Navigating choppy waters: Bhakti Sharma’s journey of becoming India's first open water swimmer

Despite growing up in the desert state of Rajasthan, India, at the tender age of 14-years, Bhakti Sharma dived into the world of open water swimming and embarked on a journey to conquer all five oceans across the world. Starting her journey from swimming across the English channel at the age of 16 to breaking records in the chilling 1 degree Celsius Antarctic waters, in her own words, she has grown and transformed through the process. 

Join us as we deep dive with our guest and learn about the challenges that have made her a champion.

Transcript

Go-Beyond Podcast Transcript: Bhakti Sharma

Speakers:

Akshay Kapur

Bhakti Sharma

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Akshay Kapur

Welcome to the Sony Pictures Networks Go Beyond Podcast where we dive into deep waters to discover the extraordinary. I'm your host Akshay Kapur, there's a common metaphor about life that says one never really knows where the current takes us. All we can do is swim our best until we arrive at the shore. However, one could argue that today's guest knows how to navigate the currents to arrive at the shore that she desires. Despite growing up in a region of India known for its desert, she developed passion for a sport that requires water in abundance, open water swimming. She waded gracefully into professional competitions as a young teenager and over the years she has conquered the world's 5 oceans acquiring gold medals and setting world records along the way. In 2012 she received the National Adventure Award and in 2015 she became the first Asian woman and the youngest in the world to compete in the freezing Antarctic waters with a record time of 41.14 minutes swimming 2.3KMs. I think it's safe to say that had she lived in ancient Greece they would have probably regarded her as a daughter of Poseidon. It's a distinguished pleasure to welcome Bhakti Sharma. Bhakti, welcome to the Go-Beyond podcast, how are you feeling today?

Bhakti

Thank you, Akshay after that introduction I'm feeling great. It was very flattering to hear all that.

Akshay Kapur

That's what we like to hear. I think with an all intended pun we should dive right in to the heart of the conversation. when we spoke last you mentioned that swimming was a spiritual experience for you. Could you elaborate on what you mean by this?

Bhakti

Um, okay so we're starting with a big one.

So, um I've been swimming since I was two and a half years old and obviously it has changed in meaning a lot for me. In the beginning it was of course about the medals and the competitions and excelling at that. But since I started open water swimming at the age of 14 it required me to spend a lot of time alone with myself sometimes in the pool most of the times in a lake in Udaipur and then later in the ocean. if you think about any spiritual experience, It brings you closer to yourself, It brings you closer to nature, It brings you closer to the universe or God. In that sense swimming has been a spiritual experience for me, and also every time you step into an ocean or a sea what you're really doing if you have a little bit of self-awareness is that you're surrendering yourself to something bigger than you. So, it could be the ocean. It could be the wildlife in the ocean. It could be the circumstances anything you are kind of made aware in a very in your face way that you're a very tiny part of a very big universe and so you don't know if you're going to come out alive or not, you don't know if you're going to come out uninjured or not and so it it demands a level of surrender that I think is essential for any spiritual experience in that sense swimming has been a spiritual experience for me.

Akshay Kapur

Right? I think that makes a lot of sense, but can I ask you? how despite growing up in the desert state of Rajasthan did you first develop a passion for pool swimming and then later open water swimming?

Bhakti

So like I said I started competitive swimming at a very early age but I come from a city in Rajasthan where we did not have ah public pools to begin with so I actually learned how to swim in a hotel pool. So, a lot of my competitive years were spent training in a lake and even after we got public pools in our city, we did not have the technology or the all the all heated pool so we didn't have all season pools where you can swim even during winter time and being in Rajasthan winters are really really cold.

