Adding another feather to its cap, the Yacht Club of Hyderabad (YCH) has transformed the lives of two economically backward students from the city as they have been officially inducted into the Indian Navy as sailors. The two students – Erra Durga Prasad (20) and Gowtham Kankatla (21) — from the Rasoolpura slum realised their dreams after a stint with YCH. Prasad’s father Lingam works at a photocopying shop, while his mother is a sweeper at a motorbike showroom.
Gowtham’s mother Vijayalakshmi faced the worst from her abusive and alcoholic husband. She did whatever odd jobs she could get to earn a living for her family after her husband passed away due to liver cirrhosis in 2007.
Prasad and Gowtham struggled to adapt in the early stages of sailing with the yacht club.
In Prasad’s case, a storm capsized his boat and required lifeguards to rescue him during his first attempt at Pawna lake in Maharashtra. Prasad bagged a bronze medal at the India International Regatta in 2017, which catapulted him to the No.1 position in India in the junior category.
Prasad tried for the junior fleet of the Navy in 2016 and got selected. Finally, he joined his senior fleet in 2021.
Gowtham too struggled to keep his feet firmly on the boat in Hussainsagar. After much resilience, he managed to win his first national gold medal in 2016.
Vijayalakshmi did not have much hope when Gowtham sought to participate in water sports and eventually gave in to his demand. When he was 10, Gowtham joined YCH. “I had never agreed to his demand first because he was just a kid. He came to me asking that he wants to do dangerous stuff in the waters. We never expected that he would get through. But Gowtham surprised us all,” Vijayalakshmi told TOI.
Prasad and Gowtham completed their training in Odisha and have received their first official posting in Mumbai.