One of striking thing that attracted everybody's attention at Padma award functions today was barefoot awardees who came to Rashtrapathi Bhavan barefoot and received award. They were not wearing shoes or chappal at such an important function of their life.
Among them was a tribal enviornmentalist. When you hear this word enviornmentalist, you imagine those heavily funded NGO operators who attend this and that seminars and conferences and fly in jets and speak a lot but do nothing. Here is an old lady Tulsi Gowda who worked with Karnatka state's forest department as a daily wager for fifty years and planted and nurtured one lakh trees approximately. She is called encyclopedia of forest thanks to her vast knowledge on plants and trees varieties. Then there's this woman farmer from Ahmednagar area of Maharshtra who is also conservationist of native seed varieties. She also does it and also propagates it. She also contributes to local Self Help Group. How nice an idea to honor a farmer, a woman farmer with country's one of highest awards! And the last is a fruit seller philanthropist from Mangalore in Karnataka who built a school from his savings that he earned by selling fruit as a vendor.