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Bula
Chowdhury
Conquering The Seas
 Bula Chowdhury, once India's
undisputed sprint queen in the pool, is today as much of a celebrity in
the sea. Hers has been a sporting career spanning 24 years. Just when you
believe it's too much for
a sportsperson to further push the limit, Bula proves you wrong by yet
another foray into salty waters, yet another adventure in some far corner
of the globe.
And she has done it again. On July 20 this year, Bula swam the Toroneous
Gulf in Greece, an exhausting 26-km sea crawl, and finished best among
women in the field (and seventh overall). She timed eight hours and 11
minutes, when most of the men took well over 10 hours. That is her latest
feat, not her last, though. Already, she is readying to prepare for a
Manhattan Beach onslaught...
Bula came into the spotlight well before her teens when, in 1978, she took
part in the fifth age-group aquatic championships in Madras and finished
fourth. She is over 32 now, at an age when sportspersons take it easy, get
involved in family and matters immediate to home and hearth, and the
sporting arena slowly grows distant.
Not so for Bula. Her spirit of adventure, perhaps the urge to be
different, remains undimmed. It is evident in the way she flits around her
house in Hindmotor, an industrial township near Kolkata. Sitting down for
a cup of lemon tea, she is unable to relax. "I find the call of the sea
irresistible
these days," she says. Earlier it used to be the swimming pool.
Her national 100m butterfly record of 1:06.19, set in Trivandrum in 1984,
is yet to be touched. Her India-best performances of 1:05.27 (100m
butterfly) and 2:19.60 (200m butterfly), both set at the Seoul Asian Games
in 1986, have also not been bettered.
While her contemporaries have long since left the water and settled down
to more mundane activities, Bula remains undeterred. This Sahara India
employee believes the best is yet to come. While the power game of sprints
is a thing of the past - it requires the vigor of extreme youth and the
instinct of a killer - patience and endurance have taken over.
A move from sprint to long distance isn't easy. It involves rearranging
the mindset, it involves telling yourself that the target comes bigger
now, not faster. Distance swimming means strokes through rough waters, and
often high seas, tackling strong trade currents. And just when you believe
you
have made it, you look up and can't see the shore. That's the level of
endurance and determination required.
This time it was the 32nd Swimming Crossing of the Toroneous Gulf. This is
a 26-km stretch of water between the middle tail that hangs from Greece
and the left tail. Organized by the Cultural Youth Association of Nikiti,
the annual Crossing began in 1971, when a group of youths of the island,
demonstrated their love for the sea by doing the swim.
"It has been a wonderful experience," Bula says. "This passion of mine,
this long distance swimming... It has taken me places. The hotel in Nikiti
where I stayed - I came to know I was the first Indian to have stepped
into that place. They looked at my salwar kameez dresses and my
dupattas, and I had to give away two of my better ones. Makes you feel
good inside."
It is this desire for more challenges that separates the good from the
great. Bula has crossed the English Channel twice (in 1989 and in '99),
then the Strait of Gibraltar in 2000, the Chinmoy Marathon in Zurich last
year, the Tyrrhenian Sea (Italy) also last year, and now this. And the
hunger keeps growing.
"I cannot think about leaving the water," she says waving her arms. "I
think of the sea nowadays, even in my sleep. I experience the excruciating
pain in my arms and shoulders towards the end... You know, nearing the
end, I can just think of finishing, somehow, just clambering ashore and
falling
into a deep, deep sleep. I pray 'let just this one be over.' Yet, every
time I am finished with it and have rested, I want to get back in again."
It started in a small pond behind her home, also in Hindmotor, way back
before she was even 10. A local coach noticed her talent and gave her
lessons in the pond and in the Hooghly river nearby. When she came to
Calcutta, she conquered the Indian pool and then dove into the
international arena: the SAF Games, the Asian Games, the Asian
Championships, friendship meets and more.
With the support of husband Sanjib Chakraborty (they got married in 1993),
an accomplished sprinter in his own right those days, Bula as achieved
more than perhaps even she had dreamt of. It has not been easy. Their
eight-year-old son, Sarabjit, and ageing parents have to be taken care of
and there are a multitude of chores to do. But that does not hold Bula
back.
"I can't think of anything that does not relate to swimming, I can't think
of 'retiring'. Retiring is a bad word - it's not for me, not as long as I
can make it happen," she says. No sitting around and waiting for the right
moment for Bula Chowdhury. She loves to laugh (mostly giggles) and as long
as that child resides inside her she is sure to keep moving - or rather,
swimming.
– Uttam Sengupta
August 11, 2002
By arrangement with
Womens Feature Service
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