Courtesy of WOWSA, Huntington Beach, California.
Mihir Sen (মিহির সেন) was a man of unusual talents and an accomplished marathon swimmer, inducted in the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame.
His exploits and achievements were celebrated twice in his native India by two separate Prime Ministers. Sen was awarded two separate civilian honors: the Padma Shri in 1959 by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and the Padma Bhushan in 1966 by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. He was the first Indian swimmer to cross the English Channel in 1958 and really put his mark on the open water swimming world in 1966.
That year in April, he swam 22 miles across the Palk Strait from Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) to Dhanushkodi, Tamil Nadu in 25 hours 36 minutes. In August, he crossed the Strait of Gibraltar in 8 hours 1 minutes. In September, he not only swam 45 miles (72 km) along the length of the Dardanelles in 13 hours 55 minutes, but 9 days later, swam 16 miles and 4 hours in the Bosphorus. Then, in October, he swam 50 miles along the length of the Panama Canal in a stage swim that took him from Cristobal in the Atlantic Ocean to Balboa in the Pacific Ocean in 34 hours 15 minutes.
He was a hero to many. Madhu Nagaraja recalls, “We had essays on Mihir Sen during my 4th or 5th grade classes and my mother had read me stories about Mihir in my youth.”
Among the others who have swum in the Palk Strait
1. Murugapillai Navratnasenwaterpedia.com/index.php?title=Murugapillai_Navratnaswami”>Murugupillai Navara(VVT) tnasamy) was the first person to swim the Palk Strait between India and Sri Lanka in 1954 where he took 26 hours 50 minutes to swim 32 miles from Valevettithurai to Point Calimere on his second attempt.
2. V.S. Kumar Anandan, newphew of Murugapillai Navratnaswami, completed a swim from VVT to Point Calimere in 1963 that took 42 hours.
3. V.S. Kumar Anandan also completed a two-way crossing in 1974 in 51 hours.
4. Tanarath Narayan Shenoy crossed the Palk Strait.
5. Mihir Sen is an International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame Honour Swimmer who crossed the Palk Strait in 1966 in 25 hours 44 minutes.
6. Bula Chowdhury Chakraborty, an accomplished marathon swimmer who crossed the English Channel twice, the Catalina Channel, the Strait of Gibraltar and the Cook Strait, crossed the Palk Strait in 2004 in 13 hours 52 minutes.
7. Rajiv Trivedi is an Indian open water swimmer who crossed in 2011 between India and Sri Lanka in 12 hours 31 minutes.
8. Balasaheb Ramchandra Ghadge, an Indian, crossed the Palk Strait in 2011 between India and Sri Lanka in 12 hours 31 minutes together with Rajiv Trivedi.
9. Rajiv Trivedi, an Indian open water swimmer, crossed the Palk Strait in 2011 between India and Sri Lanka in 12 hours 31 minutes, together with [[[Balasaheb Ramchandra Ghadge]].
10. S.P. Murleedharan completed the Palk Strait between Talaimannar in Sri Lanka to Arichamunai at Danushkodi in India in 13 hours 53 minutes in 2012. “As an Indian I feel proud to cross Palk Strait from Sri Lanka to India. The conditions were extremely tough for swimming. The sea, pleasant in the initial stage, turned very rough. It forced me to swim against the strong wind and choppy sea.”
11. C.P. Saravanavadivu
12. Raja Eswara Prabhu, an Indian from Chennai on the Bay of Bengal in eastern India, swam the Palk Strait from Talaimannar to Arichalmunai in Danushkodi in 11 hours 58 minutes in March 2018.
13. M. Tulasi Chaitanya, a 29-year-old head constable in Vijayawada, India, swam across the Palk Strait from Talaimannar to Arichalmunai in 8 hours 25 minutes in March 2018.
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