Arati Saha Biography: Arati Saha (24 September 1940 – 23 August 1994) was an Indian swimmer who specialised in long distances. She is best known for being the first Asian woman to swim the English Channel on September 29, 1959, at the age of nineteen. In 1960, she was the first Indian athlete to receive the Padma Shri, India’s fourth-highest civilian honour.
Arati Saha Biography
Early years
Gupta was born into a middle-class family. 1940 saw the birth of Panchugopal Saha’s second of three children and first of two daughters in Kolkata, India. Her father was a member of the military At two and a half years old, she lost her mother. Her older brother and younger sister, Bharati, were raised by their maternal relative, whereas she was raised in North Kolkata by her grandmother. At the age of four, she went to the Champatala Ghat bath with her uncle, where she learned to swim. After recognising her interest in the sport, Panchugopal Saha enrolled his daughter in the Hatkhola Swimming Club. In 1946, at the age of five, she began her swimming career by winning the gold medal in the 110-yard freestyle event at the Shailendra Memorial Swimming Competition.
Arati Saha Profession
Arati Saha won 22 state-level competitions in West Bengal between 1945 and 1951, including the 100-meter freestyle, 200-meter breaststroke, and 300-meter breaststroke. She competed for India at the 1952 Summer Olympics, where she achieved a national record in the 50-meter dash. Arati also participated in the 1952 Olympics, where she lost to her sister Bharati Saha in the 100-meter freestyle.
Arati was inspired to swim the English Channel by Brojen Das, who was the first individual from the Indian subcontinent to accomplish this feat at the 1958 Butlin International Cross Channel Swimming Race. Dr Arun Gupta, assistant executive secretary of the Hatkhola Swimming Club, arranged Arati’s participation, and she began to swim for extended periods of time. On July 24, 1959, she and her manager, Dr. Arun Gupta, departed for England and she began her final practise in the English Channel.
There were a total of 58 competitors, including five women from 23 different countries. However, Arati’s pilot boat did not reach in time, and after swimming over 40 miles, she was forced to stop. Arati prepared for a second attempt by swimming from Cape Gris Nez, France, to Sandgate, England, for 16 hours and 20 minutes.
Later years
Arati graduated from the Intermediate level at City College. Dr. Bidhan Chandra Roy oversaw her marriage to her manager, Dr. Arun Gupta, in 1959. They had a court marriage first, followed by a social marriage. Her in-laws’ residence was located on Tarak Chatterjee Lane, very close to her grandmother’s residence. After her marriage, she gave birth to a daughter named Archana. She was a Bengal Nagpur Railway employee. With jaundice and encephalitis, she was admitted to a private nursing facility in Kolkata on August 4, 1994. On August 23, 1994, she succumbed to the illness after 19 days, on August 23.
Arati Saha Awards
In 1960, she was awarded the Padma Shri.She was the first Indian woman athlete to obtain this honour. In 1999, the Department of Posts issued a three-pound postage stamp depicting her.A monument of Arati Saha was erected near her residence in 1996.The 100-meter-long thoroughfare in front of the statue has been renamed in her honour.In 2020, on what would have been her 80th birthday, she was honoured with a Google Doodle.
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