Anjapalli Nagamallu, Additional Inspector of Police (traffic) LB Nagar is earning a reputation as the singing cop. The 36-year-old traffic cop has not taken any training in music, but is making waves with his ‘concerts’. All for a good cause. As a cop, he wants to instil discipline among motorists and has a novel way to do that. He sings. The songs he renders, are folksy in nature, the lyrics carry a message on the need to follow traffic rules, spread road safety awareness and a sense of discipline.
Nagamallu says, “While on road when confronted with a situation, I’d rather raise my voice to sing than express anger.”
His video of singing at a counselling session against drunken driving recently went viral on social media. Nagamallu’s YouTube clips have a million views. He also made a CD to pay tribute to police martyrs of Telangana. “It has six songs; I composed and sang them all,” he adds. He first recorded songs in 2013 and has not stopped since.
This cheerful cop who hails from Chilpakuntla village in Suryapet in Nalgonda district was moved by an incident that occurred in 2005 in a village near his home town; that also shaped his mind to make a career choice. A woman, accused of witchcraft, was burnt alive by the villagers. “I couldn’t believe what had happened. As a society how could we let something like that happen in today’s day and age? It was a matter of shame for our state. At that time, Mahesh Bhagawat (IPS) visited the village and demonstrated many tricks to show there was nothing like witchcraft. I was one of the spectators (I was a student then). I was inspired by this officer’s attempt to raise awareness and also believed in creating a society where one’s thought and behaviour should be civilised. Around that time I pulled a Tata Sumo, harnessed to my back as a part of that demonstration,” says Nagamallu, who had vowed to devote himself to educating people.
Choice of service
Nagamallu, however, didn’t really plan for a career as a cop. He wanted to be a teacher to educate children on values like respect, to make them believe in themselves. His motive was service, “I gave the Diploma in Education (D Ed) and District Selection Committee (DSC) exam. During the same time, (2010) I also got through the Police selection test. I chose the latter because here I can serve people directly,” he says.
In the traffic department, he has witnessed many cases of drunken driving, death of young boys and girls due to ‘rash and negligent driving’ and death due to road accidents. “Why should young girls and boys die in accidents? Why are people not serious about wearing a helmet? I deal with these questions through my songs. I sing at counselling sessions and at awareness meetings,” elaborates Nagamallu.
The self-taught singing cop is absolutely clear about not misusing his time on duty. All his work on songs (to write and compose) is during his time off. “I go back home and devote a couple of hours to my music,” he adds.
This is not all, in the traffic department, Nagamallu is also known for his speed in providing first aid to road accident victims. “I have made a first aid box in which I carry SoS medicine, cotton pads and bandage. I wear a pair of gloves to clean wounds,” says Nagamallu.
Did he , get a chance to tell Mahesh Bhagawat that he was Nagamallu’s inspiration? “I never got the chance to talk so much with him. I am happy though that I saw him in 2005 during his talk on superstitions,” he says.
Nagamallu also made the headlines of regional news channels and papers when he built a small hut for a physically challenged mother-son duo. “I read about them in a newspaper, I couldn’t bear to see their plight. I didn’t have much money, so I sold my daughter’s bangles and my ring and managed to build a small pukka house for them. Gold is after all meant to be used in emergencies, isn’t it?” says the kind cop.