Physically
present in one of the highest post in highest battlefield of the world his mind
was roaming the streets of the cantt where he spent his childhood. He was
playing with his friends, pretending to be soldiers, defending the motherland.
That’s the thing about life in cantts; the first virtue you learn is the
immense love for the country which is further increased by brought up by a
military father. From the blurred window of his memory he clearly saw the
moment when his father, while going on a mission told him to take care of his
mother and behave well. He never knew those would be the last words of his
father. He remembered seeing his father’s coffin draped in the national flag
with armed men carrying it. He was pulled back to the reality by the wave of
pain in his arm, which was by then soaked in the blood which had dried overtime.
He
was a Captain officer of NLI. It was his third month of deployment in Siachen.
Things were going normally- regular rounds of firing from both sides of the
border. But from past 4 days situation caught up the fire. All his fellowmen
were martyred in the outburst of fire 3 days back and he also got injured while
trying to save his troops. His food supplies have ended and due to poor weather
there was no possibility of food or troops being transferred there.
In
these three days he got to live a life he always dreamed of. A life of courage,
spirit , challenges , will power and the passion to die for the motherland,
after all these were the reasons he joined army for. Whenever he got in touch
with his CO he asked him how his morale was, to which he replied with all the
strength left in his body “SKY HIGH SIR”.
He
read letters of his fiancé. She was a daughter of an army officer too and she
tried to compose herself at his see off and did not say a word but her teary eyes
reflected the fear of loss. She must be preparing for their wedding but the
nature has something else in store for them.
The
radio caught up some signals and he heard national songs being played at the
other end. It was a transmission of defence day. People were there to
commemorate the sacrifices of the defenders but most of the people despite of
listening to the war heroes were more interested in watching the performances
of the singers. He felt agonized, he was there dying for the people who didn’t
even care about the sacrifices the men in uniform have made. The wireless again
got connected with the headquarters and the CO asked “How is the morale Jawaan?
“ He repeated his question but Captain Inshal was busy in reflecting upon his life.
On the fourth repetition, with blurred eyes he replied with a faint voice of a
dying man, “Don’t know sir”.
Two
hours later when the troops arrived he was found dead in his barrack with a gun
still in his hand.
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