The Great Swimmers of Cooumville

I am going to tell you an interesting story about a town called Cooumville, its river and its folks.

There was a clean river flowing through the city. They had an annual swimming contest in the river. Everyone from the world wanted to contest and the local swimmers could not win the races due to competition. So a few cunning locals who had a special skill of swimmimg in sewage quietly found a pliant  mayor and brough him to their side and requested him to start letting sewage water into the river. While these few locals swimming ability was not the best no one could beat them in swimming in sewage charged water. Over time the mayor realized that letting sewage into the river also saved a lot of money for the city and  he duly pocketed all the sewage plant money and let the entire sewage into the river. The net result was that the chosen locals who were the only ones could swim in sewage began winning all the Cooumville races.

As the population and economy of Cooumville expanded the races became prestigious. The winners of the races were now global superstars. The locals came to dominate and win the races.  The swimmers started buying cricket teams, actresses vied to marry them and  their opinion was sought by media on all issues. Ivy league management schools came to study the utter dominance of the few local families in these races. Case studies and books came to be written about the Cooumville technique, the unique approach and the philosophy of swimming. 

Many professors built careers on specializing in giving gyan about the Cooumville way and why these few Cooumville swimmers won all races in Cooumville.

A lot of time had passed and the next generation of swimmers from these families came in to the field. They enjoyed the stardom and fruits of victory but since they had seen better having been trained abroad etc they wondered why the river had to have sewage water mixed in it. They developed an aversion to the old Mayor who did not want to improve the river. So in the next election the backed this unknown tea seller who lived on the banks of the river who had taken a vow to clean the river. These scions thought that if they could clean the river they could continue to win and have a good life instead of swimming in the stench. The good life they had seen in their overseas education and travels had opened their eyes to better life.

The elections came and the tea seller won the elections. The public anger at the old Mayor and the old gen of Cooumville swimmers who had defiled the river played not an insignificant part in carrying the tea seller comfortably to the Mayor seat.

The new mayor set about his work briskly and began cleaning the river in right earnest.  As the sewage started going to waste treatment plants the river began to clean up and slowly swimming in sewage no longer was enough to win the races. Locals who could swim started doing well too. The word started getting  around that this was going to be no longer about swimming in sewage. The few families of Cooumville swimmers now began to have some serious doubts on the wisom of cleaning the river but it was too late. The public loved the new Mayor who soon cleaned the river thus ending the era of the Cooumville sewage swimmers who forgot that their real skill was swimming in sewage ...

Sounds familiar ? :)