00:00Having understood that, let's move on to the next big story and I'm really
00:05kicked about this one. I'll tell you why. Now, if there is one chokehold on the
00:09global economy, one narrow strip of water that has stock markets sweating, world
00:17leaders fighting and oil tankers holding their breath, no prices for guessing that
00:21it is the Strait of Hormuz. But why am I showing you this picture of this young
00:27man holding a big fish while I tell you about the Strait of Hormuz? Because, well,
00:33that's what the Strait of Hormuz actually looks like for now. For a moment, I want
00:38you to not look at those pictures, okay? I want you to not look at those pictures,
00:42just close your eyes and picture what exactly could be happening in the Strait
00:47of Hormuz with all the information that we have given you. You're probably seeing
00:51mines, military patrols, sort of stranded ships, geopolitical tension as well, thick
00:56enough to cut, you know, with a knife. But I'm about to introduce to you one man
01:03who looked at Strait of Hormuz and thought, it's a great place to dive. No ships are
01:10going anywhere. Let's go dive. Not a rescue mission, not a naval operation, just
01:15recreation. Pure, free, breathless recreation. Now, if you don't believe me, then see
01:23it for yourself what this young man, Baksh Khurana, in the Strait of Hormuz is up to. Take a look.
01:34This is Baksh, reporting from the Strait of Hormuz. Maybe I think I might be the first Indian
01:39to come here recreationally. I'm on a fishing boat. This is Oman. And over there is Iran.
01:44I don't know if it's visible, but there's a small shipping boat over there. Yep, that definitely looks
01:50to me like a cargo boat. Last night, when we were on the boat, there were these two groups of
01:58pirates
01:58who came to us and tried to sell us smuggled petrol, diesel, something like that. And you know,
02:05that got me thinking. When I was diving in the water, the fish were doing really well. In fact,
02:11I have been here many times and I have never seen such great marine life. In fact, they've recently
02:16spotted many different types of marine life that have never been spotted in this region,
02:21in the Strait of Hormuz. And the obvious explanation for that is that there are no boats over here. I
02:25mean, recently there were no boats over here. So most of the fishermen here are either Indian,
02:31Pakistani, Bangladeshi, basically our people, right? And they, I was chatting with them because I'm the
02:38only Hindi speaker on this boat. And they were telling me that the marine life is actually doing
02:43really well. I mean, they're catching a lot of fish. They're getting a lot of business. It really
02:48put things into perspective for me. You know, we like to give ourselves a lot of importance that
02:53these political wars or country-based tribalism means a lot and we have the power to destroy the
03:00world. But actually, the cycle goes on, the circle of life goes on.
03:06All right. That's the man, Bucks Khurana, an Indian freediving athlete who was at the Strait of Hormuz
03:14not very long ago. He's back home safe and joins us live now. Hey there, Bucks. Thank you so much
03:23for being here with us. My first question, how long ago were you at Hormuz and what were you doing
03:29there?
03:33I was there on 11th of this month. I have been going there often for diving. I'm a competitive
03:40freediving athlete. I represent India at the World Championships for freediving. And there are very few
03:47spots in the Gulf which are deep enough to do competitive freediving. And this area is one of
03:53them. I was hoping to go to train, but we were unable to train. But it was still an amazing
04:00experience.
04:02So, hold on. You were there right in the middle of the war. Were you not scared? There is so
04:07much
04:08information on mines here and mines there and you're going deep sea diving?
04:19I'm not very aware of the political side of things. I mean, I went there and everyone was
04:25fine. The boat captain said everything is good. So, we went. We got the permit. As long as we get
04:30the permit, then it's fine. Okay. You've been there several times, Bax, from what you told me earlier,
04:36some 15 times already. You've been to the Strait of Hormuz, right? Describe to me, what did you see
04:42this time in the middle of the war and how is it different from earlier?
04:48So, before the situation, there used to be a lot of tourists. There used to be a lot of boats.
04:53And
04:53because of that, there was a lot of pollution in the water. Now, I'm a big advocate of environment
04:59and save the seas. In fact, I've done a lot of volunteer work for this stuff, which is why this
05:03time when I went to Hormuz, I was really happy. It was also the reason why we couldn't train because
05:07the water was completely green. Usually, it's like the equivalent of the blue water in the Maldives.
05:13But that actually is not a very healthy ocean. The healthy ocean looks green with a lot of algae and
05:19a lot of jellyfish. Because of that, we were not able to train, but definitely the ocean is thriving.
05:24I mean, it was really nice. And even though I didn't get to train, I got to see a lot
05:28of marine life.
