigrant in a very simple and realistic way. The story is about Kersi, a young man who moves from India to Canada in search of a better life. However, life in Canada makes him feel lonely, confused, and disconnected. The narrative moves between Kersi’s present life in Canada and the letters written by his parents from Firozsha Baag in India. This shows that Kersi is emotionally divided between two worlds—the past and the present.

The central symbol of the story is swimming. Kersi tries to learn swimming in a Canadian pool, but he fails. His fear of water, inability to float, and discomfort in the deep end represent his difficulty in adjusting to a new culture. The swimming pool becomes a symbol of Canadian society where Kersi feels like an outsider. Incidents of racism that he observes further increase his sense of isolation and insecurity.

In contrast, the letters from Kersi’s parents describe the warm and close life of the Parsi community in India. These letters talk about family matters, illnesses, prayers, and neighbourhood life. They reflect emotional closeness and a strong sense of belonging, which Kersi misses in Canada. When his parents read Kersi’s book of short stories, they feel both pride and pain. This shows the emotional gap between traditional parents and their immigrant child.

The story ends with a symbolic success rather than a physical one. Although Kersi fails to learn swimming, he succeeds as a writer. Writing becomes his way of expressing his identity and surviving in a foreign land. He finally accepts that he belongs to both cultures. Thus, “Swimming Lessons” shows that self-expression and creativity can help an immigrant overcome loneliness and cultural conflict.####

Rohinton Mistry’s short story, Swimming Lessons, serves as a profound exploration of the diasporic experience, utilizing a unique dual narrative structure to contrast the isolation of immigrant life in Toronto with the communal warmth of the past in Bombay. The narrative does not rely on linear progression but rather oscillates between the protagonist Kersi’s first-person account of his life in Canada and the third-person epistolary sections containing letters from his parents in Firozsha Baag. This structural duality mirrors the psychological state of the immigrant who is caught between two worlds—the "Old World" of tradition and memory, and the "New World" of promise and alienation. At the heart of the story is the central metaphor of swimming, which Kersi attempts to master at a local high school pool in Don Mills. Water, in this context, acts as a powerful symbol for assimilation and the terrifying fluidity of a new cultural identity. Kersi’s inability to float, his struggle with rhythmic breathing, and his fear of the deep end represent his psychological blockage and inability to fully immerse himself in Canadian society. His failure in the pool is compounded by moments of subtle and overt racism, such as the humiliation of a Portuguese woman by young boys, which reinforces his feeling of being an outsider in a "white" space.

In stark contrast to the sterile and isolating environment of the Canadian swimming pool, the narrative strands involving Kersi’s parents offer a glimpse into the fading vibrancy of the Parsi community in India. Through their letters, the reader learns of the mundane yet intimate details of life in Firozsha Baag—illnesses, prayers, and community gossip—which stand in opposition to Kersi’s lonely existence. The story reaches its thematic climax when the parents receive Kersi’s book of short stories, a meta-fictional device representing the very collection the reader is holding. Their reaction is mixed; the father is proud but critical of the coarse language, while the mother feels a sense of betrayal that their private lives have been exposed for fiction, highlighting the inevitable disconnect between the immigrant child and the traditional parents. Ultimately, the story concludes with an artistic resolution rather than a physical one. While Kersi fails to master the literal skill of swimming, he succeeds in "swimming" through the medium of writing. The final imagery of Kersi submerged in his bathtub, imagining the water of the Don Mills pool merging with the chaotic waters of Chaupatty Beach, signifies his acceptance of a hybrid identity. He realizes that while he cannot change his past or fully blend into the present, he can navigate the distance between them through the power of memory and storytelling.

🏊‍♂️ Swimming Lessons: Summary

By Rohinton Mistry

[cite_start]English: "Swimming Lessons" tells the story of Kersi, a Parsi man who moved from Bombay to Toronto[cite: 26, 496]. [cite_start]He lives in an apartment building where he watches his neighbors, especially an old man in a wheelchair who reminds him of his own sick grandfather back in India[cite: 59, 72]. [cite_start]The story uses a unique technique where it switches back and forth between Kersi's lonely life in Canada and his parents in Bombay, who are reading his letters and the stories he has written about his past[cite: 501, 509].

