It’s not the disability that defines you; it’s how you deal with the challenges the disability presents you with. We have an obligation to the abilities we do have, not the disability.
Jim Abbott
A Mumbai based young swimmer, Jiya Rai, surpassed all levels of bravery to make history on Sunday. The sea was already rough due to strong 49kmph winds as a cyclone had hit the Bay of Bengal on Saturday. But Jiya’s intentions were no less. She not only sailed over the delicate conditions, but she also broke the previous record by Bula Chowdhary (52) from West Bengal. This differently-abled, rather gifted girl, swam for 13 hours and 10 minutes as a way of creating awareness about autism.
Initially, she was not given permission to start her swim at 3 am in the morning because of rough sea conditions. When she was finally given permission, this young girl commenced swimming at 4.22 am from Talaimannar in Sri Lanka and reached Dhanushkodi, India, by 5.32 pm.
While staying in the respective countries’ waters, she was escorted and provided search and rescue support by vessels from the Sri Lankan Navy and Coast Guard, as well as the Indian Navy and Coast Guard. In the presence of senior navy and civil authorities, she was welcomed by Tamil Nadu director general of police Dr C Sylendra Babu at Arichal Munai Beach in Dhanuskodi.
She has a long list of honours and accolades to her credit. She was awarded the prestigious Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Purashkar in 2022, the highest honour bestowed on individuals under the age of eighteen.
Jiya has also won 24 gold medals and one silver medal in national and state swimming competitions as well as open water sea swimming competitions. She has also set a world record by swimming across the Arabian Sea from Bandra-Worli Sea Link to Mumbai’s Gateway of India, becoming an inspiration to people with disabilities all over the world.
In February 2021, she broke the record by covering 36 kilometres in 8 hours and 40 minutes, and Prime Minister Modi praised her feat on ‘Mann Ki Baat.’
The champion has gone a long way since his first victory. Jiya Rai, two years old, preferred water to the toys and balloons that most of her peers enjoyed. The tiny one couldn’t keep away from a bucket of water, whether at home or at playschool. Around the same time, her parents began to notice that she was unusually different from her peers—she was always a loner who rarely spoke. When Jiya was a little over two years old, she was diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder. Her doctor realised her persistent knocking was a symptom of her condition a few months later, and that the repetition may be used as rehabilitation in water sports.“It worked wonders,” said her father, Madan Rai who works at the Indian Navy in Mumbai.
Blog By Nishtha Nayyar
2 Comments
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