The Incredible Life Of Arati Saha: The Swimmer Who Wouldn't Give Up

The little-known story of the life of India’s youngest Olympian and the first woman in Asia to swim the English Channel. This is the inspiring story of how a seemingly ordinary girl set her eyes on impossible dreams and achieved them with her incredible hard work and talent. In the process, she swam her way into history.

Extracted from The Incredible Life of Arati Saha: The Swimmer Who Wouldn't Give Up by Swati Sengupta. Published by Talking Cub (the children’s imprint of Speaking Tiger), 2023.

An Excerpt

Then, the day arrived: 29 September 1959. Before she began, she told Arun something important. ‘I must tell you something,’ she began, clearing her throat. Arun was startled. Was she about to call off the attempt? Whatever she wanted, he meant to support her. 

‘If you can’t spot me when I swim, no matter what the weather, no matter how harsh the tides and currents, do not let them drop the rope this time. Do not deter my swimming, do not try to save me,’ she said. 

Now he had tears in his eyes listening to her. He felt her pain. It was the ache of a real sportsperson. 

Arati went on. ‘Wait till you spot my lifeless body floating on the water. When you are sure I have died, only then lift my body. I urge you, please do not lift me from the water before that. Please wait till I am completely dead, because I am not quitting no matter what. I have promised to myself that I will go on swimming till my last breath. I am not giving up. Whoever wants to stop me in their attempt to save my life, tell them that I do not want to be saved. I want to either cross the English Channel, or it will be my lifeless body that you should retrieve from the waters. I am not coming out of the water alive if I can’t cross the English Channel,’ she said. Her tone was matter-of-fact. Her eyes were dry.

It was clear that she had thought about it well. At long last, Arun reacted, making light of the situation. ‘There’s no question of bringing out a lifeless body. Arati Saha is about to make history. The most talented woman on earth is about to become the first woman in Asia to cross the English Channel, and I am proud to be her manager and husband,’ he said. 

She smiled. The lifeboat was there, so were Dr Bimal Chanda and Brojen Das. Arati was now fully prepared. Her goggles in place, her cap on her head, she removed her towel and dived into the water.97

The marathon swim began once more. The water chilled the bones of her body. But the hours of swimming did not exhaust her this time. She could feel bursts of energy as she progressed. Every time she lifted her mouth to the surface to draw in gulps of air, they seemed to inject more vigour into her. The vast expanse of the water soothed her as she gaped at its terrific beauty. The water changed its colour with every passing moment—from ink blue to teal, it gradually turned grey and then pink, then a luscious red. The sky and the water became one. 

At times, the water appeared dark and sinister, but soon it turned calm and cool. At times the waves came rushing in threateningly, trying to consume her in its depths, but Arati was unafraid. She was not afraid to die. She would overpower the enormous power of the waters and emerge winner. 

Her whole life flashed before her eyes like a motion picture. How she missed her mother whom she did not remember! The sepia-coloured photograph of her that was kept on the wobbly dressing table, came to her mind. 

She remembered her father whose life had been drowned in sorrow because he missed his wife so much! She could hear the sounds of Bharati’s laughter and the endless chatter of her brother Jogen, cousins Parimal, Pannalal, Anupama and all their adda sessions that centred around swimming and water polo. 

Bharati would be married to Gour-da someday. He would make her so happy! He had been so helpful in getting Arati to practise at the Dhakuria Lake. Her own wedding with Arun was to be held in Calcutta when they got back. Would she have children? She wanted to have a daughter for sure. Someone who would swim like her and be a water baby. 

All this and more would happen if only she survived. 

Wake up, Arati! Wake up! You haven’t slept for months, why are you about to sleep at this crucial moment? Enjoy the moment when you become a hero of a story that you dreamed of and scripted yourself. 

That shook her. The shoreline was a few feet away. As she touched it, her hands felt the soft, sandy wet earth. It was Sandgate, England. Arati dragged on through the muddy ground to the finishing line. She was breathing hard as she pulled on, tears in her eyes, boundless joy in her heart. She was alive! She had made it! 

She had been lucky to be born by a great river where swimming came naturally to everyone. But her dreams were achieved after enormous hardships that only she knew about. She had dared to dream the impossible—something few women had the courage to do, and fewer had it in them to chase after those dreams. She had travelled 42 miles over 16 hours and 20 minutes and achieved her sweetest dream.