Godfrey Phillips awards brave hearts

Kolkata, July 31 : The 17th Godfrey Phillips Bravery Awards for the state of West Bengal was presented by Governor of Orissa, Murlidhar Chandrakant Bhandare. The awards pay tribute to those unique men and women who inspire all to live with courage and honour.

The recipients of theGodfrey Phillips Bravery Awards 2009 from West Bengal are Ahmed Nomani and Tulu Das from Kolkata for Physical Bravery and for the Social Acts of Courage Award, D Ashish from Kolkata.

Subhashini Mistry from Kolkata was presented the Mind-of-Steel Award for the state of West Bengal.

Godfrey Phillips Bravery, a Corporate Social Responsibility initiative of Godfrey Phillips India was started with a vision to build a more compassionate and a caring society.

According to KK Modi, President, Godfrey Phillips India, the objective of Godfrey Phillips Bravery is to encourage the culture of selfless action and to empower the less fortunate.

Since the inception of the Godfrey Phillips Bravery Awards in 1990, the Bravery movement has grown from merely recognizing and awarding brave civilians, to initiating on ground activities, like promoting safe and voluntary Blood Donation and Women's Empowerment.

The Godfrey Phillips Bravery Awards will continue to be held for the states of Himachal Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Orissa, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.



Winners' profiles:

Asif Ahmad Noman and Tulu Das- Physical Bravery

Rashida Begum was in trouble. Three young men had forcibly entered her house and were in the process of robbing her at gun point. They were cleaning out the wardrobe in which some cash was kept.

One of them had hit her with the revolver butt. She was in pain and was trying to shout for help.

She was lucky to have a brave neighbor, Asif Ahmad Nomani. He heard her muffled cries and rushed out to help. The door was locked from the inside. When nobody answered doorbell, he repeatedly banged on the main door, challenging whosoever was inside to come out.

The robbers panicked and tried to make a quick getaway. But valiant Nomani grabbed one and held on to him. His shouts alerted the guard, Tulu Das and other residents in the building, who rushed to help Nomani and managed to catch two of the robbers.

For displaying exemplary courage and for endangering their lives to catch armed robbers, Asif Ahmad Nomani and Tulu Das of West Bengal are awarded the Special Award in the category of Physical Bravery of the 17th Godfrey Phillips Bravery Awards.


D Ashish-Social Acts of Courage

D Ashish is a man with a mission to help the sick and the needy. Born in a well-to-do family, Ashish saw time and again that people normally throw away unused medicines, while the poor died for want of proper medicines.

He formed a team with 15 friends and started a door-to-door collection drive, picking up unused medicines from neighbours, and distributing them to those who could not afford to buy. He went on to create a Medical Bank in 1980. For 27 years Ashish and his group have been walking the streets of Kolkata collecting medicines, which they make sure, reach those who need it the most, but can't afford it.

Ashish's Medical Bank is not just about medicine. They get patients treated by reputed doctors either free of cost or at a discounted fee. They also provide spectacles and pacemakers to the poor. A Footpath Hospital has been started, where 25 doctors treat about 100 patients twice a week.

Motivated by the initiative taken by Ashish, citizens have also started joining the mission. Public donations keep the crusade going.

For his commitment to help the ailing and the poor, Shri D Ashish of West Bengal is awarded the Special Award, in the category of Social Acts of Courage, of the 17th Godfrey Phillips Bravery Awards.


Subhashini Mistry- Mind of Steel

Subhashini Mistry's life has been one of struggle in the face of abject poverty. Widowed at 23 for the want of money for medical treatment for her husband and with four small children to support and 70 paise in her pocket, she begged on streets, fed grass to her children, worked as a laborer for Rs. 1.25 a day. She did every kind of odd job that came her way.

Subhashini had to put her two kids in an orphanage as she did not have enough money to feed them. She passed her dreams on to her children who grew up to become a doctor and a trained nurse. Meanwhile Subhashini continued to save each paisa, often by not eating, to provide for her son's study of medicine. She was determined to do what was required to see that no poor person died for want of treatment.

She had managed to save Rs 85,000/- by the time her son qualified to become a doctor. She bought a bigha of land that she once cultivated. And, the Humanity Trust was formed in 1993. A hospital, with mud flooring started functioning from a 7'X10' shed in 1994. Seeing her resolve local people came forward to help. Rickshaws announced the hospital in the villages. Doctors volunteered their service.

In 1996 a permanent building with OT and specialty departments was inaugurated and in 2007 a new state of the art OT was commissioned.

Her son lives in the hospital with his family. Her daughter performs the duties of a trained nurse. Subhashini walks many kilometers each day to ensure that poor patients get treatment. There are not many who can pay. But her determination and selflessness has inspired many to come forward with donations.

Subhashini continues to dream of making the Humanity Hospital a 700-bed super specialty hospital.

In recognition of her steely resolve to overcome all odds and achieve her dream, Subhashini Mistry of West Bengal was awarded the Mind of Steel Award of the 17th Godfrey Phillips Bravery Awards, for the state of West Bengal.