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‘It was like climbing Mount Everest’: How a 19-year-old DU student set an 18-hour swim record across Palk Strait

On April 12, Kamya Bharadwaj from Gurgaon swam from Dhanushkodi to Sri Lanka’s Talaimannar and back. She has been awarded the Open Water Swimming Academy Theni (OWSAT) World Record holder.

6 min readNew DelhiUpdated: Apr 17, 2026 11:51 PM IST

In 18 hours and 15 minutes, Kamya Bharadwaj swam across the Palk Strait to Sri Lanka’s Talaimannar and back. (Express photo)

At 1.30 pm on April 12, 19-year-old Kamya Bharadwaj stood at the shoreline at Tamil Nadu’s Dhanushkodi before slipping into the Indian Ocean for the longest swim of her life.

There were no cheering crowds, just a crew boat drifting at a distance and a kayak for emergency support.

In 18 hours and 15 minutes, the Delhi University student swam across the Palk Strait to Sri Lanka’s Talaimannar and back. Kamya has been awarded the Open Water Swimming Academy Theni (OWSAT) World Record holder. OWSAT is affiliated to the Tamilnadu State Underwater Sports Association.

“It was like climbing Mount Everest,” says Kamya as she tries to explain the scale of her swim to someone who has never been in the middle of the sea.

The swim had been fixed well in advance, with permissions secured from the Indian Navy, the Sri Lankan Navy, and the Ministry of Home Affairs. A slot was booked for a particular date and observers were assigned.

She began from the “end of India” at 1.30 pm. By 10.35 pm, she had reached Talaimannar, where officials recorded her arrival. The return journey ended at 7.45 am the next day. “I completed it in 18 hours and 15 minutes… and created a new record!” she exclaims.

Speaking to The Indian Express, M Vijayakumar, the general Secretary of the Open Water Swimming Academy Theni, who was also the observer, says, “This stretch was attempted by three people, the first one was by a male athelete, the second by a female and Kamya Bharadwaj becomes the third to finish it at 18 hours and 15 minutes.”

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Kamya prepared in a pool — six-hour continuous swims every week, and, every few weeks, sessions stretching to 12 or 13 hours. (Express photo)

From giving up to finding new purpose

Kamya, who lives in Gurgaon, is a second-year BSc (Hons) Zoology student at Dyal Singh College. She began swimming at the age of 10, “just… as a life-saving skill”.

At a government pool in Kamla Nehru Park, “that is broken down now,” she says she would linger after beginner sessions to watch state and district swimmers train. “We (my family) then talked to the coach… and I entered professional swimming.”

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Even then, she did not quite believe she belonged “because of my body type”. “I am… short and… very bulky,” she says. “But… sports… gave me confidence…”

In 2023, when she was in Class XII, an injury to her foot left her in a hole. “I think I actually hit rock bottom at that time,” Kamya says, recounting how she stayed in her room, disconnected from people, and decided she would leave swimming altogether.

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But her father, who had left his job in the garment industry to support her training, kept urging her to go back. “He said… ‘at least do it for your lifestyle…’,” she recalls.

In 2025, she heard about an 81-km open water swim in the Ganga at Murshidabad. “I thought, why not give this a chance.”

It was here that the idea of the Palk Strait took shape. Most swimmers attempt a one-way crossing. Her father suggested: “Why not go for something different… that was double way,” she says.

There had only been one woman before her to complete it. Kamya decided not just to follow, but to be faster. “We targeted to finish the stretch below 19 hours,” she says, referring to the previous record.

Gruelling prep

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What followed was training that rewired both body and mind. Open water swimming is not lane-marked — it has no walls to push off from, no predictable turns. It is governed by currents, weather, and the limits of the body over time.

Kamya prepared in a pool — six-hour continuous swims every week, and, every few weeks, sessions stretching to 12 or 13 hours.

Her days began at 4 am. She trained from 5 am to 7 am, travelled nearly two hours to college, attended classes, and returned for another two-three hours of swimming.

“I could barely go to college… I attended very few classes but I did self-study,” she says. Her diet was also tightly controlled.

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A week before the swim, she entered the ocean for the first time and encountered dizziness, headache and stomach pain. For a moment, she decided to quit. “I was very disappointed… I felt like I won’t be able to do it,” she says.

During the swim, every hour, she drank liquids: coconut water, electrolytes, juices, passed to her on a stick by the boat on standby.

The mind, meanwhile, had to be managed differently. “You have to divert your mind…,” she says. Sometimes she told herself to go “a bit more”. Sometimes she imagined the appreciation waiting at the end. Sometimes she thought simply of finishing.

And she thought of her father. “… he left everything for me… I should complete this thing,” she remembers thinking.

