THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Rishi Raj Singh is glued to the sports channel beaming visuals from Tokyo Olympics. He remains poker-faced throughout and very rarely lets a smile across his face while watching it. His personal staff members vouch for “Sir’s weakness for sports.” He keeps track of the world records across all Olympic events and can recall it in a jiffy.
He appreciates the achievement of Mirabai Chanu, but finds the hullabaloo over the lone medal as pathetic. At times, Rishi is brutally honest. “How many of those heading the sports federations have played the sport? Tell me,” he asks, not minding the fact that most of those helming the federations are politicians.
Rishi Raj Singh has always carried this air of nonchalance when it comes to taking tough decisions, something that gives him a larger than life image -- be it disguising himself as a lungi-clad lorry cleaner to nab highway policemen taking bribes or raiding the studio of a senior IPS officer for piracy-related offence. It’s his “I don’t care” attitude that helped him win the heart of the public who fondly call him by monikers such as ‘Singham’.
The 1985 batch officer is running on the last lap of his career and will hang his boots on Saturday. Reminiscing his 36 years in the force, Rishi Raj says he had done his duty with utmost devotion and is happy that the results of his hard work are evident. His current stint in the Prisons Department as Director-General has witnessed transformation of jails into agriculture and production centres. Currently, a prisoner can earn up to Rs 12,000 per month working in jail and Rishi Raj says this was part of the correction plan that he had for prisoners.
“Now, when they go back to their houses, they can continue doing these jobs. We have taught them a vocation,” he said. The officer with a mighty moustache has also been donning the role of a de facto cultural ambassador of Kerala as he promotes Malayalam movies and literary works among his Rajasthani community. An avid fan of the short stories of MT Vasudevan Nair and Vaikom Muhammad Basheer, Rishi Raj also dabbles in script-writing and has finished two works.
Equally noticeable is his love for films, evident from the fact that he used to watch a film almost everyday in theatres. “I badly miss watching films in theatres now.” Rishi played cricket at the state level before joining the IPS. He is equally hooked to music.
Thanks to his friends circle and love for the state, Rishi Raj says he is planning to stay back in the city after retirement. “This is the place that I know. The people whom I know. Where else can I go?”