NEW DELHI, November 17: Abdul Sattar, 32, can't forget the misty morning of November 18 and the screaming children. He was on the western bank of the Yamuna across Wazirabad bridge, when he saw a school bus plunging into the river.Thirty children from Shaheed Ameerchand Sarvodaya Vidyalaya, Ludlow Castle, died that day. The only consolation for Abdul was that he rescued most of the 90 survivors.A year later, Abdul has appointed himself the guard of the waters. Three others - Rajinder, Sunder and Hukum Chand - help him keep a 24-hour vigil. Some policemen give them company.``It was 7.20 a.m. and the mist was dense. I was standing here,'' he says, pointing to the embankment on the GT-Karnal roadside. ``The bus was speeding. Suddenly, it veered to its left, crashed through the iron railings and fell into the water.''Abdul also plunged into the water immediately. Six others of his ilk joined him later. And they dived again and again, to bring out the children one after another.But the bus got trapped in the eddies; and heavy school bags trapped some of the children inside. Abdul regrets that he could not save the 30 who died. He says: ``I didn't know that many of them were travelling in the bus. Many had been thrown out, when the bus fell. Some of the bigger ones knew how to swim, but the smaller ones..''That nothing has changed a year later atop the bridge (Abdul points towards the overcrowded vehicles speeding past) and even in his life, is what angers him most.Then, the government had promised the world to Abdul the Hero. ``Now, they have forgotten me. Some private people rewarded me at that time and I distributed the money among my friends,'' he says. There are many others who have survived after falling into the Yamuna - either accidentally or intentionally - because Abdul was around. ``Only a few of them bother to say ``thanks'' later. But I don't mind.''Abdul does not remember when he learnt to swim and dive into the Yamuna. But he knows one thing: he will rescue people from the river as long as he lives. ``The Yamuna is my home and mother,'' he says before diving into the river for the umpteenth time today.
