Alappuzha: The stories of brave children are inspiring. India has been honouring such children with the National Bravery Awards and bold kids are feted by their schools and people in their hometowns.
Sunil, a Class 8 student here, is now a ‘hero’ at A B Vilasam Higher Secondary School after saving two-and-a-half-year-old Safna from drowning. However, he still shudders while remembering the timely act that saved Safna, daughter of Vadakke Thayyil Noushad and Saumila, residents of civic ward-2 at Mannanchery.
The youngster recalls the incident: “My uncle Balu and I had noticed that a child had fallen into the pond and picked her up. She was hardly moving at that time.”
Sunil and Balu then recalled some scenes in movies which showed rescue efforts and pressed the child’s stomach. “As a result, she vomited some water,” says Sunil. They then took Safna to her house, which was nearby. The child’s parents learnt that she had been in danger only then.
The other day teachers and Sunil's friends from his school reached his house at Cherukodu in Kavungal, Mannanchery, to congratulate him. Several local people too accompanied them.
However, they were in for a shock, finding that the youngster’s big family comprising his mother Kaveri, siblings Sudheesh, Sudhan and Sukanya as well as grandmother Sarasu lived in a half-built single-room hut. Their father had abandoned them and Kaveri made a living selling kitchen knives. The family had arrived in the area several years ago as gypsies.
A day after saving Safna, Sunil had visited her house to enquire about her condition. Safna is now in hospital and Sunil spoke to her mother over phone. “I’ll meet her when she is discharged from hospital and reaches home. I hope my mother would be able to afford a big teddy bear as a present to Safna,” he says.
Incidentally, the favourite subject of Sunil and his siblings is Mathematics.