Arati Saha

  

Arati Saha

Arati Saha
Arati Saha
Born	24 September 1940 Kolkata, Bengal, British India
Died	23 August 1994 Kolkata, West Bengal, India
Nationality	Indian
Ethnicity	Bengali Hindu
Occupation	Swimmer
Religion	Hinduism
Awards	Padma Shri in 1960

 Something about her:

Arati Gupta née Saha (24 September 1940 - 23 August 1994) was a long distance swimmer. Born in Calcutta, West Bengal, British India, Arati was initiated in swimming at the early age of four, and her talent was spotted by Sachin Nag. She was inspired by Indian swimmer Mihir Sen to try to cross the English Channel. In 1959 she became the first Indian and Asian woman to swim across English Channel.[1] In 1960, she became the first Indian female sportsperson to be awarded Padma Shri.

Early life                   

Arati came from a middle class Bengali Hindu family. She was born the second of three children and the first of two daughters to Panchugopal Saha in 1940 in Kolkata. Her father was an ordinary employee in the armed forces. At the age of two and half, she lost her mother. Her elder brother and younger sister Bharati was raised at the maternal uncle's house, while she was raised by her grandmother in North Kolkata.When she

reached the age of four, she would accompany her uncle to the Champatala Ghat for bath where she learned to swim. Noticing his daughter's interest in swimming, Panchugopal Saha admitted his daughter to the Hatkhola Swimming Club. In 1946, at the age of five, she

won the gold in 110 yards freestyle at the Shailendra Memorial Swimming Competition. It was the beginning of her swimming career.

Career

State, national and Olympics

Crossing the English Channel

She used to take part in long distance swimming competition in the Ganges. Arati got the first inspiration to cross the English Channel from Brojen Das. At the 1958 Butlin International Cross Channel Swimming Race, Brojen Das became the first among the men and earned the distinction of being the first person from the Indian subcontinent to cross the English Channel. Greta Andersen, a Danish-born female swimmer from United States clocked 11 hours and 1 minute and stood first among both men and women. This inspired the female swimmers all over the world. Arati sent a congratulatory message to Brojen Das on his victory. He replied back stating that she too shall be able to achieve it. He proposed the name of Arati to the organizers of the Butlin International Cross Channel Swimming Race for the next year's event.

At the inspiration of Brojen Das, Arati began to seriously think about participating in the event. Mihir Sen welcomed her decision and encouraged her. Dr. Arun Gupta, the assistant executive secretary of Hatkhola Swimming Club took the major initiative in organizing Arati's participation at the event. He organized exhibits of Arati's swimming prowess as a part of fund raising programs. Apart from him, Jamininath Das, Gour Mukherjee and Parimal Saha too provided their help in organizing Arati's trip. However, in spite of sincere efforts of her sympathizers, funds raised still fell short of the target. At this point eminent social work Sambhunath Mukherjee and Ajay Ghoshal took up the matter with Dr. Bidhan Chandra Roy, the Chief Minister of West Bengal. He arranged an amount of ₹ 11,000. Jawahar Lal Nehru, the Prime Minister of India, too showed keen interest in Arati's endeavor.

Later life

Arati had completed her Intermediate from City College. In 1959, under the supervision of Dr. Bidhan Chandra Roy, she got married to her manager Dr. Arun Gupta. First they had a court marriage and later a social marriage. Her in law's house was in Tarak Chatterjee Lane, very near to her grandmother's house. After marriage she had a daughter named Archana. She was employed in Bengal Nagpur Railway. On 4 August 1994, she got admitted to a private nursing home in Kolkata with jaundice and encephalitis. After battling for 19 days she died on 23 August 1994.