Back after a really long time, hope you like this...
In the wake of
recent events that have unfolded in India, our love and respect for our armed
forces have only increased. In our busy, monotonous life, we often forget
certain things which play a magnanimous part in our survival in this cold,
brutal world. As citizens of a country whose nearest neighbor's actions are questionable, there is a question
of security that arises across all our borders. Right from the LOC, the Siachen
to the Arunachal border, our army is making sure that every Indian has his/her
night's sleep in a peaceful way. Jai Jawan indeed.
As heavily
armed terrorists attacked Uri on the 18th of September 2016, all of India was
agitated. Our armed forced befittingly replied on September 29th 2016 in the
form of surgical strikes that killed many terrorists. In the 18th
September attack, 18 of our soldiers were left martyred which caused a wave of
anger and sadness across all sections of the nation. Some of us got angry, some
of us got philosophical and most of us, heartbroken. But, the sad truth is, our
feelings for our armed forces is short lived and we tend to forget them until
an Uri or a Pathankot has taken place .
How is the
life of an army man? What is the mental turmoil an army man has to undergo? How
does a little girl or boy waits with bated breath as her/his father returns
from a cross border operation? What can we learn from an army man? Are we
remembering our army enough? These are some of the questions which the nation
needs to answer. So, how is the life of an army officer? First things first,
what we as a nation should do is avoid loose talk with respect to them. The life of an army man is
more than running in the border with an AK47 rifle. It is the life of moments
left unsavoured, hopes becoming blurry and a life filled with uncertainties.
It's a life where the first steps of his baby daughter become irrelevant but
the monitoring the steps of rogues across the border assumes greater importance.
Yet, with a smiling face, a thumping heart and a strong will to serve the
nation, they soldier on, keeping 127 crore(the number keeps increasing) Indians happy and safe.
What makes
these bravehearts in olive green so special? Above all, it is their positive
attitude towards life that makes them so hard to beat. It is said that, it is
exceptionally difficult to demotivate an army man. It is that character which
makes them a part of one of the strongest forces in the world. In addition to
this, it is that selfless nature which makes us all respect them. For them,
nothing takes precedence over the safety and the welfare of India and Indians. It
takes real love for the nation to be on a job that could take away your life in
a second.
In 2015,
Chennai saw the worst flood in its history. The whole city was submerged, there
was water everywhere, in houses, in shops, in shanties and shacks of the poor
and the whole city was thrown out of gear. Chennai needed help. So was the case
in Uttarakhand, when floods wreaked havoc in the state in 2013. In both these
cases, like several times before, it was the army which worked tirelessly to
safeguard the victims and get them to safety. Photos of army officers carrying
little children and senior citizens and crossing dangerous bridges made us bow
down to them. When the Jhelum river was in spate in 2014, people of Jammu and
Kashmir were again supported by the valiant army men who time and again have
shown that they are the most dependable. What courage indeed!
On July 26th
1999, the tricolor was majestically hoisted in the Line of control when the
Indian army announced that they has successfully evicted the Pakistani
intruders. That day is proudly known as "Vijay Diwas". It is the day
which signified the bloodshed of our bravehearts for the sake of our country
and it is the event which showed the self determination of the Indian armed
forces to achieve their goals which also makes a good life lesson. Indian army
has also time and again showed that they are an apolitical entity, an honest
force and a force whose integrity can never be questioned at any point in our
history. 1965, 1971 and many battles like the 3 Jat battalion Battle of Dograi
signify the kind of force that our Indian army is.
The
perception that most people have about our army is that our army consists of
men who just run along the borders with a gun in their hand. But what people
need to know is that, all of our armed forces are men with intense all round
capabilities and their life skills and hacks are unparalleled. The national
defence academy, the institution which trains our forces trains them in most
walks of life and our forces are multi talented. Much reading on platforms like
quora will reveal that our forces are also trained in aspects on science,
music, sports like boxing, judo, sailing, karate etc. One other thing is that
they are extremely adventurous people. A bout of adrenaline rush is never said
no to. This perhaps, is what makes them so daring. They are jacks of many
trades but the master of one, saving our country. They are also trained to be
thorough professionals. Their professionalism is one of the deepest and the
most important feature of their day to day activities. For them, if a job, say a
combing operation has to be done, they will do it spotlessly and thoroughly
with cent percent efficiency and perfection.
The
definition of patriotism has been altered according to one's needs ever since
we got independence in 1947. But one bunch of people who have followed
patriotism and have been patriots in the truest essence are our army men. They
advocate patriotism in its purest form devoid of any jingoism. When they say
Jai Hind, they absolutely mean it. For many of these patriots, the ultimate
sacrifice has already happened. For many others, their daily life is a
sacrifice of sorts. Deepavali, Dasara, Eid, Christmas etc mean nothing for them
for their festivities is a victorious battle. As the nation celebrates
Deepavali this November, a soldiers keeps guard of the LOC on a chilly November
night with a family back home thinking about his well being. As civilians, we
speak so much of philosophy about sacrifices in our daily life, but these men
implement it in their tough lives.
These brave
men also teach us many lessons such as Unity and discipline. With a lot of
furore these days over the term "secularism", these men are the
perfect examples of it. In the Armed Forces, there in no Hindu, Muslim,
Christian, Sikh etc. There is only one identity for all these people, they are
Indians. This can be seen from our great history. The Indian army has had
legends like Vikram Batra(Kargil War martyr), Hoshiar Singh, Abdul Hamid(1965
War martyr), Albert Ekka(1971 War martyr) to name a few. Indian army is also a
fine example of team work and co-ordination, which is something that is lacking
among some of us. This co-ordination is also because of the strong bond of
friendship among all our soldiers, all of them who have a single minded vision
of seving our nation.
Ultimately,
all the brave army men are strict disciplinarians, whose only ambition in life
is to protect India from any external harm, natural or man made. The
constitution so proudly speaks about our sovereignty and these are the men who
protect it and stand by it. As Lata Mangeshkar sang in her iconic song "Yeh mere watan ke logon, zara aankh
mein bhar lo paani, jo shaheed huye unki, zara yaad karo kurbaani", we
must all take moments from our life to remeber there brave souls.
"If you
ate today, thank a farmer. If you ate in peace, thank a soldier"
-The Logical
Indian.
Ashwin
K
