Extraordinary feats of ordinary children were celebrated on the occasion of Children's Day. Two children, who displayed courage and presence of mind through simple acts that went on to have maximum impact, were rewarded with bravery awards at a programme at Bal Bhavan on Saturday by Governor Vajubhai Rudabhai Vala. Here are their stories:
Averted mishap with a T-shirt
Looks can be deceptive in the case of N. Siddhesh, a class V student at Avaregere government school in Davanagere. This timid 10-year-old boy, who shied away from mediapersons on Saturday, was felicitated with the Hoysala bravery award for having waved down a train just before it was to run over a damaged portion of the track, saving several hundreds of lives.
Siddhesh has a habit of watching all trains that pass by his father's tea stall in their village. On March 15 this year, a Sunday, he was at the tea stall when something did not sound right.
“I heard a strange sound when two trains passed by in the morning. My father told me that there were stones on the track. But when I went near the tracks, I saw it was broken,” Siddhesh recalled.
On hearing about it, his father, Manjunath, rushed to the tracks and tried alerting other people, but in vain. By then, the Harihara-Chitradurga train was approaching. Father and son began to panic. But Siddhesh got an idea.
“My son remembered that a red flag could stop a train. He was wearing a red T-shirt, which he took off. Even as I tried to dissuade him, he ran towards the tracks with that T-shirt perched on a twig. Terrified that the train would mow him down, I ran in pursuit. Luckily, the train stopped, which saved hundreds of lives,” Manjunath said.
Siddhesh explained that he had seen in a Kannada film how a train was stopped with a red T-shirt.
Saved brother from electrocution
A regular day playing with her younger brother and cousins took a dangerous turn when her sibling came in contact with a live wire. But 11-year-old girl Siya Vamanasa Khode saved the day by courageously dragging him away and saving his life. She was felicitated with the Keladi Chennamma award for bravery on Saturday.
Siya had been to her uncle's house in Hubballi with her younger brother Yellappa. That day, both were playing with their two cousins on the terrace.
“While we were playing, I saw my younger brother holding the iron railing, but standing still with his eyes wide open. When I tried to pull him away, I received an electric shock. That's when I realised Yellappa was electrocuted. I tried to hold his hand, but received yet another electric shock. So I pulled him away from the railing by holding on to his shirt,” Siya said.
Vamanasa Khode, the children’s father, said that a live electric wire close to the house had come in contact with the railing. “Our family was saved from a disaster. I appeal to the government to address this issue,” he said.
