These days, long distance swimming has become a rather common adventure for those aspiring to conquer the waves. In fact, the record books now only keep a tab of the youngest person to swim the various water bodies like the English Channel and the Palk Strait.
But this was hardly the case in the 1950s and 60s and barely crossing the Indian Ocean for education or jobs was probably considered a big adventure for many Indians, who did not belong to affluent families, back then.
And this is precisely why what Mihir Sen attempted in 1966 found a way into the Guinness Book of Records then.
Sen wasn’t a prodigal swimming talent nor was he interested in the sport till late in his youth.
Born in a family with modest means in West Bengal, Sen had completed his preliminary education in Cuttack and had gone to United Kingdom to get a Degree in Law thanks to some financial support from the well wisher of the family.
It was here that he first came across a news clipping about Florence Chadwick swimming the English Channel in 1950.
Sen had not even learnt swimming by then but the thought of the adventure and the urge to do something that no Indian had done before spurred him on. He took freestyle lessons at YMCA and managed to achieve that feat in 27th September, 1958, on his second attempt.
But it was his attempt to become the first person on the planet to conquer the seven seas in the five continents in the same calendar year in 1966 that got him the tag of India’s greatest long distance swimmer.
He began his quest by becoming the first swimmer to cross the Palk Strait between Sri Lanka and India, taking 25 hours and 36 minutes to complete the journey. The next stop was the Strait of Gibraltar, which was then knock to have sharks.
To counter their threat, Sen had to swim over a net mesh after a few hours during his eight-hour swim. He then covered the Dardanelles and Bosphorus, which connects Europe to Asia, in September before making his way to America for the last stretch.
With no wetsuits to aid the swimmer, Sen needed tremendous endurance to cross the Panama Canal, which he eventually did in 34 hours and 15 minutes to become the first person to achieve this milestone.
Later speaking about the motivation to undertake such an assignment, Sen spoke about his hunger to take risks. “I wanted to something difficult, something dangerous. Something beyond this way of living that we do in India. I went to all the parts of the world, I now have swims in all the five continents.”
Soon after crossing the Palk Strait he had said, “I had undertaken this perilous swim not to gain fame or trophies but to prove once again to the world that Indians are no longer afraid. To the youth of India, this triumph will have dramatically demonstrated that nothing is impossible for them — all they have to do is believe and persevere and the goal will be theirs!”
His daughter Supriya Sen also wrote about the same in a piece for the Telegraph.
“His motive for swimming the seven seas was primarily political. Being a young nationalist of uncommonly strong views and unorthodox ambition, he wanted to show the world what Indians are made of, to set for young Indians an example of courage and to tell them that one of the best things to do with life is to risk it. In this way, he hoped to prepare them for what he saw as their destiny.”
It was the same risk taking attitude that saw Sen start a silk manufacturing and export business despite starting his law practice in Kolkata just a year ago and started The Explorers Club to help adventure seeking individuals raise funds for their endeavours.
Explaining why he left his law practice and started a business of his own, Sen had said, “From the English channels, from the seven seas to the business, it is only an extension of the same thing. Mainly my love for adventure, my thrust for the dangerous, the difficult and the unknown. Business was a field I was not trained. I was trained as a barrister. But law is very straight profession. And I wanted the harrowing, I wanted the excitement, I wanted the high-risk.”
But unfortunately it was this risk taking nature that proved to be his downfall.
In 1977, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Jyoti Basu approach Sen asking him to campaign for the party in the state elections. Sen reportedly refused as he didn’t believe in the ideology and apparently invited the wrath of the man who went on to hold the state’s chief minister’s post for the next 23 years.
His business started suffering soon after due to labour unrest and Sen developed dementia and passed away on June 11, 1997 at the age of 66.
You can watch him speak about his tryst with adventures below.
