Arati  Saha: who’s she?

At a time when Indian sportswomen are doing wonders around the world, we seem to have forgotten the woman who pioneered the movement.

 The youngest Indian to take part in the Olympic Games was Arati Saha. At just 11 and half, she was a part of the Indian swimming squad at the Helsinki Olympics in 1952. The first Indian woman sportsperson to make international headlines was this young girl long-distance swimmer from Bengal, Arati Saha.

Unfortunately the name does not ring a bell any more. Such is the sports culture in our country that our real champions are forgotten overnight.

At 11 she was an Olympian. She beat all the favourites to be in the Indian swimming team for the 1952 Helsinki Olympic Games. For a young girl yet to reach her teens, to be an Olympian as well as to keep winning gold medals in domestic senior national championships still remain unique feats. Amazing, indeed. But more amazing is that we in India have forgotten her and heroic achievements.

At the 1952 Helsinki Olympic Games although the 11 plus year-old did not win any medal – she was not expected to – in the Olympic village she created a flutter with her natural exuberance and graceful demeanour. Swimming coaches of the other nations predicted a great future for her provided she got the best of training and facilities. Most unfortunately at the time here in India even the very basic facilities were lacking and social inhibitions were heavily loaded against women participants.

The lissome, graceful lady was the cynosure of all eyes in the 1950s. She created waves in the male-dominated Indian sports scenario as she splashed her way to become the first woman from Asia to swim the English Channel in 1959.

Born in 1940, at the age of 5 the child prodigy kept winning medals in various swimming championships in her home state of West Bengal. By 11 she had won numerous events in the senior level national championships with ease.

 Arati Saha was fortunate that her parents, especially her paternal uncle popularly known as Saha-kaka, encouraged her to utilize the swimming pool of Matt-khola Club near their north Calcutta residence. The coach Sachin Nag realized that he was handling a prodigy and thankfully did not try to change her style and approach. Nag and Saha accompanied the young swimmer to the River Hooghly every week for serious swimming practice from the age of 5!

Arati did not disappoint. By 11 she was the national senior champion and an Olympic athlete. While growing up she had heard of the reports of Mihir Sen’s early attempts to conquer the English Channel. But Mihir Sen was away in England. Instead her role model was Brojen Das, certainly among the best long-distance swimmers in the world.

Brojen Das (1927-1997) was from the Bikrampur district of Dhaka. Dhaka at the time was a major city of ‘undivided’ Bengal in pre-independent India. But after independence in 1947 and the dreadful partition of the sub-continent, Das’ family stayed on and thus he became a citizen of Pakistan. Although Das’ family did not cross the border to settle in India, Brojen Das planned to cross the English Channel. The strongly-built swimmer from Dhaka crossed the English Channel in his first attempt in August 1958 in the second position and became the first from Asia to achieve the feat. His timing was a record for a first-timer.

Brojen Das between 1958 and 1961 crossed the English Channel six times. Appropriately enough he became very popular in the sub-continent. Young Arati too was highly captivated by the daring exploits of Brojen Das and Mihir Sen as well as the wide publicity given to English Channel conquerors.

Young Arati after consulting with her guru decided that she too would make an attempt. With Brojen Das (31) crossing the Channel in August 1958 and Mihir Sen (27) a month later in September 1958, the 19 year-old Arati Saha decided that she would wait no longer!

In 1959 at the young age of 19 before setting off for UK to attempt to cross the English Channel, Arati married Dr Arun Gupta, who also accompanied her as the manager.

In UK she had a strange experience. Arati’s route was from Calais in France to Dover in England. After swimming for about 6 hours she suddenly came face to face with turbulent weather and huge waves. Instead of trying to combat the challenge, very sensibly she decided to just float to conserve energy. Unfortunately one of the organizers thought that she needed help and inadvertently touched her. This kind of assistance was against the rules and so she was disqualified.

Extremely disappointed, young Arati was heart-broken and wanted to return to India. Thankfully she received a message from her dad saying, “My personal sorrow I can overcome. But how do I overcome your sorrow? Please try once again.” This motivated her and with her manager-husband’s encouragement she made another attempt within a few days.

This time she overcame each and every challenge that the English Channel could throw at her: biting cold temperature, varying currents, sea creatures and high waves.

When she reached the coast in 16 hours and 15 minutes she became the first lady swimmer from Asia to achieve the feat. It was without an iota of doubt a unique feat for an Asian. Commendable more so because till then only 5 other women-swimmers had achieved the feat.

Messages flowed in from around the world including the Indian prime minister. This was followed by the Padma Shri award on her return. She was the first sportswoman to receive the prestigious award. In 1970 her knowledge of the sport and her work for youngsters was acknowledged by being included in the All India Council of Sports.

