The pleasant faced and spirited Harshita Attaluri, who is now the Ernakulam Rural SP, is all smiles talking about her official life as an IPS officer. Her popularity soared when the courageous office arrested Abdul Nasser Madani at Anwarserri in August 2010 in connection with the 2008 Bangalore blast case.Arresting him when the atmosphere was communally charged posed a great challenge. But the Kerala police team, led by Harshita, who was the then SP of Kollam dealt with it in such a way that the political unrest died down without much hullabaloo. “The situation was delicate, even a small mistake could have given way to a communal riot. So we went step by step and cleared the area before arresting him,” she says. Even after handling the task so skillfully, she remains modest. She says, “I just followed the legal ways and besides there was a large police contingent assisting me.” When asked if policing is a difficult job, she laughs and replies, “Policing is most easy. We just need to follow the rules mentioned in the rule book. If we have nothing to hide, following rules is not a problem”For Harshita, becoming a police officer was her childhood dream. As a child she had seen her grandfather as a revenue officer and that gave her the inspiration to become a civil servant. “He was an honest, principled man. I saw how he dedicated himself to society and made an impact on peoples’ lives,” says Harshita. A graduate in B. Com and also an ICWA holder, she hails from Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh. She came out with flying colours, after which she underwent training from the Kannur regime. Speaking about the training period, she reminisces the strict days of the camp. “The officers were extremely good, though they were strict which actually helped me a lot in the field,” she says.Harshita is married to C H Nagaraju, the SP of Alappuzha. She hates to be called a woman police officer. In her 10 year tenure she says she has not faced any sexual discrimination. She also believes women should not consider themselves inferior because of their gender. “If I start looking at society through a particular gaze, then they too will treat me in the same way. So I think one should do what one wants confidently,” says Attaluri. After graduation she dedicated two years studying for the civil service examination and cleared it in her second attempt. Talking about her preparations for the examination, she says, “I used to study for an average of 12 to 14 hours a day. Reading two English newspapers was a must for me.”But her preparations didn’t begin during college. Harshita has always had a studious but enquiring mind. From school days itself she would read books and magazines to be cued in about the happenings around. Her advice to children is that they must not just read, but also engage themselves with issues, analyse them and form individual opinions. “Having opinions about issues will make you stand apart from the crowd. It builds up character,” opines Harshita. She also believes children should make enough time for recreation. “Do not study at a single stretch for hours, it will be a burden to your brain. Always take a 10 to 15 minutes break,” she says. The best way to develop reading habit in children is to gift them books from an early age, she says. She also thinks that children must be allowed to chose their vocation and parents must not thrust their preferences upon them. “I took up my job because I liked it and that is why I am now able to enjoy it,” says Harshita. After a hard day’s work, the officer likes to relax with a good book. Her preferred authors include Leo Tolstoy, Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Jane Austen, and her all time favourite novel is ‘One Hundred Years of Solitude’ by Marquez. “I love reading because you can be anyone while reading a book. It also helps you understand different kind of people staying in different parts of the world.” Another pass time for her is listening to music. She likes to listen to Bryan Adams, Celine Dion and Mark Anthony.
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