VIJAYAWADA: Nothing gives 54-year-old head constable Bandla Nageswara Rao as much satisfaction as saving lives.
The soft-hearted cop says he can't bear the sight of anyone's grief. When he was posted at Tadepalli Police Outpost near Prakasam barrage, he took it upon himself to spot people who had come to the place to jump off the bridge and counsel them.
On a February afternoon in 2014, he noticed a young woman of about 24 years walking resolutely towards the middle of the Prakasam barrage.
Rao, who instinctively understood that the woman was going to take the extreme step, immediately followed her and closed the distance between them. The woman, who he later came to know was a widow, was had decided that death would liberate her from all her problems. Even as she reached Gate 10 he yanked her off the edge of the bridge from the menacing waters several feet below.
The reason Rao remembers this vividly is that she had attempted suicide again in October, the following year. This tim she was determined to skirt Rao and end her life. She kept walking into the river and by the time the water rose to her neck, Rao was there again, pulling her back to the riverbank.
He took her to the outspot and struck a conversation with her. After a cup of chai, Rajini opened up, explaining in detail the nightmare that life had become for her. She narrated how her brother had harassed her for money she did not have after she lost her husband a few years ago. She was supporting her two children with the very little income she had earned from tailoring.
Rao, native of Durgi in Guntur district, has been at the Prakasam Barrage Outpost since February 2014 and says he loved his job as nothing can be nobler than saving someone from the clutches of death.
"I get satisfaction whenever I prevent someone form committing suicide and encourage him or her to get back to normal life. If there is a problem staring at you, you should stare back at it, not run away. That is what I tell those who lose nerve and try to end their lives," he says.
Rao has prevented at least 100 persons from committing suicide.
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He narrated how he had rescued a 70-year-old senior citizen and after counselling with him, sent him to Nirmala Hridaya Bahvan in Vijayawada, where aged who are abandoned by their children, are taken care of.
According to Rao, majority of people who want to commit suicide are women. More often than not, family disputes drive them to end their lives. The disputes arise out of incompatibility and as far as youngsters are concerned, its always a love story going sour.
Rao is always pally with everyone around Rakasam barrage. He knows shop vendors, workers, fishermen and tourism boat drivers. In fact, he has not allowed anyone to end life ever since he was posted at the outpost in 2014. Recently, Guntur Superintendent of Police, in recognition of his service, gave him an award of Rs.2,000.
The materials that Rao makes use of to rescue people include one rope, tourism speed boats, air tubes and a wireless set to be in touch with his officers for rushing help. In an attempt to save a person from drowning recently, he lowered himself into the water with the help of a rope from the middle of Prakasam barrage and taking support from the gates, he managed to pull the victim to safety.
"Irony is, those who suffer bouts of depression want to end their lives but once they jump into river, they cry for help They clutch at even small stands of straw to stay afloat,"" he says.
Rao has an uncanny sense in diagnosing the traits of a person who wants to commit suicide. ""If one is moving towards the bridge, with no interest in surroundings and always lost in thought, it is a sure sign that he is going to try something foolhardy,"" he says.
"A person who wants to commit suicide always appears lost in thought which reflects in their faces. The way they walk is a sure giveaway. On many occasions, I had brought them back to the bank, swimming towards them because over a period of time I have acquired the talent of identifying one who is bent on committing suicide. If they are too far away, I immediately mobilise help. People respond," Rao said.
If Rao is able to concentrate on his job because, it is becaue his is aa happy family. He leads a comfortable life with his wife Padmavathi. His son Ravi Kiran is a software employee in Bengaluru and younger son Ashok has just completed his degree. His daughter Siva Swapna got married and is living in Hyderabad. "I have no worries in life. That is exactly the reason why I want others too lead a happy life and not end it abruptly,"" he says.