00:00Now, if there is one chokehold on the global economy, one narrow strip of water that has stock markets sweating,
00:09world leaders fighting and oil tankers holding their breath, no prices for guessing that it is the Strait of Hormuz.
00:16I'm about to introduce to you one man who looked at Strait of Hormuz and thought, it's a great place
00:25to dive. No ships are going anywhere. Let's go dive.
00:30Not a rescue mission, not a naval operation, just recreation. Pure, free, breathless recreation.
00:38Now, if you don't believe me, then see it for yourself what this young man, Baksh Khurana, in the Strait
00:47of Hormuz is up to. Take a look.
00:52This is Baksh reporting from the Strait of Hormuz. Maybe I think I might be the first Indian to come
00:57here recreationally.
00:58I'm on a fishing boat. This is Oman. And over there is Iran. I don't know if it's visible, but
01:03there's a small shipping boat over there.
01:06Yup. That definitely looks to me like a cargo boat.
01:12Last night when we were on the boat, there were these two groups of pirates who came to us and
01:18tried to sell us smuggled petrol, diesel, something like that.
01:23And, you know, that got me thinking. When I was diving in the water, the fish were doing really well.
01:28In fact, I have been here many times and I have never seen such great marine life.
01:33In fact, they've recently spotted many different types of marine life that have never been spotted in this region in
01:39the Strait of Hormuz.
01:40And the obvious explanation for that is that there are no boats over here. I mean, recently there were no
01:44boats over here.
01:45So most of the fishermen here are either Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, basically our people, right?
01:53And they... I was chatting with them because I'm the only Hindi speaker on this boat.
01:57And they were telling me that the marine life is actually doing really well.
02:01I mean, they're catching a lot of fish. They're getting a lot of business.
02:05It really put things into perspective for me. You know, we like to give ourselves a lot of importance that
02:11these political wars or country-based tribalism means a lot and we have the power to destroy the world.
02:19But actually, the cycle goes on. The circle of life goes on.
02:24All right. That's the man, Bucks Khurana, an Indian freediving athlete who was at the Strait of Hormuz not very
02:32long ago.
02:33He's back home safe and joins us live now.
02:37Hey there, Bucks. Thank you so much for being here with us.
02:42My first question, how long ago were you at Hormuz and what were you doing there?
02:51I was there on 11th of this month. I have been going there often for diving. I'm a competitive freediving
02:59athlete.
03:00I represent India at the World Championships for freediving.
03:03And there are very few spots in the Gulf which are deep enough to do competitive freediving and this area
03:10is one of them.
03:11I was hoping to go to train but we were unable to train but it was still an amazing experience.
03:20So, hold on. You were there right in the middle of the war. Were you not scared? There is so
03:25much information on mines here and mines there and you're going deep sea diving?
03:36I am not very aware of the political side of things. I mean, I went there and everyone was fine.
03:43The boat captain said everything is good. So, we went. We got the permit. As long as we get the
03:48permit then it's fine.
03:51Okay. You've been there several times, Bucks, from what you told me earlier. Some 15 times already you've been to
03:56the Strait of Hormuz, right?
03:57Describe to me what did you see this time in the middle of the war and how is it different
04:02from earlier?
04:06So, before the situation there used to be a lot of tourists. There used to be a lot of boats
04:11and because of that there was a lot of pollution in the water.
04:14Now, I'm a big advocate of environment and save the seas. In fact, I've done a lot of volunteer work
04:19for this stuff.
04:20Which is why this time when I went to Hormuz, I was really happy. It was also the reason why
04:24we couldn't train because the water was completely green.
04:27Usually, it's like the equivalent of the blue water in the Maldives, but that actually is not a very healthy
04:34ocean.
04:34The healthy ocean looks green with a lot of algae and a lot of jellyfish.
04:38Because of that we were not able to train, but definitely the ocean is thriving. I mean, it was really
04:44nice.
04:44And even though I didn't get to train, I got to see a lot of marine life, so it was
04:47really nice.
04:49Alright, in fact, you sent us a video which has dolphins, some 25 I counted, while diving in together.
04:55We don't see visuals like that, but that's the reality. I want my producers to throw that video on the
05:00screen where you actually see dolphins diving up and down over there.
05:03And you realize that's the state of Hormuz, that is what the war is all about really.
05:08But what you're describing to me at the moment sounds a bit like the pandemic, right?