So, when you don't have an all season pool you essentially have to stop training for a good part of the year so about four or five months you're not swimming. You're not training. And it's very hard to compete at the national level if you're not training for half the year. So that's how my mom started requesting the pool owners to keep the pool open during the wintertime So my mom and I would go unlock the pool by ourselves I would be alone in the water she would be alone on the deck and I would just train as long as I could up until November or December to just you know stay on that national level pace, just so I would compete at the national level and that's when we realize that I have always been a long distance swimmer, my events even in the pool were four hundred meters fifteen hundred meters and things like that. 

Akshay Kapur

Wow!

Bhakti

So, in that process I also developed tolerance for cold water and that's when my mom floated this idea – floated! here's a water pun for you. 

Akshay Kapur

(Laughs)

Bhakti

floated this idea of English Channel and she didn't know what it really was and she said you know I think it's a sea swim will you be interested in doing that and at that point I was just honestly very bored and tired of so racing against the clock. and just for the novelty, I said sure why not? And yeah, that's how it started, at the age of 14 I did my first open water swim in Bombay. And I've been just doing open water swimming since then.

Akshay Kapur

Right? I can also imagine you talk about the monotony with regards to racing against the clock but also you're just doing laps up and down correct? what was the mental transition when you did your first open water swim. How did that feel?

Bhakti

I think … first of all, you picked up very well on what it feels like you're just going back and forth in the pool and that didn't change for a few years for me even when I was training for open water. I was doing those trainings in the pool. So that part didn't change as immediately, but the first open water swim I did like I said I was 14 and it was from Uran Port in Maharashtra to Gateway of India which is on paper a sixteen kilometer distance.

Akshay Kapur

Um, right.

Bhakti

And after that most of my swims started in the middle of the night because of the current so it would be pitch dark but that swim the first one we started in middle of the day and I remember standing on the shore where I was supposed to jump in the water and I wasn't really worried about the long swim that was ahead of me I was just looking at the water and was really brown and murky and my child brain was thinking about that. And because I was a child, I think I also had this sense of adventure and fun in me and that swim was not easy the waves were really strong, so the waves were picking me up and throwing me down and I was kind of enjoying that I felt like okay this is what it feels like to be wave surfing. So I learnt on that swim.

Akshay Kapur

Right!

Bhakti

So I learnt during my first official swim how to ride waves and if you're being hit constantly by water how to navigate that how to go up with the wave and go underwater with it. So, then you're not kind of crossed around constantly so it was a lot of fun for me.

Akshay Kapur

That's fantastic! You know, I want to touch upon something you mentioned you said as a child you had that lean towards adventure. Have you innately been an adventurous person and has that that desire for adventure always stayed with you through the years?

Bhakti

Yes, I would say so um I think I was an only child for a long time. So my brother is 11 years younger to me. So I think I found my playfulness and my fun through uh little adventures. So I would take my bicycle out every evening and  I would intentionally take the streets that I wasn't aware of and the only thing I kept in mind is as long as I can find my way back as long as I remember where I came from I'll be okay. 

Akshay Kapur

Right

Bhakti

And I would just go explore new streets and new areas. So even now I think novelty is a big part of what I seek, that sense of adventure and novelty.

Akshay Kapur

That's fascinating because like you mentioned you started swimming when you were just two and a half you swam the English Channel for the first time when you were 16, you swam in open waters for the first time when you were 14 so you actually grew up through the process of competing in open water swims. I wanted to ask you how has swimming changed you and how has your swimming changed over the years?

Bhakti

That is such a great question um, how has swimming changed me, I think it goes back to the first question that we talked about the spiritual experience. It's very easy to get caught up in the whole for a lack of better word materialistic success of the sport. So I think if I was just doing competitive pool swimming It would have been very easy for me to be caught up in that you know, um, want more medals, want more rewards and things like that but because of open water swimming I, uh, think I've started to see the big picture in life and I've started to really value which things are actually really important because like I said when you're entering the ocean you're really surrendering yourself. And the ocean doesn't care who you are, the ocean doesn't care if you're a boy or a girl or you come from a particular you know, socio-economic background or not. It just, it brings you down to your humanness is the best way I can put it. That's how swimming has changed me and the way my swimming has changed is also similar because at one point I was swimming for medals and yes, even if I participate in a race today I want to win that medal. I want to perform well but I also want to enjoy that experience I also want to face my internal demons that come up in a swim which they definitely do come up. 

