The fifth pillar.

The Padma awards have lost their sheen. It is more or less distributed as political largess es.Merit is quietly taking a back seat.I can't understand the rationale behind awarding a person Padmashri and in the following years conferring PadmaBhushan or Vibhushan on the same person!It all seems so very frivolous and overtly dependant on the whims and fancies of those ruling the roost.

The top award BharatRatna though conferred upon some most ably suited to receive it , is often reserved as a award to felicitate famous politicians posthumously.Any politician who has some claims to popularity either amongst the people or more importantly with the rulers of the day, dies of old age is assured of a BharatRatna ,which his heirs receive under his august aegis from his heavenly abode!

A middle aged woman sits under the cover of trees and shrubs, reading every day 5 days a week ,3 to 4 hours at a stretch without fail for the past 10 years, digesting sarcasms of her wards,grudging none for the disappointments caused out of appointments wrangled but broken without any qualms,patiently tolerating the tantrums of some torpedoed at her as the physically handicapped are wont to, and forgiving them generously as frustrations borne out of their limitations.

We are like two ships passing each other at nights . She would be invariably leaving the premises after a punctilious reading session when I enter the campus to begin mine.I do not know what impels her yet I can gather that her intentions at rendering services to the blind students are absolutely scrupulous, done without any publicity or for gain and find her a well deserved candidate to the awards originally instituted to encourage and recognise such people.

I am sure that the length and breadth of India is studded with 1000's of such unsung heroines and heroes filling the cracks and fissures in a unbalanced society with their sacrifices and services supporting it as a fifth pillar neither for gain nor for profit ,largely propelled by a innate kindness to wipe the tears of the distressed away from the garish spotlight of awards, rewards ,citations and felicitations!