Swimming against the tide 

Sriram Srinivas has become a poster boy for resilience for young adults with multiple disabilities; he is dreaming to enter the Indian Special Olympics in open water swimming category

Twenty-nine-year-old Sriram Srinivas Rajasekaran is gleefully engaged in rolling agarbathis and making flower garlands along with his peers at a training centre in Vadapalani.

Sriram is quick to acknowledge this reporter on a video call and stumbles through his words.

Sriram has multiple disabilities — 90% loco-motor disability and 83% mental retardation. His movements are severely restricted as his legs are spastic, but he is one of the most promising disabled breaststroke swimmers. In water, he finds himself in his elements and manages to even disguise his many maladies.

On April 12, Sriram added yet another feather to his cap: He swam 30 km across the Palk Strait. He covered the distance from Thalaimannar in Sri Lanka to Dhanushkodi in 20 hours and 20 minutes without taking a break. “Sriram generally covers 2.5 km in the sea in one hour, but this expedition was more challenging because of the offshore winds,” says R Selvam, who has been coaching Sriram in sea swimming.

Last year, Sriram took part in the 10-km open sea swimming expedition ‘Samudra Pheri’ organised by NCC Directorate of Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Andaman and Nicobar.

With more than 30 medals, awards and recognitions in swimming at the state, national and international levels, Sriram’s story is exceptional, particularly because he had a late start in many things.

“When Sriram was aged six we realised that he had not reached the early development milestones and enrolled him at Madhuram Narayanan Centre For Exceptional Children for Speech and Occupational Therapy,” says Vanitha Rajasekaran, Sriram’s mom.