On Yoga Day, Andhra top cop motivates with asana video

Kurnool superintendent of police, A Ravikrishna, has adopted a rather unique approach by preparing and releasing an album on yoga ahead of International Yoga Day on June 21. 

Shot aesthetically, the 6-minute long video shows Ravikrishna, who has been practising yoga for over a decade now, performing different asanas along with others at the scenic location of Jagannathgattu, 6 kms from Kurnool town. 

"The youth, especially in the police force is very stressed. This video is to motivate them to take to yoga," says Ravikrishna.

For the past one week, the 4000 strong police force in Kurnool, inspired by the yoga album, has been practising the yoga asanas. The intention, apart from preparing them for Tuesday, is to encourage them to make yoga a way of life. It will culminate in a grand yoga display on Tuesday at the Kurnool stadium, with over 6000 people from different government departments taking part.

In many senses, Ravikrishna has chosen a different way of 'policing'. One that means to be in front of the camera to highlight the right social causes. Last month, this 2006 batch IPS officer wrote and sang a peppy number to promote eye donation with a music video. 

"In the last week of June, the Kurnool police along with Indian Red Cross plans to get one lakh people in the district to pledge to donate their eyes by signing up for the cause," says Ravikrishna. 

Ravikrishna's on-camera approach to connecting with the people of Kurnool is in contrast to how so far only incidents of violence in Kurnool district provided content for masala Telugu movies starring the likes of actor Balakrishna. One of the most notorious villages is Kappatralla, 60 km from Kurnool town, where revenge killings have been a way of life. 

Kappatralla was adopted by Ravikrishna in February 2015. Since then, a school has come up in Kappatralla and women self-help groups have been formed. A video encapsulating a changed Kappatralla is next on Ravikrishna's musical keyboard. 

But as India gets ready to celebrate Yoga day for the second successive year, this top cop's initiative is proof that yoga as a way of life has got enthusiastic takers in the country's officialdom. Ravikrishna isn't sure if he should e-mail a link of his yoga video to the Prime Minister, but knowing Narendra Modi's enthusiasm for yoga, the officer may just end up getting a pat on his back.