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The Swimmer Who Challenged Fate
To his sister's remark, Taranath merely said, "The English Channel is an English Channel, unique in every sense. Its magical spell is totally different."
Taranath also participated in the competition held in Mumbai in which one had to swim the distance between the Gateway of India and Dharamtar, both ways in a single attempt. It meant a total distance of 42 miles. On 15th March 1984, this 24 year old swimmer Taranath completed it in a time slot of 17 hours and 43 minutes. The only successful attempt to cover this distance prior to that was by the swimmer Madhusudan Thakur. But Thakur took 32 hours to complete the swim, while Taranath did it in only 17 hours and 43 minutes. This partially blind swimmer covered the distance between the Gate Way of India and Dharamtar comparatively easily and without much difficulty, but on the return swim he faced rough waters. He signaled his victory by raising his hand above the water level, but simultaneously also said in his sign language, "I was caught in the midst of tides. I had to face the breeze coming from the opposite side and that is why I was four hours late in completing the distance.
Taranath had a similar keen desire to cross the English Channel both ways. He made one attempt to fulfil his urge. But when he was just 8 miles away from his final assault, he had to abort the attempt because of rough weather and thick fog.
In 1987, Taranath recorded one more achievement to his credit. He decided to swim the 21 mile long Catalina Creek that lies between Los Angeles and the Catalina Islands on the Western seaboard of the U.S. When Taranath started his swim, the temperatures were ranging between 15 and 20 degrees Celsius. He started his swim in the early hours of the morning
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