In July 2023, Zarir Baliwalla, 62, secured an age category-podium finish in the five kilometre-swim at the Oceanman Asian Championship in Bali.

Earlier, he had been three times age group podium finisher at Goa Swimathon (2019, 2022 and 2023); he was member of the winning relay team in the Gateway – Vashi Relay Swim Race in 2022, and in 2019, was a member of Team Hope, a four person-relay team that successfully swam the English Channel.

At this blog’s request, Zarir wrote in on his affection for swimming.

I learnt how to swim as a child of eight to nine years and have had a love affair with water ever since.

I have always felt comfortable in the water, be it a swimming pool, a lake or the open sea. Back in the 1960’s-70’s our coaches taught us only the breast stroke. As a junior, I competed in breast stroke races at the inter school level. Much later, as an adult, I taught myself the freestyle. After finishing school, I hardly swam for the next 30-35 years. But the sport of swimming always fascinated me and when our children were around eight to nine years old, my wife and I enrolled them in learn-to-swim classes. Both of them eventually swam competitively; my son for several years, all the way till the national level.

In my early fifties I took up long distance running to keep fit. After a few years and several half marathons my knees were beginning to trouble me, so I decided to reduce the load on them by cutting back on the running and switching to the triathlon. While training for the triathlon, I realized that swimming was by far the easiest of the three activities and also the least stressful on the body. So, even as I have done several Olympic triathlons over the past five to six years, I have always focused more on swimming than cycling and running.

Almost all my swim practice in Mumbai is done in pools. However, I am at my happiest in the open water; the sea in particular. Being in the middle of a huge ocean is a truly meditative feeling, hard to describe in words. I feel at one with the ocean, with nature. Once it casts its spell, the sea holds one in its net of wonder forever.

Apart from having done solo and relay swims in the triathlon, I have participated in several open water swim events. Some of them: Goa Swimathon, Thonnur Swimathon, Kasersai Swimathon, Gateway –Vashi Swim Relay, Sunkrock – Gateway solo swim, English Channel relay swim and most recently the 5km race at the Oceanman Asian Championship in Bali.

There was a time when we practised in the seas off Mumbai’s coast. Sadly, this has become almost impossible now due to pathetic water quality and refusal of permissions by relevant authorities supposedly on the grounds of security. So, I go to Goa three to four times a year during the open water season (October–May) and enjoy training in the pristine seas there.

Swimming plays an absolutely vital role in my life. It keeps me not just physically fit but is a definite mood elevator too. Swimming in the sea or in a pool gives one a lot of me time. At the end of a swim session, one always feels physically and mentally refreshed.

In my opinion, swimming is probably the best physical activity to keep a senior citizen fit and healthy. It entails zero impact on the knees and other joints (unlike running), the heart rate can stay low and well under check and it exercises all the muscles in our upper and lower body. Regular swimming will also certainly improve one’s lung power and aerobic capacity.

Unfortunately, not too many people take up swimming, since it is an acquired skill best picked up in childhood. Paucity of access to pools and even the sea are also huge deterrents to pursuing swimming.

(The author, Zarir Baliwalla, is a businessman based in Mumbai. He is ex-president of the Greater Mumbai Amateur Aquatic Association.)