Her love for dolphins began when she found them swimming alongside her as she conquered the seas. And now, as Bula Choudhury gets associated with a fashion brand to launch a sportswear line titled “Five continents by Bula”, the dolphin has become the central figure of her logo.
Bula, the first woman to have swum across sea channels off five continents, has long cherished a dream of setting up an academy for swimmers. “That dream has remained unfulfilled till now. But I am not one to give up. My foray into the fashion industry has given me another fillip and I hope I can use the profits from here to make my dream come true,” she told The Telegraph.
Bangalore-based fashion brand “Styched” has launched Bula online, as part of their “Styched Life” endeavour.
“In India, this is the first time that a swimmer is getting her own fashion brand. In a way, I am again creating history,” Bula said. The first set of swimming-themed T-shirts is already on the portal, ready to be ordered. Colourful and bold, they mirror Bula’s personality.
“I did put in my thoughts and ideas and worked with the designers. I really, really wanted the dolphin to be part of my logo along with my name,” she said.
“The co-founder of Styched (Durga Dash) got in touch with me with a proposal for creating a line with my name. I was thrilled. They work with Bollywood celebrities and sportspersons and I was very happy to be a part of this.
“A lot of thought went behind the designs. Right now, there are T-shirts, but soon the line will be expanded. But they will all be sportswear.”
Bula believes that this will bring her name back, specially among youngsters, and in a way build a path towards setting up her academy.
“I have not learnt to give up,” said the Arjuna Award and Padma Shri winner.
Bula, who took to swimming very early in life, started long-distance efforts in 1989, when as a 19-year-old she swam the English Channel. Since then she has crossed the Channel again, has swum across the Palk Straits and conquered the Strait of Gibraltar, the Tyrrhenian Sea, Cook Strait, Toroneos Gulf (Gulf of Kassándra) and the Catalina Channel.
“While crossing the Strait of Gibraltar and the Catalina Channel, I came across pods of dolphins. They actually swam close to me for some time and it was a wonderful experience, being alone in the cold water. In fact, you can spot them in almost every channel,” Bula reminisced fondly.
So why Bula? “We were looking for sport icons who have perhaps gone a bit off the radar from public memory and wanted to celebrate them again. That is our aim,” said Dash from Bangalore.
“Our aim in Styched Life is to promote Indian talent from all works of life through motivational videos and fashion collections. And we also want to revive the nostalgia. While doing my research, I got in touch with Bula and we connected instantly. She was a perfect fit for what we wanted to do,” said Dash, an engineer from IIT Kharagpur, who had been working with major online marketplaces till he founded Styched in 2018.
