In an act of bravery, a 15-year-old girl, risking her life, rescued two children from drowning at sea. If the efforts of a former MLA and others bear fruit, she is likely to get an award for her courageous act.

As many as 20 schoolchildren were taken to the Revu Polavaram Beach of S. Rayavaram mandal in the district on November 4, 2018. Incidentally, Kalagarla Sahiti (14) of Kothakota village of Raavikamatam mandal, had also gone for a picnic to the same beach along with her family members.

After lunch, some of the children went for a dip at sea. All of a sudden, two of them – Tirumalesu (6) and Bhargavi (8) — started drifting into the deep. Sahiti noticed the two children and the cries of others for help. Without a second thought she jumped into the water and rushed to their rescue.

“I swam towards them and took Tirumalesu on my back. I pulled Bhargavi with one hand, while using my other hand and feet to swim ashore,” Sahiti has told The Hindu, recalling the incident.

None of the others, who were at the beach, knew swimming and they watched in awe as the girl risked her life to save the drowning kids. The news spread like wild fire and people of nearby villages came and were all praise for her bravery.

The then Anakapalle MLA, Peela Govinda Satyanarayana, wrote a letter to the District Collector in February this year asking the latter to consider her name for nomination for the National Bravery Award. He has felt that such awards would inspire other children.

“We had approached the then District Collector K. Bhaskar, who took our application but we learnt that it was not processed as the district administration was busy with the general elections at the time. We are yet to meet present Collector R. Vinay Chand,” says Sahiti’s mother Nagajyothi.

Presently studying in 10th class at Sri Chaitanya English Medium School at Narsipatnam, Sahiti learnt swimming on her own at Anakapalle, when she was around 8 years. She can also perform various Yogasanas in the water.

Other achievements

“Sahiti is also good at academics and has scored above 95% in 9th class,” says her proud mother. Along with four other students from her school, she participated in a ‘space settlement contest’, organised by NASA. She presented the project ‘Vajra Kavacham’ at the International Space Development Conference (ISDC)-2019 held in Los Angeles in June this year.

“My aim is to join the IIT,” says Sahiti.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Andhra Pradesh / by B. Madhu Gopal / Visakhapatnam – July 08th, 2019