Nang Chong Stories : Swimming in the River Rajang

The Great Wave off Kanagawa, also known as The Great Wave or simply The Wave, is a woodblock print by the Japanese ukiyo-e artist Hokusai. It was published sometime between 1829 and 1833 in the late Edo period as the first print in Hokusai's series 

Hokusai , Katasushika (1760-1849)

He died one hundred years before I was born and this photo of his painting touches my heart all the time.

I had a great fear of waves since my first swimming lesson in the Rajang River. I did swallow a few mouthfuls of water but I managed to kick my legs and by a miracle, I did not drown and was able to swim quite well after that.

My cousins all enjoyed jumping into the Rajang River whenever a motor launch passed by in the evenings. And they would enjoy bobbing up and down in the big waves.

How frightening it was in the eyes of a 10 year old.  That was what I saw when an older cousin threw his younger sibling into the river.

Today, after years of thinking about that special scenario, I  would still say aloud, I would not as an adult throw a child into a river when a motor launch had passed by. That was not the way to teach a child to swim.

Each time I look at paintings of waves, or photographs of the sea and the waves, no matter how small, I would have that funny feeling in my stomach, and the feeling of having a mouthful of river water.

My grandma used to tell me stories of her two journeys from Fujian to Sibu, how big the waves were and how she would just stay below the deck and prayed hard. She too underwent many waves in her life. But she survived and finally she passed away. She did have quite a turbulent life.

Our lives' journeys are full of waves and the gospel song, "Be Still" would often calm my nerves.