MUZAFFARNAGAR: Shravan Kumar took the first plunge at 12, and pulled out a man from the mighty Ganga. 10 years on, he has lost count of the people he saved from drowning, some of them slipped accidently while others intentionally. But all of them thanked him later.
Shravan is now 22 years old and sells flowers and ‘prasad’ (offerings) at Muzaffarnagar’s Shukrataal ghat, a famous pilgrimage site.
Sitting at the shop by the gushing river, Kumar recalled the first plunge. “It was spontaneous. Otherwise the man would have died.”
Shravan had to quit school when he was eight to support family. “Father was constantly ill,” he says.
Prasada selling continues to be his main source of earning. But his eyes and ears are always fixed on the river.
“Timing is of great essence here. Even a fraction of delay can cause irreparable damage. With experience, I can make out a difference between a suicide attempt and accidental fall,” says the youth.
But Shravan has one grudge. He lost two mobile phones recently while jumping into the river to save lives. “In the rush, I couldn’t take them out of the pocket,” he said.
And he adds, “It is not just mobile phones but my prasad also. It’s a monkey-infested area and they don’t leave any opportunity.”
But, despite the losses, Shravan finds peace in saving human lives.
“God has put me in this position, I am blessed,” he says.
Some of those saved come back to thank Shravan. And two of them return regularly to meet him.
“I have seen death from very close quarters. It was around seven years ago when a 15-year-old fell into the river. It took me some time to reach him. When I went deeper, I saw him. His eyes were open and he was trembling like fish out of water. Those would have been his last moments. I pulled him out somehow. It took half-an-hour to revive him, but he lived. He is now 18 years old and comes to meet me every year from Agra,” says Shravan, who never asks for money.
“River is very unpredictable. It is often calm from above but heavy current flows underneath. Earlier, almost 10 people used to fall into the river daily. It was due to a structural flaw of the ghat. It was steep beyond a few meters and a non-swimmer wouldn’t get time to turn back. But that was fixed later. Falling continues nevertheless, and increases during monsoon.”
Maha Mandaleshwar of Shukratal Peeth said, “I am here for the last seven years. I have personally witnessed how this youth saved hundreds of lives without worrying about his safety. There were times when drowning people would pull him inside water out of panic. But such incidents never deterred him from jumping into the river next time.”
Local police feel he is certainly a blessing for the area.
SSP Muzaffarnagar Abhishek Yadav said, “Shravan has been of great help to police also when vehicular accidents occur near Bhopa region from where the canal passes.”
Local scribe Qazi Amzad Ali says, “Shravan has saved hundreds of lives. But it is an irony that only a few of them are in contact with him. An Agra-based businessman, whose grandson was rescued by him two years ago, comes every year to meet him.
When TOI contacted the businessman, Kalyan Singh Bhadauria, he said, “We had visited Shukrataal in 2018, where my grandson Anuj Singh Bhadaurian drowned in the Ganga. Shravan saved him. We will never forget this.”