Valorous Anonymous

In obscure small-town India,they serve humanity,save lives,wipe tears and gift smiles,but glory eludes them. Except when identified to be confered up on the Godfrey Phillips Bravery Award,a pageant for the courageous commonfolk that has completed 20 years.

The list of awardees from the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh zone this year comprised among others a rickshaw puller who compelled terrorists to drop their arms and flee,a bicycle mechanic who takes care of the last rites of unclaimed bodies and a physically challenged young man,who finished his education and of his siblings taking tuitions and presenting talks on radio. The brave brigade received the honour from Governo B L Joshi at a function on Wednesday evening. Rickshaw-walah Saleem Ahmed,who foiled the act of two terrorists gunning down tourists outside Jama Masjid in Delhi,shared the Physical Bravery Award with Anjum,who saved her friend from being run over by a train,Shamshad and Shehnaz,the brother-sister duo from Lucknow who freed a businessman from the clutches of kidnappers braving a bullet and Pawan Kumar,who saved over a 100 lives by swinging into action and helping extinguish fire that charred three bogeys of the Rajdhani Express. The Lucknow awardees were happy to receive the award but rued the failed promise of the State Government to give a job.

Recipient of the Social Bravery Award Mohammad Sharif,resolved to let no unclaimed body to go waste after his son went missing and whose body could not be found even for burial. “The administration provides no financial or any other aid. On the contrary,they turn to me every time there is an unclaimed body,” says the do-gooder,who spends hard-earned money for the needful.

Recipient of the Mind of Steel Award Santosh Negi draws attention to RTI plea filed by him for the benefit of his kind and the good result it yielded. “I filed a plea questioning architecture of new buildings in Uttarkhand which made them a challenge for the disabled to visit. Action was taken and changes were suitably affected,” says Negi,a professor in Royal Inter College,Bhairakund,preparing for Civil Services exam.