Navaneeth’s life took a shocking turn at the age of four when he lost sight in both his eyes due to a retinal detachment. This shortcoming, however, hardly affected the spirits of this 12-year-old boy, who has set a record of sorts by swimming across the Periyar on Monday.
Through fierce dedication and painstaking hardwork, Navaneeth triumphed over a turbulent river and its swirling waters to the applause of hundreds of onlookers. It took him just under 15 minutes to cross the 200-metre stretch between Adwaithasramam and Manalppuram.
A Class 8 student of the SNDP Higher Secondary School, Aluva, he began training in swimming about a couple of months ago.
Saji Valasseril, the swimming coach, has seen a sea change in his physical and mental fitness. “The mission was taken up after a special training of just 12 days. He has begun to respond better to my directions and signals. There was strong current in the river in the wake of heavy showers in the catchment areas of Bhoothathankettu barrage, but he was confident enough to take up the challenge with ease,” said Saji, who swam along with Navaneeth.
For someone who has trained around 550 children in swimming, it was never a risk for Saji to let the boy into the river. “I am acquainted with the length and breadth of this river and was really confident about completing the task,” he said.
Navaneeth was given training on a request from his father Sunil Kumar, an employee with the Irrigation Department. “I always wanted him to lead a normal life and has been imparting him lessons in various musical instruments such as tabla and keyboard, apart from training in blind cricket and swimming,” Mr. Sunil Kumar said.
Having completed his first mission with ease, Navaneeth is ready to take up more such challenges in the future.
