This Brave Boy Risked His Life to Save a Drowning Girl. Here’s His Heroic Story!

If you saw someone drowning in water, would you jump to help them?

Or would you rather be an onlooker, even if you knew how to swim?

Think about the number of casualties that could have been averted through timely action by an onlooker. Which is why we really need to appreciate the fact that there are people who would jump to action without giving it a second thought when it comes to saving someone’s life.

So goes the story of one boy, shared by the Humans of Bombay page on Facebook, which would make us believe in angels amid humans. In an incident that happened last year, the young boy happened to witness a young girl drowning in a pool and crying for help.

Though he had no formal training, the little boy did not hesitate before diving in the deep side of the tank while many onlookers chose to stand and watch. After a great struggle, he managed to bring the girl to safety.

His brave and selfless act led to him being felicitated with the General National Bravery Award last year by none other than Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself.

You can read the complete story as shared in the Humans of Bombay post on Facebook:

I haven’t received any formal training in swimming but being born and brought up in this area, swimming came naturally to me. We all play here in the shallow waters because we know that its safe, but there are areas in this tank that are very deep and dangerous.

It was around sometime last year that, a young girl was laughing and playing in the water. I saw her and remembered my childhood days…I smiled and continued doing my work until I heard her scream. I looked back at the waters but I couldn’t see her – she had gone into the deep and had started to drown. There were 100 of on lookers but no one moved an inch — I didn’t understand why not one person was ready to do anything about it !

I couldn’t see her and I didn’t have a clue of where she was, but I just jumped in, hoping to be able to see her underwater. I spotted her drowning in the deep and I swam towards her, so that I could pull her out. The water there was heavy and fighting the force wasn’t easy, but I put in all my might to save the girl and myself. At some point, I felt like even I won’t make it, because the force of the current was just too much, but I pushed myself harder and summoned all my strength until I finally reached her.

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I caught hold of her and yanked her out of deep. When I reached the shore and put her near the steps, those onlookers rushed to pump water out of the girl’s body. Everyone applauded my bravery but my only focus was to see whether she made it.

With God’s grace, she started breathing normally after a few minutes — she had survived! I never did it for any fame, but this story and a lot of media came to interview me.

I was ultimately called to Dehli last year to receive the General National Bravery Award from the hands of our Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi. My family was so proud and everyone congratulated me, but I couldn’t help but think that it could have been any of those onlookers receiving this award. It was me, only because I chose to do something while the others looked on and that’s the biggest lesson I learnt from this — to never be a spectator and in the hour of need to actually get up and make a difference.

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