For Harshita Attalluri, Superintendent of Police, Kollam, becoming a police officer was the only thing she aspired for as a kid. Hailing from Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, Attalluri nurtured her aspiration, with constant support from her grandfather.
“I grew up listening to my grandfather who was a block development officer. He always left a great impression on me about the civil services,” says Attalluri.
Her ambition, though, never prevented her from having fun in college. “Although the services were always in the back of my mind, I never let it restrain me. I thoroughly enjoyed my life on campus,” she smiles. Attalluri graduated in commerce from St Anne’s College, Hyderabad, in 1999.
After graduating, Attalluri devoted herself entirely to preparing for the UPSC exams. She recalls the immense support her parents gave during those days. “I was so tense while preparing for the services. Infact, I hardly slept when exams were going on. My father, who would return tired after work would stay up with me till I went to bed. So was my mother, who always sat by my side as if I were a little girl. But for my parents, I would never have become what I am today,” she recollects. In 2002, Attalluri passed the UPSC exam by securing the 51st rank.
She missed her parents while training at the National Police Academy, Hyderabad. “It was the first time I stayed away from my parents. The experience was painful,” she says. Being a woman was never an issue to be a successful officer. “For me, gender makes no difference at all. I have not had any bitter experiences that made me wish I had been a man,” she says.
After her first posting in Tripura in 2004, Attalluri was transferred to Kerala in 2005 as ASP, Kannur. But some of the most challenging moments of her career took place in Kollam, where she is presently the SP. In 2009, on New Year’s Eve, a tanker lorry turned into an inferno after colliding with a car in Karunagapally (near Kollam) injuring several people. “The accident occurred in the wee hours, around 3am. When I reached there an hour later, it was all blazing fire and I could hear people screaming. By the time I left it was 11.30pm. I was on my feet till I reached home,” she says.
Attalluri was part of the team that arrested Kerala PDP leader Abdul Nasser Madani in 2010. Averting a communal flare up, the police arrested Madani for his alleged role in the Bangalore blasts. “We had to camp there for a week before we could arrest him. The situation was so tense, as his followers were ready to even die for him. But we did our homework and everything was carried out legally,” she says.
Attalluri is married to Nagaraju, DCP, Thiruvananthapuram, and has two children — Sidhartha and Madhulika. “I spend most of my free time with my kids. When they grow up I don’t want them to complain that their mother was too busy to be with them,” she says.
—aswin@expressbuzz.com