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The Brave Hearts
swim the channel in 1981 but it proved abortive and had to be abandoned in the middle as the water temperature reached 120 centigrade. Two years later he made a second attempt, successful this time, in which he took ten hours and 54 minutes to cross the distance between France and England. For this achievement, Taranath was awarded a medal.
Taranath may have failed in the first attempt but succeeded in the second one hands down. He was fortunate that the temperature of the water was 600 F and the height of the ocean waves was not more than 5-6 meters. Nor did he have to face any uncertainty of weather conditions like the unexpected tides. It was because of all these favourable conditions that his journey between Cape Greez - Nez of France and Dover of England proved safe. As his vision was very weak, he had to swim the first three early morning hours with the help of the headlights of the pilot boats. He required 66-68 'strokes' during his entire journey in the channel.
On successful completion of the venture, his brother enquired from him with the help of the sign language whether Taranath would like to cross the channel both ways in a single attempt. Taranath replied, "If ten minutes rest is allowed, I would be willing to swim back to France again." But as no arrangements were made in advance for Taranath's return journey to France, the idea had to be given up. Yet Taranath's confident reply aptly reflected his courage, grit and prowess.
In 1981, Taranath successfully swam the Palk Creek. He then crossed the English Channel and in the process set a new record of crossing the Channel in the shortest possible time by a disabled swimmer. His next target seems to be to cross the English Channel both ways in a single attempt. Taranath's sister, who is a medical practitioner, jokingly remarked, "the most significant achievement in all this would be to cross the seven seas."
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