A hectic day for a lifeguard

Lifeguard Nagraj Hiranna Malappa at Girgaon Chowpatty. Nirmal Harindran

When the India Meteorological Department and other agencies were advising people to remain indoors on Tuesday, 20-year-old Nagraj Hiranna Malappa was out on duty, and spent more than 10 hours at Girgaum Chowpatty taking Ganpati idols out into the sea on the fifth day of visarjan. Undeterred by the unfavourable weather conditions, people had come to Girgaum Chowpatty to immerse their Ganesh idols in the sea and Malappa, along with 60 other lifeguards employed by the ward, worked till 3 am on Wednesday and immersed 544 residential idols and 9 idols of public mandals.

Malappa, a resident of Girgaum Koliwada, felt this job was a natural calling since his father, too, was a lifeguard. “Just like my father who has now retired, I love spending time at sea. My family is used to it. On Tuesday, I had come to the beach at around 9 am and stayed till 3 in the morning since the crowd started to grow only after 10 pm,” he said.

As mandated by the BMC, people are not allowed to venture into the sea to immerse idols and the rule applied more so on Tuesday where warnings of heavy rainfall – worsened by a high tide of 3.32 metres – were issued by the Disaster Management Department. “When people bring their idols they insist on taking it into the sea. But we cannot allow them to do so and sometimes arguments break out. It’s all part of the festive season,” he said.

Malappa said he took more than 100 trips into the sea on Tuesday. “We were given floats and we can load 8-12 small idols on a float and take it around 60 feet into the sea before immersing the idols,” he said. He added that despite the floods, his two brothers and father were not too worried about him. Being a lifeguard is a tough job that needs to be done, he says.