INTRODUCTION
There are people who give up in life against the odds, and objections, without trying to give a valiant fight back. 98 percent of people crib about failures and reasons for failure. However, there are people who strive with full passion and zeal to create a mark in the world so that their deeds are embarked in people's minds for eternity. A dynamic powerhouse of determination to be counted as a legend in her area of passion, and interest, is how Sayani Das the Swimmer from West Bengal is known as.
JOURNEY OF SAYANI DAS
SAYANI DAS is a 23-year-old girl from Kalna, a small town in West Bengal. Her father Radheshyam Das inspired her to join swimming. Her natural talent for swimming got highlighted by her headmaster, who realized that she is a natural swimmer. Swimming like a duck in the water she has a natural instinct to swim across waters. She started swimming at the age of 7 years . At the age of 7 years she participated in a 10 Km stretch swimming competition across river Ganga. Although she stood 11th in that competition. Her coach Mr Pasupati Kundu motivated her to go for swimming as a career and create a milestone no one ever achieved. However, after that she won 6 state-level gold medals in Swimming and also participated in national-level swimming. However, in her hometown, she faced objections while practicing on the local ponds. She was not allowed to swim in the pond by local people. People in her hometown have a traditional orthodox lookout at things such as how girls should behave and how they should dress in front of everyone. Swimming costumes are made tightly fitting which was against the dress code of orthodox ideologies of local people. When Sayani Das,s co- competitors in nationals are planning about their speed, flip ratio, and underwater stamina, Sayani,s worries are on the fact whether she will be able to practice tomorrow in the local pond. However, legends are not made to be subdued so easily with harsh realities and she started preparing for the huge jump of her life of being an internationally acclaimed swimmer.
In the year 2017 when she was 18 years old she decided to do English Channel. The English Channel is considered to be the Everest of swimming. Not every swimmer can cross it. The struggle continued for Sayani when she started looking for Sponsors for sponsoring her swimming across the English Channel. Her father had to mortgage their ancestral house to raise funds for the journey to the UK and attempt for an English channel. Her VISA was also rejected a couple of times. No one financially helped her. Finally, she reached the UK and the hurdle of her swimming was eagerly waiting for her. When for a test swim when she 1st entered the English Channel water she was totally taken aback. The temperature is 12 degree Celsius. waters in India had a temperature of approx 38 degrees and suddenly getting accustomed to such a chilling swimming water is near. After that the weather there is very unpredictable and it changes abruptly. So there are high chances of a participant that she might not be allowed to swim. But she again was not so easily dominated or disheartened, she kept her practice. Then a tentative date was given to her. On the dates she was allocated unfortunately the weather was not suitable for swimming and her swimming schedule was cancelled by the authorities. She requested the authorities to let her swim. The reply which she got is that “You are an Indian, you cannot swim in such cold conditions there are high chances you might freeze and die. Many swimmers have tried swimming in English and died only due to cold.” It was a very obvious reaction and response from the authorities that they did not want to risk the life of a swimmer when there are records of previous accidents and fatalities. Sayani kept requesting, “Please give me one chance. Indians can do anything. “Finally the authorities took the risk and allowed her to swim. They amended the rule. Sayani started her swimming across the English channel at 12.55 in the afternoon 12.55. The temperature was highest during the afternoon. The distance was approx 21 miles. On 25th July 2017, at the age of 18, the swim started. The weather keeps changing, sometimes it is cloudy, sometimes it is sunny. The waves kept rising high but Sayani kept swimming. Once in 2 hours, she was provided food from the boat which was sailing right beside her. They threw food right into the sea and she had to eat that without any support. While having food the salty sea water went in her mouth as well. The real pain was still waiting to come when the left side of her face got burnt. It was a burning experience and slowly her hands, legs started burning. She realized it was a jellyfish attack. 6-7 jellyfish attacked her. She kept swimming and slowly night fell and 9 the night temperature fell drastically. Sayani started having thoughts of giving up. Due to swimming in the salty water, the flesh in her mouth and face somehow got bruised and the upper layer of her face skin got impacted. The belt around her shoulder got bruised and salt water hit that area incurring more pain. Her father and the boat instructor kept telling her to keep swimming as at that point if she stops moving her hands HYPOTHERMIA might happen which might lead to cardiac arrest, in simple terms HEART ATTACK. But Sayani remembered one thing, those people who always supported her father, her coach, the mother, she decided that she cannot quit at any cost. Her inspiration was the legendary swimmer Masidur Rahaman Baidya who crossed the English Channel without both his legs. Why can’t she do it? She kept swimming and at 3.03 AM in the morning, she reached the French coast. By that time all her energy is exhausted, she is all done. Her stamina is over but she was rescued by 2 French coastal guards. But the legend is created, the youngest Bengali swimmer girl, to cross the English channel after a swimming battle of 12 long hours. She waved the Indian flag in foreign soil the highest goosebump moment any sports professional can feel at that point. In an interview, she said that waiving the India flag after creating history in foreign soil was the biggest, larger-than-life moment in her career.