[cite_start]Bengali: "সুইমিং লেসনস" (সাঁতার শিক্ষা) কার্সি নামক এক পার্সি যুবকের গল্প বলে যে বোম্বে থেকে টরন্টোতে চলে এসেছে [cite: 26, 496]। [cite_start]সে একটি অ্যাপার্টমেন্ট বিল্ডিংয়ে থাকে যেখানে সে তার প্রতিবেশীদের লক্ষ্য করে, বিশেষ করে হুইলচেয়ারে বসা এক বৃদ্ধকে যিনি তাকে ভারতে থাকা তার নিজের অসুস্থ দাদুর কথা মনে করিয়ে দেন [cite: 59, 72]। [cite_start]গল্পটি একটি অনন্য কৌশল ব্যবহার করে যেখানে এটি কানাডায় কার্সির একাকী জীবন এবং বোম্বেতে তার বাবা-মায়ের মধ্যে অদলবদল হতে থাকে, যারা তার চিঠি এবং তার অতীত নিয়ে লেখা গল্পগুলো পড়ছেন [cite: 501, 509]।

[cite_start]English: Hoping to fit into Canadian culture, Kersi decides to take swimming lessons at a local high school pool[cite: 149]. [cite_start]He explains that he never learned to swim in India because the sea at Chaupatty was too filthy and murky[cite: 154, 159]. However, his attempt to learn is ruined by racism. [cite_start]In the shower room, three young boys mock him by holding their noses and chanting that he smells like curry[cite: 233]. [cite_start]Terrified by this rejection, Kersi stops going to the classes, feeling that even though the water is clean, the environment is hostile[cite: 255, 272].

[cite_start]Bengali: কানাডিয়ান সংস্কৃতির সাথে খাপ খাইয়ে নেওয়ার আশায়, কার্সি স্থানীয় একটি হাই স্কুলের পুলে সাঁতারের ক্লাস নেওয়ার সিদ্ধান্ত নেয় [cite: 149]। [cite_start]সে জানায় যে ভারতে সে সাঁতার শিখতে পারেনি কারণ চৌপট্টি সমুদ্র সৈকতটি খুব নোংরা এবং ঘোলা ছিল [cite: 154, 159]। তবে, তার শেখার প্রচেষ্টা বর্ণবাদের কারণে নষ্ট হয়ে যায়। [cite_start]শাওয়ার রুমে, তিনটি কম বয়সী ছেলে তাকে নিয়ে ব্যঙ্গ করে নাক চেপে ধরে এবং সুর করে বলে যে তার গায়ে তরকারির গন্ধ [cite: 233]। [cite_start]এই প্রত্যাখ্যান দেখে আতঙ্কিত হয়ে কার্সি ক্লাসে যাওয়া বন্ধ করে দেয়, এবং অনুভব করে যে জল পরিষ্কার হলেও পরিবেশটি শত্রুভাবাপন্ন [cite: 255, 272]।

English: While Kersi struggles in Canada, his parents in Bombay finish reading his book. [cite_start]His father criticizes the stories for being too sad and wishes Kersi wrote about successful people, but his mother is happy that he remembers his childhood so well[cite: 339, 386]. [cite_start]The story ends with the death of the old neighbor in Kersi's building[cite: 482]. [cite_start]Although Kersi failed his swimming class, he practices holding his breath in his own bathtub, symbolizing his quiet and private attempt to adapt to his new life and find a "rebirth" in the foreign country[cite: 453, 614].

Bengali: যখন কার্সি কানাডায় সংগ্রাম করছে, বোম্বেতে তার বাবা-মা তার বই পড়া শেষ করেন। [cite_start]তার বাবা গল্পগুলো খুব দুঃখজনক বলে সমালোচনা করেন এবং চান যে কার্সি সফল মানুষদের নিয়ে লিখুক, কিন্তু তার মা খুশি হন যে সে তার শৈশবকে এত ভালো করে মনে রেখেছে [cite: 339, 386]। [cite_start]গল্পটি কার্সির বিল্ডিংয়ের বৃদ্ধ প্রতিবেশীর মৃত্যুর মধ্য দিয়ে শেষ হয় [cite: 482]। [cite_start]যদিও কার্সি তার সাঁতারের ক্লাসে ব্যর্থ হয়েছে, সে তার নিজের বাথটাবে শ্বাস ধরে রাখার অনুশীলন করে, যা তার নতুন জীবনের সাথে মানিয়ে নেওয়ার এবং বিদেশী দেশে একটি "পুনর্জন্ম" খোঁজার নীরব এবং ব্যক্তিগত প্রচেষ্টাকে প্রতীকীভাবে বোঝায় [cite: 453, 614]।

Bengali: এই গল্পটি রোহিন্টন মিস্ত্রি লিখেছেন, যিনি ১৯৭৫ সালে কানাডায় চলে আসেন । গল্পটি অভিবাসীদের কঠিন জীবন তুলে ধরে । এটি দুটি সংস্কৃতির মধ্যে হারিয়ে যাওয়া (বিচ্ছিন্নতা) এবং বাড়ির জন্য মন খারাপ করা (নস্টালজিয়া) নিয়ে আলোচনা করে । প্রধান চরিত্রটি কানাডায় নিজের জায়গা করে নেওয়ার চেষ্টার পাশাপাশি তার ভারতীয় পরিচয় ধরে রাখার সংগ্রামে লিপ্ত থাকে ।