Akshay:

Wow!

Bhakti:

So I remember this one race which I did in San Francisco it's ah a race where you start from the shore and you swim to the Alcatraz jail and then you take a circle and you come back and Alcatraz Jail is where it has a very deep history people were held there. A lot of people jumped from the jail to escape the jail and a lot of people died so it has a very rich history. And I remember when I did that swim it was a competition. So of course, I wanted to do well but something inside me when I was taking that circle around the jail something inside me told me to just stop and take in that moment. So, I stopped during the race I turned on my back I floated, and I just looked at the Jail. And it's a massive massive structure in the middle of the ocean and It was just awe-inspiring. You know it was just overwhelming. And the joy I felt doing that race was bigger than anything that I could have felt if I was you know first in my age group or anything like that. So that's how my swimming has changed over the years too. I do the swims to open myself up to these awe-inspiring experiences.

Akshay Kapur

Wow I think I mean that's completely fascinating to hear a competing athlete and a professional athlete say that it's not about the victory, it's about the the journey. And I think that touches upon a very important point which is mindset and mindset is obviously a crucial component when it comes to competitions in general but even more so you know when it comes to setting world records, but could you contrast for us perhaps your mindset going into your first competition against your mindset going into perhaps the world record swim in the Antarctic ocean.

Bhakti

Sure, So, the Antarctica one the world record one I trained a lot for that swim and physical and mental training but we were in a ship that took us to the Antarctic peninsula where I was supposed to do my swim and I remember and it takes three days to get to the peninsula. So, I think on the second day I saw an iceberg for the first time from my window in the room and that's when it hit me, I was like what have I gotten myself into why? 

Akshay Kapur

(Laughs)

Bhakti

And I couldn't share that thought with anybody you know because in my team, my crew was my mom, my aunt, a doctor who had flown down from Iceland and everyone was obviously concerned about me because that was a very challenging swim. So even if I was having these doubts I couldn't share it with the team because I had to you know, stay confident because in my confidence they were confident that okay she can do it, but I was terrified I was really really terrified I was like why? why? are you doing this, why are you here and that's when it hit me the enormous nature of the task that I had set myself up for.

Akshay Kapur

Right? right? So why did you do it? Why? What motivated you to take on that challenge?

Bhakti

so I had set out a target to do a swim in all 5 oceans maybe five or six years before that swim and my last swim before that one was in Arctic in Iceland and then You know I didn't swim for a long time I did my MBA, I got a job I was living in Bombay I was working in an advertising agency. And the whole idea of I know I have a dream to swim in the Antarctic Ocean, and I could see that my time was running out, And I just had this stupid recurring thought that what if I die tomorrow without even trying for this swim and I didn't want to do that I at least wanted to try. Something that's always motivated me knowingly or unknowingly is that I don't like stagnation. And I knew this swim would challenge me in ways that nothing had challenged me so far I knew it would require me to step up my game, not just as a swimmer but also as a human being and I really wanted that I needed to be challenged and I think that's why I did that.

Akshay Kapur

Right, but yeah, sticking with the aquatic puns, what would you say has been the biggest current that you have had to navigate in your journey as an open water swimmer? You can take that both literally or metaphorically.

Bhakti

Um, (Laughs)

Um, literally the biggest current has been probably the one that I faced in my English channel swim - I was stuck in one place for over an hour so that was literally the current. Metaphorically, there have been different currents so there are different challenges with each swim, a lack of sponsorship and lack of vision around the people around for what I was doing or what we were trying to do has been a challenge. And then mental health definitely has been probably the biggest current metaphorically because you're in a very high-pressure situation as an athlete when you're competing or when so much is riding on you doing one open water swim because you've spent so much money to get there, and you get just one chance to do it and it's a very dangerous swim. So, my own mind has been I think the metaphorical current that's been the biggest one to navigate.