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The sea, too, made its presence known. She was not afraid of the waves, but of what she could not see like a jellyfish that stung her. “They just attacked me,” she says. The crew handed her vinegar and medication without allowing her to touch the boat. She treated herself in the water and continued swimming.

Now back in Gurgaon, life has resumed after her achievement. Her father manages multiple businesses by himself; her mother runs a coaching centre. Her younger brother is also a swimmer. The family spent around Rs 10 lakh on this single attempt. “It was actually very tough,” says Kamya.

But she is already thinking ahead: the English Channel, the Catalina Channel, the North Channel. “I am aiming to complete all the seven oceans,” she says.

Vidheesha Kuntamalla

Vidheesha Kuntamalla is a Senior Correspondent at The Indian Express, based in New Delhi. She is known for her investigative reporting on higher education policy, international student immigration, and academic freedom on university campuses. Her work consistently connects policy decisions with lived realities, foregrounding how administrative actions, political pressure, and global shifts affect students, faculty, and institutions. Professional Profile Core Beat: Vidheesha covers education in Delhi and nationally, reporting on major public institutions including the University of Delhi (DU), Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Jamia Millia Islamia, the IITs, and the IIMs. She also reports extensively on private and government schools in the National Capital Region. Prior to joining The Indian Express, she worked as a freelance journalist in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh for over a year, covering politics, rural issues, women-centric issues, and social justice. Specialisation: She has developed a strong niche in reporting on the Indian student diaspora, particularly the challenges faced by Indian students and H-1B holders in the United States. Her work examines how geopolitical shifts, immigration policy changes, and campus politics impact global education mobility. She has also reported widely on: * Mental health crises and student suicides at IITs * Policy responses to campus mental health * Academic freedom and institutional clampdowns at JNU, South Asian University (SAU), and Delhi University * Curriculum and syllabus changes under the National Education Policy Her recent reporting has included deeply reported human stories on policy changes during the Trump administration and their consequences for Indian students and researchers in the US. Reporting Style Vidheesha is recognised for a human-centric approach to policy reporting, combining investigative depth with intimate storytelling. Her work often highlights the anxieties of students and faculty navigating bureaucratic uncertainty, legal precarity, and institutional pressure. She regularly works with court records, internal documents, official data, and disciplinary frameworks to expose structural challenges to academic freedom. Recent Notable Articles (Late 2024 & 2025) 1. Express Investigation Series JNU’s fault lines move from campus to court: University fights students and faculty (November 2025) An Indian Express investigation found that since 2011, JNU has appeared in over 600 cases before the Delhi High Court, filed by the administration, faculty, staff, students, and contractual workers across the tenures of three Vice-Chancellors. JNU’s legal wars with students and faculty pile up under 3 V-Cs | Rs 30-lakh fines chill campus dissent (November 2025) The report traced how steep monetary penalties — now codified in the Chief Proctor’s Office Manual — are reshaping dissent and disciplinary action on campus. 2. International Education & Immigration ‘Free for a day. Then came ICE’: Acquitted after 43 years, Indian-origin man faces deportation — to a country he has never known (October 2025) H-1B $100,000 entry fee explained: Who pays, who’s exempt, and what’s still unclear? (September 2025) Khammam to Dallas, Jhansi to Seattle — audacious journeys in pursuit of the American dream after H-1B visa fee hike (September 2025) What a proposed 15% cap on foreign admissions in the US could mean for Indian students (October 2025) Anxiety on campus after Trump says visas of pro-Palestinian protesters will be cancelled (January 2025) ‘I couldn’t believe it’: F-1 status of some Indian students restored after US reverses abrupt visa terminations (April 2025) 3. Academic Freedom & Policy Exclusive: South Asian University fires professor for ‘inciting students’ during stipend protests (September 2025) Exclusive: Ministry seeks explanation from JNU V-C for skipping Centre’s meet, views absence ‘seriously’ (July 2025) SAU rows after Noam Chomsky mentions PM Modi, Lankan scholar resigns, PhD student exits SAU A series of five stories examining shrinking academic freedom at South Asian University after global scholar Noam Chomsky referenced Prime Minister Narendra Modi during an academic interaction, triggering administrative unease and renewed debate over political speech, surveillance, and institutional autonomy on Indian campuses. 4. Mental Health on Campuses In post-pandemic years, counselling rooms at IITs are busier than ever; IIT-wise data shows why (August 2025) Campus suicides: IIT-Delhi panel flags toxic competition, caste bias, burnout (April 2025) 5. Delhi Schools These Delhi government school grads are now success stories. Here’s what worked — and what didn’t (February 2025) ‘Ma’am… may I share something?’ Growing up online and alone, why Delhi’s teens are reaching out (December 2025) ... Read More

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