05:29So, it was really nice.
05:31All right. In fact, you sent us a video which has dolphins, some 25, I counted,
05:36while diving in together. We don't see visuals like that, but that's the reality.
05:39I want my producers to throw that video on the screen where you actually see dolphins diving
05:44up and down over there. And you realize that's the Strait of Hormuz.
05:48That is what the war is all about, really. But what you're describing to me at the moment
05:52sounds a bit like the pandemic, right? When pollution cleared up, sky was clear,
05:56everything was just rocking because of the pandemic. Environment was happy.
06:02This is exactly what I was thinking. Because during the pandemic, I was living in Bombay
06:06and it was exactly the same. I remember seeing these flamingos in Bombay.
06:10And it's the same. Same. I mean, this sort of wildlife, marine life is very rare.
06:17We've seen dolphins in the past, but nothing like this. We saw dolphins doing backflips
06:20in the ocean. We've never seen this.
06:24Right. The earlier video that you sent me, and we played it out for our viewers as well,
06:30you talk about how you were the only Indian there, perhaps.
06:33Right. And you decided randomly, in the middle of a war, to go diving.
06:39What is going on in your mind, Bugs?
06:44So first, about the Indian. It's actually, it's not because people don't want to go.
06:48It's just extremely expensive. Now, I'm very blessed that my parents are supporting
06:52this hobby of mine, which is why I'm able to afford to go.
06:55And a lot of Indians do go, but they cannot go deep in because it requires a lot more expensive
07:00patrol to go deep into the strait. But at the edge of the strait, there were other boats
07:05which certainly had Indians. And when it comes to pirates, I think pirates are very common
07:11in the strait of Hormuz. Like, everyone was reacting as if it's totally normal. And I've
07:18heard these stories of pirates over there even maybe two years ago, before any of this situation
07:24has happened. So I think it's totally normal. But I think yesterday, this weekend was the
07:28first time I saw it, which is why I was a bit startled. I even got a video of them.
07:33I think I did not send this to you. I will send this to you.
07:36Yeah, actually, I'll request our producers to actually get those videos out and play it
07:40out. You've shown a very dark, you know, video where you actually see the pirates approaching
07:45you. And they're not like the ones we see in the movies. They're very different looking
07:48people. But give me a glimpse, Bux. Help me understand this. I'm really trying to wrap
07:54my head around the fact that you were there. Can you describe to me that this geopolitical
08:00tension that we are thinking of, how it's holding the entire economy in a fix, not just
08:05India, but world over. Did you get a sense of that at all? While you were there? Or there,
08:11locals are happy. You know, the sea is thriving. It's just, you know, all us sort of commercial
08:18people, all us people who are worried. The locals are thriving.
08:26So earlier, of course, there were these big boats. I don't know what they are carrying, but
08:30there were certainly a lot of big boats. Right now, there was, I think, only just two or three
08:34I saw. But from the tourism, as an athlete, for me, it's pretty much the same.
08:41Like, it's fun, it's nice. So as an athlete, I don't see any major difference. But I honestly
08:47don't understand the global politics or something. So I don't know from the commercial perspective
08:51what is happening.
08:54All right. So without getting into that, help me understand this. Do the locals there,
08:58were they talking about it? What was their sense? Do they want, what are they expecting?
09:04Which side are they on? Do they have a preference of which way the war should go?
09:11No, there's a lot of business happening. For the fishermen, it's very good right now.
09:15Because it's so easy to catch fish. I even sent you one video of the big fish.
09:19Yeah.
09:20I mean, to catch that kind of fish, it's very difficult. But for the marine life, it's doing
09:25well. I don't, again, these fishermen are like, they run tourist boats. They don't get
09:30involved in the commercial petrol trade. So honestly, I don't think they also know. And
09:35I personally also have no idea about all this.
09:40But you are planning to go there again, Bucks. You're not scared of the mines. Even America
09:45and insurance companies are scared of the mines that are all over there. And you are there,
09:49you know, going deep sea diving in middle of all of that. You say you're planning to go there
09:54again next week?
09:57See, the thing is, it's expensive. So if I can afford it, maybe I will go day after tomorrow.
10:04All right, then. Bucks, we leave it there for the moment. Thank you so much for joining
10:08us, letting us see the Strait of Hormuz through your eyes. Well, and for all our viewers, well,
10:14sea is thriving. Local fishermen are thriving. You and I are held hostage in a way because
10:20of the oil and the ships that are really stuck there. So that's a perspective on Strait of
10:26Hormuz. We leave you with that. See you again tomorrow. Bye-bye.
10:34Bye-bye.
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