05:12When pollution cleared up, sky was clear, everything was just rocking because of the pandemic. Environment was happy.
05:20This is exactly what I was thinking because during the pandemic, I was living in Bombay and it was exactly
05:24the same.
05:25I remember seeing like these flamingos in Bombay. And it's the same. I mean, this sort of wildlife, marine life
05:33is very rare.
05:35We've seen dolphins in the past, but nothing like this. We saw dolphins doing backflips in the ocean. We've never
05:40seen this.
05:42Right. The earlier video that you sent me, and we played it out for our viewers as well, you talk
05:48about how you were the only Indian there perhaps.
05:51Right. And you decided randomly in the middle of war to go diving. What is going on in your mind,
05:58Bugs?
06:02So first about the Indian, it's actually, it's not because people don't want to go. It's just extremely expensive.
06:07Now, I'm very blessed that my parents are supporting this hobby of mine, which is why I'm able to afford
06:12to go.
06:12And a lot of Indians do go, but they cannot go deep in because it requires a lot more expensive
06:18patrol to go deep into the strait.
06:21But at the edge of the strait, there were other boats which certainly had Indians.
06:26And when it comes to pirates, I think pirates are very common in the strait of Hormuz.
06:31Like everyone was reacting as if it's totally normal. And I've heard these stories of pirates over there even maybe
06:38two years ago.
06:39So before any of this situation has happened. So I think it's totally normal.
06:43But I think yesterday, this weekend was the first time I saw it, which is why I was a bit
06:48startled.
06:49I even got a video of them. I think I did not send this to you. I will send this
06:52to you.
06:54Yeah, actually, I'll request our producers to actually get those videos out and play it out.
06:58You've shown a very dark, you know, video where you actually see the pirates approaching you.
07:03And they're not like the ones we see in the movies. They're very different looking people.
07:06But give me a glimpse, Bux. Help me understand this.
07:11I'm really trying to wrap my head around the fact that you were there.
07:15Can you describe to me that this geopolitical tension that we are thinking of,
07:19how it's holding the entire economy in a fix, not just India, but world over.
07:25Did you get a sense of that at all? While you were there or there?
07:29Locals are happy. You know, sea is thriving.
07:32It's just, you know, all us sort of commercial people, all us people who are worried.
07:39The locals are thriving.
07:44So earlier, of course, there were these big boats.
07:46I don't know what they are carrying, but there were certainly a lot of big boats.
07:50Right now, there was, I think, only just two or three I saw.
07:54But from the tourism, as an athlete, for me, it's pretty much the same.
07:59Like, it's fun. It's nice.
08:02So as an athlete, I don't see any major difference.
08:04But I honestly don't understand the global politics or something.
08:07So I don't know from the commercial perspective what is happening.
08:11Hmm. All right. So without getting into that, help me understand this.
08:15Do the locals there, were they talking about it?
08:18What was their sense?
08:19Do they want, what are they expecting?
08:22Which side are they on?
08:23Do they have a preference of which way the war should go?
08:29No, there's a lot of business happening.
08:31For the fishermen, it's very good right now.
08:33Because it's so easy to catch fish.
08:35I even sent you one video of the big fish.
08:37Yeah.
08:38I mean, to catch that kind of fish, it's very difficult.
08:40But for the marine life, it's doing well.
08:43I don't, again, these fishermen are like, they run tourist boats.
08:47They don't get involved in the commercial petrol trade.
08:51So honestly, I don't think they also know.
08:53And I personally also have no idea about all this.
08:57But you are planning to go there again, Baks.
09:00You're not scared of the mines.
09:02Even American insurance companies are scared of the mines that are all over there.
09:06And you are there, you know, going deep sea diving in middle of all of that.
09:11You say you're planning to go there again next week?
09:15See, the thing is, it's expensive.
09:17So if I can afford it, maybe I will go day after tomorrow.
09:21All right then, Baks, we leave it there for the moment.
09:25Thank you so much for joining us, letting us see the Strait of Hormuz through your eyes.
09:30Well, and for all our viewers, well, sea is thriving.
09:33Local fishermen are thriving.
09:35You and I are held hostage in a way because of the oil and the ships that are really stuck
09:42there.
09:42So that's the perspective on Strait of Hormuz.
09:45We leave you with that.
09:45See you again tomorrow.
09:46Bye-bye.
09:47Bye-bye.
09:47Bye-bye.
09:47Bye-bye.
09:48You
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