Akshay Kapur

Right? Anything that you've learned along the way that has helped you cope with your own mental challenges that you faced.

Bhakti

I'm still learning but I think the biggest one is acceptance.  For a very long time I did not think that there was something wrong or there was an issue so that's just that idea of accepting that it's okay. You know you've built up some behavior or some mechanisms to help you cope with the pressure that kind of understanding and acceptance has been the biggest lesson because that's then you can start working on things so to give you an example, I've been bulimic for a very long time. And for the longest time I didn't have the vocabulary of what was happening to me because of the lack of awareness around this issue, even though so many girls around the world go through this. Second, as an athlete especially and I think most athletes would relate with me on this, you're trained to be hardcore, that's where you succeed when you can handle pressure and you can perform under pressure not just handle but you can be solid under pressure and that catches up with you eventually, but nobody talks about that. Nobody talks about how and when it catches up and how there is an immense lack of resources to help you with that situation. I think now we're in a time where there are conversations around mental health but not enough around mental health of athletes still because nobody talks about the toll that it takes so yeah, that's my biggest lesson. Just educating myself on it and accepting that there's nothing wrong with it.

Akshay Kapur

Right? Absolutely and also you know one of the things you mentioned earlier is you talked about lack of sponsorship can be a struggle I think uncertainty is the key word there uncertainty is often used to described or, to highlight struggles in the entertainment industry. But athletes face a lot of uncertainty in in their careers as well. So, can you tell us about how you've dealt with career uncertainty as a professional athlete and and what's helped you keep swimming forward?

Bhakti

So that's a great point because uncertainty for athletes especially in India is on two levels, right? One is a regular uncertainty which every athlete faces no matter where they are in the world which is you can train and train and train but on the final performance day something can go wrong and you don't get the expected result that you want and your entire career is riding on that. 

Akshay Kapur

hmmn...

Bhakti

So that's an uncertainty for sure, but especially in India for me I'll speak for myself. Swimming is not a popular sport swimming is I don't even call myself a professional athlete because I don't get paid to swim.

Akshay Kapur

Interesting.

Bhakti

For me that that would be the definition if I was making money out of swimming. You know if it was actually my career. So that was a huge uncertainty in growing up and swimming not just coming from within me but the message that I got from everyone around me was why are you doing this? You're not going to get a job out of it, you're not going to get money out of it, you should focus on your studies, you're a girl and things like that. So, I always knew that there is that uncertainty. And so the way I dealt with that uncertainty was I could never put all my eggs in one basket of just swimming, I had to work hard academically I had to score high grades in my tenth and twelfth exam.

Akshay Kapur

Right.

Bhakti

So I could get the college that I want and you know do the MBA get a job. So even now what allows me to swim is that I have secured a career for myself where I know I can go and get a job even though right now I'm doing a PhD I know that this is kind of creating that safety platform 

Akshay Kapur

Um, right.

Bhakti

Which can then allow me to swim and that's just how it that's just how it is I mean most athletes have to do it in our country. You cannot just ride on your sports.

Akshay Kapur

Interesting! You also mentioned when we spoke last that you are an animal lover. So moving on to something slightly different now but you're out in wild waters both to train and to compete any rare or funny or scary encounters with aquatic animals or wildlife that you've seen ah during any of your swims?

Bhakti

Oh! so many! I think I'll start with the first one because it's rare, unique and funny. So, the first experience I had with that was during my second open water swim. So, I did a thirty six kilometer swim from Dharamtal, in Maharashtra to Gateway of India and we started that swim around nighttime. I finished it somewhere around two or three o'clock and obviously I need the swim at gateway. There is no place to change my swimsuit there so we sat and we drove from Gateway to Andheri, for people who don't live in Bombay that's a long ride...

