Wednesday, July 11, 2018

Kargil Vijay Divas - 2018

The most awaited time came into existence on June 30 2018, at banglore. I walked into the house of Adrija Sen, Co-Founder of Desh. I was meeting every one of them personally that day despite being friends in the virtual world for about 3 to 4 years. Devraj Uncle, Father of Capt. Tushar Mahajn(9 Para) was already there. He greeted me with a smile. Vikas Manhas, the Guiding Light of Team Desh was also there and we greeted with a hug, as if we were knowing each other for ages.
Capt.Naveen Nagappa who was a Kargil war veteran himself, arrived with a smile. I had read a lot about Capt. Naveen and the way how he had been meeting many martyrs in his recent days, the compassion he was sharing with his copatriots moved me. Meeting every one of the real heroes, be it an army man or the brave family members of the bravest, gave me chills deep down to my spine. When I met Sangeetha, Wife of Major Akshay Girish, I had a feel of guilt and pain, the pain of seeing a girl of my age, suffering an irreparable loss and the guilt, "What did we as citizens or the government as a Nation do the brave Major? How was the twin child of The Girishs recognized?"
The event started with cutting cake, Naina AkshaySangeetha, D/O of Major Akshay & Sangeetha Akshay, Capt Naveen Nagappa, Devraj Uncle, Aparajitha and others did the honors, cutting the cake and sharing happiness of the 19th Kargil Vijay Diwas celebrations.
Mrs. Charulatha Acharya fondly known as Charu akka, joined all of us through the video call. Her brief conversation with all of us made us glad and joyful. Mrs.Anasuya, CoFounder of Desh started telling how Team Desh was started. Few years ago, Vikas(a stranger then) called Anasuya in her father's mobile to connect and the strangers spoke for one hour about Indian Army and their bravery and then on started the journey of Desh. When the three of them got connected with Mrs.Aacharya, she offered her helping hand to approach the martyrs' family members as she herself was one inorder to gain the trust of them. And now, Team Desh has close to 8000 members and probably the only group where Patriotism towards Motherland is not only discussed but implemented in real lives.
I was asked to give a brief about Kargil War. And, with the heroes and the bravests next to me, I did stammer to give a gist of it, as the entire event was live telecast-ed. Post which, Deepak Surana, the young author of the book, "THE SHERSHAH OF KARGIL-CAPTAIN VIKRAM BATRA" spoke of how the soldiers captured Point 4875 where Capt. Vikram Batra was martyred. The way young little boy explained, brought tears in almost every one's eyes. 
Desh - Kargil Meet - 2018.

The most awaited moment came, when the hero himself, Capt. Naveen Nagappa, spoke about his experiences in Kargil. We told him if it was painful to talk, not to talk. He started sharing his stories. During the fight, he saw the enemies' mortal remains being shattered during the fight. He realized that part of the body belonged to a corpse lying near by. His first thought was why should he touch it, why cant he kick the flesh morsel to the corpse. His morale dint allow him. He further thought to push it with the riffle he had in hands. But he ended up picking the flesh morsel putting it to the right corpse, purely because his moral knowledge did not allow him to disrespect any corpse. He also shared that, when the enemy's army disowned few soldiers, it was Indian Army who cremated the soldiers with due respects. All these days, I thought an army man as a synonym for unmatched bravery and grit. But, Capt. Naveen Nagappa proved to all of us through his every experience that Indian soldier is a remarkable human being who is spiritually evolved, ethically right, morally perfect, mentally stoic and physically hardy and skilled. Many wars and battles are won by them because of their moral perfection and strong determination with perfect discipline. 
Captain Tushar Mahajan's father Shri.Devraj , Major Akshay Girish's mother Mrs Megna Girish, Col. Jojan Thomas' Wife Beena Thomas, Group Captain Ashwini Mandukot and his mother, Mrs Archana Rajput wife of Colonel Jaideep Singh Salaria, Mrs. Shakuntala Bhandarkar wife of Colonel Ajit Bhandarka and Mother of Navy officer Akshay Bhandarkar, spoke about their experiences and inturn their kin's drive to join Indian Army and Defence forces. 
An inspiring, priding pain meet ended with amazing dinner cooked by various people with love!
After the end of two hours, I came to yet another realization. It is indeed very very easy for people like you and me who live in the freedom given to us by brave soldiers to talk about battles and wars and intolerance.But the real pain of a soldier who fought in the battles, some of them who made supreme sacrifices, who lost their body parts, and those families who opened the doors to the coffins that had their loved ones, wrapped in the Tri Color Flag, the daughters and sons who grew up fatherless, the brave ladies who brought up every one in the family with bravery and guts... No we do not know any of these pains. No, we don't even know what is happening in the border or what happened during these wars. No, we don't care about the real heroes who are letting us live by dying a horrible death in the hands of enemies.
We must grow up to be a sensible human being and a responsible citizen to honor the supreme sacrifices of many many families out there.  Let us respect the sacrifice and try to teach our children their stories of bravery. Let us try to put the welfare of Nation first. Let us be the change that we want to see.
PS, The Flag that we are holding is a memorable Pride in Pain memoir, in which a hero came wrapped to his home. When I touched the flag, it was a perfect moment where tears welled in my eyes and I felt the pride of being An Indian. JAIHIND.

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