The awards, national or otherwise, have become a bit of a joke with names in the list of awardees that have to be googled to be recognized, makes me wonder every year: do they ensure that the Padmas only go to the names that are opulently obscure or seriously dead?

From this year’s list I could only recognize the great S P Balasubramaniam and no other name. Why did have to die to be worthy for this recognition?

But the one name everyone expected on the list and which wasn’t there is Sonu Sood. The man’s incredible work with migrants and other desperately needy souls of 2020 and his continuing support to the distressed, is worthy of every award and recognition on this earth. To see his name missing in the Padma list seriously undermines the importance of the Padma awards.

Rightly Sonu’s admirers who had been championing his cause for months are extremely incensed at the snub to Sonu’s phenomenal philanthropy. Is this glaring omission from the awards list a reminder of just how easy it is to sideline a true achiever when he is not a political ally?

A source from the government told me Sonu was under serious consideration for the Padma but lost it due to the “unnecessary hype” surrounding his name.

When I reached out to Sonu he laughed and said, “It is award enough for me to have people like you believe in my work.”