Akshay

(Laughs)

Bhakti

…and I ate at a restaurant because obviously I was hungry and we were celebrating the swim so I ate and then we finally went to the hotel where I was staying and I went into take a shower and in my swimsuit were 3 fish that I had been carrying around through the entire city for about five or six hours. And so, they were just you know out for a free ride in my swimsuit, and I don't know how long they've been in there because that swim was nine and a half hours long so that was my first experience with wildlife I was like okay now I am completely a part of the ocean because I'm literally carrying fish within me. Needless to say, the whole bathroom stank a lot. 

Akshay

(Laughs)

Bhakti

Ah beyond that I think I've had some amazing experiences with wildlife in the San Francisco swim that I mentioned there that whole pier is famous Sea lions and so the one time we were practicing and this baby sea lion just pops up right in front of me and is just staring at me. I think it was it was wanting to play, and I froze I was like I don't know what you want me to do but I'm just going to be here and just you know swam around me for a little bit and then just disappeared. 

Akshay

Wow!

Bhakti

I have had whales swim with me so I did a swim from Spain to Morocco the strait of Gibraltar and that whole patch in the Mediterranean sea is world famous per whale watching. And I was swimming in there and I took a breath and I thought I saw a huge fin right next to me. But when you take a breath they're so short that my head was immediately in the water again and the next time I popped up I didn't see the fin so I told myself you're imagining this you know. and then when I got out my whole crew told me there was this whole school of whales just swimming with me for a very long time and they were.

Akshay Kapur

Wow!

Bhakti

Really big whales. and then the final most amazing experience I had was in Antarctica with Penguin so 5 minutes into the swim when I was about to give up this penguins where I'm underneath my stomach and it came onto my left hand side and it started swimming with me and it just made me so happy I took the penguin as my cheer leader and it swam with me for a good amount of like ten fifteen minutes and think it was just very curious that this is a big creature and not trying to eat me.

Akshay Kapur

(Laughs) Wow!

Bhakti

So swimming has definitely brought me very close to nature.

Akshay Kapur

Ah, ah Wow! I mean these experiences sound magical I think they're rare for you know, even people who are wildlife watchers or conservationists. It's rare for them to have such close and upfront experiences with the animals. So I mean it definitely sounds magical and it leads me on to actually this quote that I have written down here which is that “The ocean stirs the heart, inspires the imagination and brings eternal joy to the soul.” and this is a quote or rather this was the takeaway that the ocean had for American artist and conservationist Robert Wilde, so Bhakti you've swam in each of the 5 oceans in the world what has been your takeaway from the oceans that you would like to share with our listeners?

Bhakti

Well, I cannot follow up that quote that was perfect! that was the best description that anyone can give about the ocean, but for me, ah the ocean has been my friend, my home, my teacher, my biggest challenge, so I've cried in the ocean I have raged out in the ocean, I have laughed crazily in the ocean I've had experiences where I can come out and I can share but nobody would understand it unless they were there. So, for me, that's the beauty of ocean you can give it anything and it will take it but at the same time I've seen the beauty, I've seen the value of our oceans and I feel like we really really need to protect them. We really need to conserve them like I said these amazing creatures that live in the ocean…. There's a whole world happening in there. There's an entire universe in there which we have no idea about and that for me is the biggest takeaway that we need to preserve that, or we'll miss out on something irreplaceable for us.

Akshay Kapur

Absolutely! on that note Bhakti I must say borrowing from you of course that I have enjoyed the swim in the open waters with you and that brings us to the close of our conversation. Ah, but thank you so much for taking the time to join us on the Go-Beyond podcast. 

Bhakti

Absolutely! And to borrow your open water puns, you took me on a very through this conversation a very nice up and down wave ride. So, I really enjoyed it and I hope your listeners, whoever is listening to this can find something that they can relate to through my journey, and I have played my tiny little part in bringing them closer to the ocean a little bit.

                                                                                              -Ends-