S Lalitha By Express News Service BENGALURU: The moment one nears the junction at Suranjan Das Road during peak morning and evening hours, one witnesses a heart-warming scene, something not commonly seen on Bengaluru’s traffic-choked streets. In place of the road rage incidents one often encounters, it is waves, smiles and hellos from many zipping past or waiting in the traffic. All these gestures are directed towards one individual, traffic cop Bhaskar (34), popularly referred to as ‘Singham Bhaskar’, who manages the unruly traffic with a smile. This reporter spent some time at the junction of this jampacked road that leads to Old Madras Road. You see bus drivers wave from their seats, conductors move near the doors to exchange a word with him in passing while children seated in school buses rush to one side of the bus whose windows face the cop to scream gaily, “Good morning uncle!” `Singham junction’ loudly announces the conductor of a BMTC bus which stopped there. The cop, meanwhile, was helping a senior citizen cross the road by stopping vehicles from all sides. He is literally a local hero who has fans all over social media. One of them even tweeted to Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging him to recognise this Bengaluru hero. TNIE managed to catch a few minutes with this Mysorean. “It is my 11th year at Jeevan Bima Nagar police station. I love my job and am generally a happy person and I guess it shows on my face,” he says with his characteristic smile. Asked how he manages to stay cool under the searing heat, Bhaskar adds, “Getting angry is not going to help. After all what is there in life? I am just nice to everyone and in return all are nice to me!” The cop concedes that public love gives him much energy. “My weekly off is on Sundays. If I am on leave for a couple of days, worried public call up the traffic police station. Young women have even proposed to me here,” says this bachelor, who lives on his own in the vicinity of his station. An attempt to transfer him from here by the department forced them to backtrack following public outrage. He is all set to be promoted as a head constable shortly. Among the delighted commuters is S Thirupurasundari, employed in a multinational firm, who crosses the junction while going to her workspot in Halasuru daily., “It surprises me that someone doing such a tough job can have such a beautiful attitude to work every single day.”

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