a few brave ones...

January 24th happened to be the day on which the National Bravery Awards were presented. For those lowly creatures who have no inkling as to what these awards are - > No, it is not awarded to 'brave' filmstars (who shoot people with fake guns and indulge in make-belief battles) > No, it is not awarded to 'brave' sportstars (read team cricket india and sania mirza - 'coz these are the only sports personalities in India that the junta knows) > No, it is not even awarded to the 'brave' politicians (no explanation of their bravery is warranted) > No, there will be no live coverage of these awards on any televsion channel (with long and blah-blah, boring speeches learnt by rote) > Yes, there will be a small mention that the awards were distributed in a tiny corner of the newspaper > Yes, one or two wise old channels may actually name the awardees and show their footage for a couple of minutes     Enough sarcasm by ME (but what to do, the truth really bites) The awards were constituted by late Pt.Nehru in 1959 to honour brave children. From bravery acts across the nation carried out by children, these 'BRAVE' children are selected and feliciated at the hands of the PM. The winners get a cash prize and financial assistance until they complete their schooling. ---- The winners of the 2005 National Bravery Award------ Ratul Chandra Rabha and Rituparna Boro of Assam received the Bharat Award for the courage displayed while chasing a group of militants who killed their schoolteacher and for getting one of the militant arrested. Seidalyne Mawtyllup of Meghalaya got the Geeta Chopra Award and Sanmesh Mahesh Kalyanpur of Mumbai got the Sanjay Chopra Award. Both risked their lives in saving their siblings. Dugi from Orissa and C.Susheela of Andhra Pradesh have been awarded the Bapu Gayadhani awards for their extraordinary courage in revolting against child marriage. Mahesh Kumar of Uttaranchal for saving a girl from a tiger. Pusparani, the youngest awardee all of 9 years of age, saved a child from drowning. Shibu T from Kerala who was honoured posthumously for sacrificing his life to save the life of his brother who had fallen into the river. Sarath Babu, Divya T V, both from Kerala, Laxman of Chhattisgarh, Mukesh Kumar Tanwar of Madhya Pradesh, Puutijungshi of Nagaland, Nelson Karam from Manipur, Nagarani Venkateswara Rao of Andhra Pradesh and Santosh Ramesh Dahe of Maharashtra are the other recipients. --------- A salute to the real brave heroes !!!