Bravery is not a quality of the body. It is of the soul.
They say, it’s not the size of the dog in the fight that matters but the size of the fight in the dog that decides the winner. Sumit Mamgain, by that account, was a very big dog when he decided to take on a wild predator to save his cousin from the jaws of death. In 2015, Sumit – a 15 year old from Uttarakhand along with his older cousin Ritesh were grazing cattle in a field. Out of nowhere a leopard pounced on them and attacked Ritesh.
The hilly plains of Uttarkhand have seen rapid urbanization in the post-liberalisation days in India and, as a result, have wild animals having frequent run ins with the human population that is expanding into their territories. Leopard attacks are more common in Uttarkhand than in most other parts of the country and it was Ritesh’s turn to be pounced upon that day. While most 15 year olds would have high-tailed it out of the area on seeing a ferocious leopard, Sumit showed extreme bravery by pulling the tail of the leopard and hitting it with a sickle and few stones. He was quick witted to use what was around him as weapons and attacked the wild animal, saving his cousin’s life.
He was awarded the Sanjay Chopra award for bravery by GoI in 2016. Sumit proves the adage that a timid person is frightened before a danger, a coward during the time, and a courageous person afterward. Courage is an essential quality to claim #iamstrongest.
