India's highest awards of Honor .

Sir Edmund Hillary was honored with Padma Vibhushan posthumous .
He died a natural death when he was 88 . His major accomplishment was mounting the everest along with Tenzing Norgay way back in 1953 if i am not wrong . The govt of India had to wait all these years, for him to die to bestow him with this honor. For what purpose and to what avail ? what are we trying to prove here by awarding it posthumous , alright i can understand if its a person whose entire life stands monumental with continuous accomplishments until he dies ( like a Gandhi ..although he is a mistake ) ..or if he or she dies suddenly in the midst of world shattering iconic work ( like a Diana ) . he falls in none of the categories . Why didn't the govt see his single important achievement before ? they realized he conquered the everest only after his death ? . I asked my dad casually why Tenzing Norgay was not given the award ( both have equal claim ) and the response was ..probably he died long ago or didn't die yet !!! So death is the new benchmark for awards ? Dont we have the balls to believe in this person's merit or demerit while he was alive ? do we need to wait for death to look back on a person's life ? Are we stuck in melodrama ?

I have nothing agaist Sir Edmund Hillary, in fact i have a high regard for him ( few know that he appeared on a NZ 5 dollor note even when he was alive ! ) , he was honored with knighthood by the British way back in the 50's just after his ascent to the peak . We are giving our own civilian award to him in 2008. check out , the world doesn't bother whom india honors with what . And i believe its valid and well deserved with policies and methods like this which truly reflect the pathetic national pastime of doing everything for the heck of it..