A couple of months ago, when Shanthamma emerged from Hyderabad’s Hussain Sagar Lake with a dead body, fetid and rotten, even the immediate relative, who till then was inconsolable and standing at the bund, could not come forward to accept it. She was offered Rs 70 in return as a reward. “I refused to take the money. What we do is something no one would do in their best interests. It is an act of piety and charity. Yet people look down upon us as we are despicable. We are also humans,” says the 30-year-old.
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Rescuing people who jump into the lake to end their lives has been a full-time responsibility for Shantamma and her husband Shiva, 37. For years, Shantamma and Shiva have been living on a platform beside the Katta Maisamma Temple on the Tank Bund road, and are only a call away if someone needs to be saved. Their livelihoods depend on what people offer them wholeheartedly in return for their services.
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Shanthamma has so far rescued five people from drowning by jumping into the lake. (Express photo by Rahul V Pisharody)
Shanthamma has so far rescued five people from drowning by jumping into the lake when the situation demanded and also recovered at least 25 bodies, the most recent being that of a days-old baby boy who was probably abandoned by his parents. And Shiva—better-known Tank Bund Shiva—has saved 117 people and retrieved over a few thousand bodies over the last 20 years.
‘A fearless woman’
The couple, who dropped out of school after Class 7, have known and supported each other for the last 22 years. While Shiva started saving people’s lives as a homeless teenager, his wife took it up as her responsibility later. The mother of four sons and three daughters says she has seen her husband plunge into the polluted lake every now and then and decided to take up his role when he was not around. “People look at me with suspicion when I prepare to enter the lake but that is ok because they are not used to seeing a woman as a swimmer and lifesaver,” she says.
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While Shiva started saving people’s lives as a homeless teenager, his wife took it up as her responsibility later. (Express photo by Rahul V Pisharody)
Adds Shiva, “I travel a lot to districts when people need me in search operations to recover bodies from lakes and ponds. When I am not in Hyderabad, my wife fills in for me. She has been doing so since 2004. She is a fearless woman. It requires real courage to rescue someone or even recover a dead body from the lake bed 30-60 feet deep without any safety mechanisms.”
Hussain Sagar, a 450-plus-year-old man-made heritage lake that once was used to be a drinking water source for Hyderabad, has been among the most polluted water bodies for decades. Its pitch black and stinking water is contaminated with heavy metals, sewage, and industrial effluents. The lake has also been infamous for the number of suicides, prompting authorities to establish a police station in 2003.
Most of the police personnel at the Lake Police station cannot swim and do not even have ropes to save someone from drowning. With a staff strength of 46 members and four outposts around the lake, their focus is on those who are found suspiciously loitering near the waterbody and stopping them from jumping in. There are no professional swimmers, boats, lifeguards, or even ropes with us, admits an official. Rescued people are counselled and reunited with their families.
Dignified life and a good future
In 2016, Shiva was promised a job as a home guard in the police department for his services as a lifesaver. In 2018, as the file did not make any progress, he approached the director general of police (DGP) for the job of a swimmer on an outsourced basis. Even after four years, there is no word yet on this. “We have the blessings of hundreds of people rescued and brought back to life. If it is in my destiny that we continue to live like this without a minimum guaranteed income or respect, let it be.”
According to the couple, all they want is a dignified life and a good future for their children. All but one are in government residential educational institutions and Shantamma and her husband Shiva wish they grow up to respectable positions in life. Shiva is training one of his sons in Hyderabad to continue what he and his wife have been doing. He says he is ready to train more people in rescuing people from drowning if at least the government provides a helping hand.