BHAPRAL VILLAGE, Bilaspur ( HP ): The number 13 seems to have stuck to 82-year-old Brahmi Devi of this quiet little village in Himachal Pradesh . At 13, she had received from the Viceroy a George Cross on behalf of her dead husband. Thirteen years ago, she lost her most prized possession to a group of “crafty people with selfish intentions”. Thirteen years later, on Monday, she got it back. And it was perhaps a co-incidence that the handover ceremony started at 1300 hours.TOI undertook the nine-hour journey from Delhi with the representatives of the British High Commission as they took the set of medals belonging to Naik Kirpa Ram of Frontier Force Rifles of the old Indian Army to their rightful owner. And all of us were left wondering what it must have been like to undertake such a journey back in 1946 by a 13-year-old widow who had never gone out of her village and who had to cover the distance in a military jeep, accompanied by British and Indian officers of her husband’s regiment.“She must have been astonished to come out of her tiny village to the big city that was New Delhi. I really wonder how she must have felt at seeing the Viceroy’s palace (Rashtrapati Bhavan) and the Viceroy himself with all the pomp and show around him,” said Barrister Ian Mayes (QC), Brahmi Devi’s lawyer in the Queen ’s Bench Division, High Court of Justice. It was a special day for him, too, as he was going to meet his client for the first time. And he met her in front of 500 people on Monday.Naik Kirpa Ram's set of medals is valued at over 250,000 pounds. The George Cross is on the left.Though the two didn’t know each other’s languages, the emotions were spontaneous—Brahmi hugged Ian when she was told who he was. And that’s how the ceremony began, with a hug. The people around her called it a symbol of friendship and goodwill between Indian and British people. But for Brahmi, he was the man who had returned her husband’s most important memory.British deputy high commissioner David Lelliott highlighted the importance of the ceremony and thanked everyone who contributed to the return of the medals in some way. Ian acknowledged the role played by Himachal Pradesh Police, Indian High Commission , especially the Indian deputy high commissioner to the UK, New Scotland Yard , and the British High Commission, especially defence adviser Brigadier Brian McCall. He even thanked TOI and Sunday Express, UK, for coverage.Barrister Ian Mayes (QC) who fought Brahmi Devi's case pro bono.After all the speeches were over, it was the time to handover the medals. Brigadier McCall did the honours with a fine, short speech, and Brahmi Devi, for the second time in nearly 70 years, received the George Cross from a British officer . “That’s called destiny, you see,” remarked someone in the audience.She thanked everyone for the “imaandari” with which her case was fought and her medals restored. “I’m very happy with my lawyer, and with Bartaniya (Britain) for this honest job. These medals represent my husband’s honour and bravery and my last link with him. I’ve treasured them all my life. And I shall treasure them as long as I live,” she said.Ian, though, was very worried as he hadn’t heard from her in two years. “I was very worried that we may not find her alive to return the medals. God, I’m so relieved that she is seeing this in her lifetime,” Ian said.Brigadier Brian McCall hands over Naik Kirpa Ram's medal set to his widow, Brahmi Devi.Brahmi, though, wasn’t worried at all. “She would drive me mad at times, asking about the medals. Yet she never gave up. She would often say, ‘I won’t die before getting my medals back.’ I can’t really explain how much joy she’s experiencing. She may not show it, but today is the happiest day of her life,” said Sushant Thakur, her nephew.Brahmi wants to keep the medals safe in a bank before making up her mind about placing them in some museum. But on Monday, nobody wanted to bother her too much with future plans. Lelliott summed it up very well: “It’s your day, today, ma’am. You deserve it.”