NCERT Solutions for Class 12 English Flamingo - Prose Chapter 3 - Deep Water

1. What is the ‘misadventure’ that William Douglas speaks about?

Ans. Douglas here, refers to the incident at the Y.M.C.A. swimming pool where he almost drowned. The author
was about ten or eleven years old at that time and had barely begun to learn swimming. He actually used to
ape others. Once, he was thrown suddenly into the water by someone and as he couldn’t swim, he started
drowning. His struggle to come to the surface and to avoid getting drowned left him with a deep fear of
water. This fear of his deprived him from enjoying water-related activities for many years. 

2. What were the series of emotions and fears that Douglas experienced when he was thrown into the pool?
What plans did he make to come to the surface?

Ans. The realisation of being thrown into the pool did not make Douglas lose his wits immediately. Although he
was frightened, he thought of a trick to come up to the surface but he couldn’t execute the trick successfully.
He panicked and felt suffocated by the water. His senses gave way, his heart pounded loudly, his limbs
became paralysed with fear, his mind became dizzy and his lungs ached. He gulped a large amount of water
while making desperate attempts to come out of the water. Finally, he lost all his strength to keep struggling
and he became unconscious.
Douglas had planned to allow himself to go down till his feet hit the bottom. He wanted to make a big jump
to come back to the surface like a cork. Then, he would lie flat on the surface of water and paddle to the edge
of the pool. 

3. How did this experience affect him?

Ans.The near to death experience of drowning had a very strong impact on his psychology. He was deeply
disturbed and shaken by the whole experience. A fear of water took control of his physical strength and
emotional balance for many years. As he couldn’t bear being surrounded by water, he was deprived of
enjoying any water-related activity.

4. Why was Douglas determined to get over his fear of water?

Ans. Douglas hated being deprived of enjoying water activities like canoeing, boating, swimming, fishing, etc.
His wish to enjoy them and the craving to regain his lost confidence, while being in water, made him to get
after every possible way to get rid of his fear. He was finally able to overcome this fear by getting himself a
swimming instructor and further ensuring that no residual fear was left.

5. How did the instructor ‘build a swimmer’ out of Douglas?

Ans. The instructor worked gradually on Douglas’ psychology. Then he slowly moved on to his physical
movements and each part to build a swimmer out of him. At first, he made Douglas swim back and forth
across the swimming pool so that he could get used to it. He used an elaborate mechanism with a rope, belt,
pulley and an overhead cable to help them stay connected with Douglas while he was in the pool. Then, oneby-one, he made Douglas master the techniques of swimming, like putting his head in the water, exhaling and
inhaling while in water, movements of his hands, body, legs, etc. Finally, he integrated these perfected steps
into a whole experience of swimming for Douglas.

6. How did Douglas make sure that he conquered the old terror?

Ans. Even after the swimming training was over, Douglas wasn’t confident about his swimming. He was not sure
that he had overcome the fear. He was determined to completely get rid of it forever. He swam alone in the
pool. He went to Lake Wentworth to dive. There, he tried every possible stroke he had learnt. He fought back
the terror that gripped him in the middle of the lake. Finally, in his diving expedition in the Warm Lake, he
realised that he had truly conquered his old terror heart to become a motor mechanic. He willingly took up the hardship to walk a long way to the garage to acquire his necessary training and skills. Thus, he dared to fulfil his dream.