She died at a nursing home in Calcutta at just 54 in 1994 after a long illness. Neither the media nor the government showed any interest. Even the swimming fraternity seemed to have forgotten their own genuine champion. Graceful till the very end, she still remains a forgotten soul in her own homeland.

My only interaction with Arati Saha was in the 1980s. Before I could introduce myself, she said, “I read your articles in ABP. I like your style.” She allowed me to touch her feet and asked me, “How do you know me? You must be much younger and could not have seen me in my active days.” I replied, “I am just 10 years younger to you, didi. But I have seen your photographs in the Sport & Pastime magazine of the 1960s which I still possess.”

She smiled and willingly answered my queries. She said that she was fortunate to have had very understanding parents, coach and husband. She added that she had very little time for friends, apart from her swimming colleagues, “Honestly, where was the time for friends and gossip? Studies and swimming took away all my time. I enjoyed both. I wish I had more nutritious diet in my early years. This is a big problem with our talented young swimmers even now. They come from poor families who can hardly afford proper food. As a sports council member we tried our best to rectify this malaise. But still a lot more has to be done.”

It was amazing that she did not want to say anything about her unique achievement or about herself. She was totally submerged into the swimming world of young talents.

I asked her a very pertinent question. She was very candid in response, “Yes, not many girls swam in my time. Primarily because of the inhibitions about swim-wear. But fortunately the people who came to watch us at practice or in competitions were very decent. No awkward remarks I have ever heard. Actually our coaches and officials had created a very congenial atmosphere. We had great fun. I really enjoyed swimming wherever it was.”

About her early life, again she was very frank and forthright, “Actually the problem was the mind-set of our society. No one thought that we women could actually play and win honours. Even our esteemed chief minister Dr Bidhan Chandra Roy discouraged me from going to UK to swim across the English Channel when I went to meet him for sponsorship. He said, ‘What is wrong with you? Swimming the English Channel is a man’s job. You go home and raise a family.’ I told him loud and clear, ‘Yes, of course, I shall go home and raise a family. But before that I shall cross the English Channel just prove many people wrong.’

“It seemed he liked my spirit and gave me my plane fare. Then he was nice enough to call up some local industrialists to help financially. But they all had the same male chauvinistic ideas. They hardly gave anything.

“Actually I borrowed money by leaving behind the little jewellery that I had. Thankfully my manager-husband was a doctor and we could make ends meet. But numerous Indian female sports talents were lost because of our silly ideas about the role of women. Let me tell you, today, that the moment we allow girls to play, the Indian girls will start winning international sporting honours.”

Her immaculate prophecy was proved absolutely correct in the last four decades when women sportspersons began to get facilities to hone their skills. Now we have world champions in various sports disciplines. Arati Saha was the pioneer champion as well as the pioneer activist among Indian sportswomen. Yet we have forgotten her and her yeoman contribution.

I mentioned the name of Brojen Das to her, “The great swimmer had come to our house in 1958 just after crossing the English Channel. He was my maternal uncle Sishir Chatterje’s school-mate in Dhaka in the 1930s.” Her eyes lit up, “You know I hero-worshipped Brojen Das. He was the first Asian to cross the English Channel. His achievement motivated me to make the attempt. Although he was from the neighbouring country, I always thought of him as an Indian because he was a Bengalee!  Am I not right?” She furrowed her eye-brows. I could only smile and nod.

When I coaxed her to relate any unusual experience of her English Channel swim, thankfully she opened up, “Abroad most of the foreigners were very supportive. They guided me in many ways regarding Channel swimming about which I had no idea. They took great care even about little details. I learnt a lot from their positive approach. However one person appeared distinctly discouraging. He said, ‘No coloured lady swimmer has conquered the English Channel.’ Immediately I softly told him, ‘Do not worry about my skin colour. Look at the tri-colour of my nation’s flag. That will flutter. It did.’ Later as the congratulations poured in, he was extremely gracious to come and apologize.”

To appreciate her genius we have to go deep into the social mores and morality of the 1950s. In India at the time hardly any woman was allowed to play. As youngsters some lucky girls would get a few opportunities, perhaps in some schools. Missionary schools advocated sports among their young girl students. But how many Indian girls went to these schools which offered sports facilities to girls? At the time the liberal approach of the Anglo-Indians and the Parsees enabled girls of their communities to play and participate in competitions. Other communities hardly encouraged any sports among women, young or old.

 In this environment to gain international honours in sports was surely no joke for an Indian teenage girl coming from a very orthodox background. When Arati Saha crossed the English Channel at the age of 19 in 1959 she was only the 5^th woman in the world to have done so. Exemplary achievement on all counts.

Yet she remains an ignored figure in India’s sports history. May be in some footnote her remarkable international honour would be casually mentioned. This is India’s real sports culture. We have little respect for our genuine sports heroes and heroines.

Arati Gupta (nee Saha) was a born-rebel. The pioneer sportswoman whose daring brought about a huge transformation in Indian sports ethos.