BISWANATH CHARIALI, Nov 24 - If one has courage and strong determination, they can overcome anything and everything. Proving this, a student from Chatiya in Sonitpur district, Basanta Das, has brought laurels to the district by swimming 141 kilometres in the river Brahmaputra in just 12 hours. He achieved the feat on Saturday.
Basanta (23), the youngest son of Gunaram Das and Konmai Das of Barangabari village under Chatiya police station and a BA student, started his journey at 5.25 am at Gamirighat under Gohpur subdivision and reached Kaliabhomora Bridge near Tezpur at 5.30 pm completing the feat. He swam continuously for 12 hours and no sign of tiredness was noticed on his face.
From Gamirighat to Kaliabhomora Bridge, thousands of people cheered him, waiting throughout the day to have a glimpse of their �hero�, and wished him luck. Basanta also enthralled the people by playing a flute while swimming. He was accompanied by the members of the Biswanath Ghat Boat Committee in two boats throughout the journey.
It may be mentioned here that Basanta had already been able to put his name in the India Book of Records in 2013 by playing a nagara continuously while riding a motorbike by himself from Tezpur to Bedeti, covering a distance of around 75 km on the NH-15.
Talking to this correspondent on Monday, Basanta said that he was inspired by Mahapurush Srimanta Sankardev. Before taking the plunge into the Brahmaputra for the rare feat, he had practised daily for five to six hours in local ponds and in the river Ghiladhari. He, however, resented that he did not get any help from the Government agencies in his endeavour. Meanwhile, Basanta�s feat has been hailed by different organisations, including the AASU and AJYCP.