THE OTHER ACHIEVEMENTS OF SAYANI DAS:
- 2017 - SHE CROSSED ENGLISH CHANNEL.
- IN 2018 SHE PARTICIPATED IN 19.7 KM OPEN WATER ROTTNEST CHANNEL SWIM, WESTERN AUSTRALIA'S ICONIC EVENT THAT BEGINS IN COTTESLOE BEACH AND CULMINATES IN ROTTNEST ISLAND.
- IN 2019 SHE SWAM ACROSS CATALINA CHANNEL IN THE US. This lies across Santa Catalina and Los Angeles, it is 21 miles long and it is equivalent to the English Channel.
- In 2022 she swam across the Molokai Channel located 44 km from Hawaii. It is also known as the Kaiwi channel is around 43 Km long and at times it reaches a depth of 2300 feet in a few places. Sayani left for the USA on 29th March 2023, however before that, she practiced hard for 2 years. On reaching the USA the 1st two weeks of April she trained hard and on 28th April 2022 at morning 10 AM she started swimming on Molokai Channel water. After 19 hours of swimming, she completed the Molokai channel. She is the 1st Asian to complete Molokai channel, she is not just the pride of India, she is the icon for Asia as well. In her swimming stretch of nearly 19 hours, it was totally nonstop without any breaks.
In India we love cricket as a god-level sport, no other sport is given as much importance as cricket. So any time a person tries to make a career in sports the 1st objection comes from family and surroundings. If you want to become successful you need to study hard to get admission in IIT, IIM, or medical studies. Without a degree you have nothing. Education is the road to success. This myth was successfully broken by this girl. It takes a lioness heart to swim 44 miles continuously fighting jelly fishes, cold waves. Even after so many achievements, Sayani Das did not get major support, or appreciation from the government. However, her story reached many people who want to do something meaningful with their lives. SN Films created a Documentary film, “ JALPARI “ covering the journey of Sayani Das. This documentary won Best Documentary Film at #SWIFF 2023 #FilmFestival at Waldwick #NewJersey (USA). Apart from that, her autobiography is going to be released soon in Bengali. The name of the book is, “Against the Tides.” This book narrates all the struggles she faced in her journey as a girl swimmer who is not only swimming against the tides but against all odds of life. She also got invited to share her journey experience as a swimmer in the famous online Ted Talk show JOSH TALKS.
There was a lack of proper financial support from the government sector and even from the ruling body of the country's swimming association. She said that her father mortgaged their house to finance the expenses of previous occasions. However, she received 3 lakh from the state government after completing English channel but she incurred 13 lakhs overall expenses from her own pocket. She is extremely thankful to California-based US long-distance swimmer coach Dan Simmonelli who is providing online training to her.
As per statistics less than 0.5% of the population or just around 7 million out of 1.4 billion knows how to swim. 30.7 % of the swimmers are female and 69.3 percent are males. Swimming in India is not a very popular sport but as a matter of fact, swimming is a very basic survival skill. Actually, swimming is one such and the only physical exercise which does not damage any part of the body and it can burn more calories in less time. However, there are many reasons that surfaces as obstacles:
- Less a number of well-maintained swimming tanks in the city.
- Swimming tanks need much more maintenance.
- Very few people dare to swim in the winter and rainy seasons.
- Lack of hygiene among people in swimming pools.
Right now Sayani Das is on a mission, to accomplish a very rare achievement. That challenge is completing “ OCEAN SEVENS” a marathon swimming challenge comprising 7 extremely difficult open water channel swims. This was actually designed in 2008 with the purpose of creating the same status of Seven Summit mountaineering in swimming. Ocean Seven includes the North Channel, Cook Strait, the Molokai Channel, the English Channel, the Catalina Channel, the Tsugaru Strait, and the Strait of Gibraltar. Sayani has already completed 3 out of the 7. Those are the Cook strait, The North Channel, the Tsaguru strait, and the Strait of Gibraltar. According to Sayani the North Island channel seems quite tougher due to the fact the weather is very chilled. The temperature of the sea goes below 10 degrees Celsius. That is not the only challenge as the North Island channel is filled with violent jellyfish and Sharks. To achieve this milestone Sayani is inspired by Maharashtra long-distance swimmer Prabhat Koli, a 23-year-old long-distance swimmer.
Sayani Das is an inspiration for the youth of our country. Back in her initial days in her town Kalna when local people objected to her swimming practice in local ponds with a conspiracy in mind to stop her from shining in life, those people see the same girl shine as an international swimmer and an achiever. It is a direct reply on the face of those who doubt a girl's ability, and capability to shine in life. Her passion towards swimming, her zeal to fight, and her iron mentality to not get dominated by powerful hurdles coming her way teaches us a lesson, the roads will be full of stones, pebbles, and even thorns but the mission is to keep walking till the destination arrives. Once you reach the destination the footmarks of blood will leave a trail to narrate a story of determination, and courage to fight till the last drop of power left within you. It takes sweat and blood to overcome physical pain. But it is in all in the mind if someone believes no one can defeat you actually that happens. It is all in the mind. Let the achievements of Sayani be an example for people across all professions that no matter what, never give up, and never back down.
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