CHENNAI: In Tamil Nadu, a popular phrase describes the affability of its police force: ‘Kaaval thurai ungal nanban’ (The police are your friends). Every time we hear it, there’s one name that pops up in our mind — C Sylendra Babu, Additional Director General of Police of Railways (GRP). The senior IPS officer wears many hats with elan. By turns, he is an author, voracious reader, motivational speaker and blogger with over 3,00,000 followers on his Facebook page. But, what satiates his alter ego is the time he spends training in endurance sports and exploring the city’s heritage.
At 56, his chiseled physique subverts every stereotype about the city’s police force. We met him at his office in Egmore and over a cup of green tea, the officer, clad in crisp khaki uniform, tells us about his second self. “Honestly, I wasn’t a great sportsperson. I was a sprinter, and since I am from a village, swimming came naturally. But, I took proper training in the police training college,” he says. During his police training, he was awarded the RD Singh Cup for Swimming at the National Police Academy in Hyderabad. But, his entry into endurance sports training piqued his interest in taking it up seriously.
The day he turned 50, he says, ‘his life changed’. His first brush with an endurance sport was in 2011 when he was the Commissioner of Coimbatore. “Endurance sports were new to me. I was asked to inaugurate a cycling rally in the city and as part of it, I cycled for four kilometres. Beyond that, I found it difficult. But, the cycling bug had bitten me. Once I came to Chennai, I began training,” he says.
After two years and numerous hours of training, the former ADGP-Coastal Security group cycled in his Cannondale from Chennai to Kanyakumari for approximately 700 km. Four years later, as part of the Central government’s Swachch Bharat campaign, he trained for six months under one of the finest endurance cyclists Sunder Rajan, and went on a 32-day cycling expedition from Kashmir to Kanyakumari along with 21 other cyclists.“I make sure I encourage other policemen to be part of these events as well. Though cycling such long distances tested me, the overall experience was amazing,” he says.
While cycling in the city, Babu also explores heritage sites. He acquired an interest in history when he was appointed as Superintendent of Police, Dindigul in 1992. “I lived in the bungalow where Jawaharlal Nehru stayed,” he recalls. In 1997, he became the SP of Cuddalore and stayed in the mansion where Robert Clive lived. “I was thrilled that I got to stay in such historic places…in this case, it was the residence of the man who enabled the East India Company to lay the foundations of the British Empire in India. My interest in history grew,” he shares.
Babu gradually stepped into running marathons and swimming. “In the last three years, I have been running 21-km marathons,” he beams. In the last five years, he has been part of about 25 marathons in cities like Tiruchy, Coimbatore, Kanyakumari, Chennai, and Puducherry. In March this year, along with his team, he also swam the 28.5-km Palk Strait stretch between Talaimannar and Arichalmunai in Danushkodi in 12 hours and 14 minutes.
He alternates between cycling, swimming and running, thrice a week and on other days indulges in weight training. “My day starts at 4 am and by 7 am, I wrap up my training. Even if I am busy with work, I make it a point to go to the police gym by 9 pm and work out,” he smiles. Sylendra Babu is currently training for a 21-km marathon in Coimbatore and will run his first 42-km marathon in Auroville in February.