Manoj Achieves a Rare Feat with a Vision to Swim

SUPRIYA DEEPAK
One fine morning on 18th
February 2020, a 11-year old visually impaired boy R Manoj did something which
many would consider to be out of the ordinary. The 7th grader from School for
Blind, Aluva swam across the Periyar river in a legendary feat. Manoj was trained by Saji
Valasseril, who has trained over 3,000 people to swim in Periyar, that too for
free. In 2015, he had trained Navaneeth, another visually-impaired person, to
swim across the river. Saji also accompanied Manoj while he swam.
The young boy started from the banks of the river near
Advaita Ashram and swam across to Manappuram in Aluva, completing the feat in
20 minutes. What makes this feat extraordinary is that it took Manoj just 30
days to be trained for the task, even though he had just learned swimming from
scratch. Manoj had his instructor Saji, guiding him throughout the swim. Saji
had prepared verbal cues for Manoj, which they used to navigate through the
waters. Manoj believes that everyone should learn how to swim, it is not a
luxury, but a life-saving necessity. What motivated him to learn was the urge
to spread awareness about the increasing cases of drowning across the state.
Saji insists that swimming should be a compulsory subject across schools.
Manoj was inspired by his senior, Navneeth, who had
accomplished a similar feat before him. Saji and his student Manoj, share a
special bond. Saji was of the view that it was easy to teach swimming to Manoj
despite the fact that he was completely blind. Manoj on the other hand, felt
his swim lasted only 10 minutes, even though it was a 20-minute swim. He loved
the experience and did not experience any fatigue, as he enjoyed his instructors'
anecdotes and jokes that the latter shared while swimming.
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