Mumbai brave girl – who saved 17 lives – is a National Hero

Mumbai girl Zen G. Sadavarte – who shot to fame two years ago when she helped save at least 17 lives – has been selected for the coveted Indian Council for Child Welfare’s National Bravery Award for 2019.

Along with her, a boy from Aurangabad, Akash M. Khillare has also been selected for the same award and both will be conferred it along with 20 other young bravehearts from all over India.

Both Zen, 12 and Akash, 16, displayed rare and exemplary courage which has earned them national laurels besides making them ‘young idols’ for the youth.

One morning, Akash, hailing from a small village in Aurangabad, was hurrying off to his school, some three kms away from home.

En route, while crossing an old bridge over the Dudhna River, he saw a woman drowning and screaming for help. Akash looked around, but there was nobody, he threw his school back and plunged headlong into the river,a rouind 70 feet below.

As he swam towards her, he noticed she also had her three-year old daughter with her and they were being pulled in the river currents. Akash first rescued the minor girl and then went to rescue her mother and brought them ashore safely even as other villagers gathered and cheered his feat.

Later, the crying mother informed that she had gone to wash clothes on the river bank when her daughter fell in the waters and was getting dragged by the current.

Though she couldn’t swim, she jumped to save her daughter and both were in grave danger till they were spotted and rescued by Akash.

Zen is a Class VII student of Mumbai’s Don Bosco International School, Matunga and her moment of glory came during a massive fire that engulfed the 12th floor of Crystal Towers in Parel around 8 am in Aug. 2018.

As scores of people trapped panicked, the 1o-year old Zen was cool in the blaze and billowing smoke, took charge and collected clothes around the house, then wet them with water and instructed everybody, including her family and neighbours to cover their noses and breathe through it.

“In this manner, she helped 17 people move to safety without any harm from the fire or the toxic smoke, and they could breathe easily through the wet clothes,” said her proud parents Gunratan Savarte and Jaishree Patil-Sadavarte, both topnotch lawyers.

Later, her efforts were lauded by the media and the civic and state government, and now she will be recognized at the national level.

On Zen, Adv. Gunratan Sadavarte said that she is extremely concerned about the ‘hunger among children’ and plans to launch a national campaign for them, especially those from poor families in rural-tribal areas who are even deprived of a mid-day meal on weekends which they are served during weekdays at the government school.

“Despiter her tender age, she has read the Quran, the Bible, studied Buddhism, the Constitutions of five countries, read Malala Yousefzai’s biography twice, Leo Tolstoy’s “War & Peace” and other top global classics, she loves to watch news and current affairs besides her studies,” Adv. Sadavarte told IANS.

Presently, both Akash and Zen are in New Delhi and even as the other children from different parts of India are taking in the sights of the capital, Zen is busy exploring the huge ICCW library.-IANS News