By Aditi Simlai Tiwari
It has been 10 years since Operation Vijay. The Kargil conflict that literally brought war to the living rooms of India is long over, and for most of the people of the country long forgotten.
But today the guns are silent on the beautiful slopes of Kargil. The calmness though is superficial. The area is teeming with troops. All along the Line of Control in the Batalik-Kargil-Drass sector, both Indian and Pakistani troops are manning impossible border posts, several of them located at heights of over 18,000 feet that remain snowbound throughout the year. And this is only one area of our border. The armed forces and paramilitary mans border outposts across Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and the North Eastern States. India shares 14,000 kilometers of land frontier with six nations: Pakistan, China, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, and Burma. That is a lot of land to be protected and requires many men and man hours
Married as I am to an Indian army officer, words such as war, terrorism, Pakistan, China, enemy, and in contrast words like peace-keeping, winning hearts and minds, duty, loyalty, country, national pride etc., are not mere words, they are the fabric of my family. We in the armed forces cannot forget Kargil, Operation Parakram in 2002, and endless unrecorded deployments, moves and separations.
My children have learnt to live with the fact that daddy is not always around. He has to go to the forward areas, generally termed as “field.” They understand the pain of losing a loved one. They understand that while other children always have both parents in attendance at all school functions and PTMs, they will only have Ma in attendance. And what makes me so proud of them as a parent is that they never crib about it. In fact they are proud of their parents, one for doing his duty to an entity called the nation, which they really can’t comprehend at ages 7 and 4, and another for holding the fort, quite literally at times on the home front.
The country is by and large unaware of the hardships that these soldiers face while discharging their duties. Doing ones’ duty for the nation requires troops to stay away from their wives, children and parents for long periods. In stations where families are permitted, peace time duties do take away from quality time with families. Added to this is the disparity of pay, especially for the officer cadre when compared to jobs in the corporate sector.
This independence day as the nation celebrates its freedom, let’s learn what Independence and freedom mean for a few of our soldiers and their families.
“Independence Day means making flags with Papa,” 5 year old Piyush, son of Maj Sagar Singh.
“This year I won’t celebrate Independence Day. Papa is not here with us, I am not feeling happy” 7 year old Diya whose father Lt Col Sharma is away on a deployment.
“Hum azaad hain…biwi bachchon ke saath hain, aur hamein kya chahiye? Mujhe yah naukri achhi lagti hai. Haan kaafi bahar rahta hoon, par gaon mein bahut izzat hai” Naik Prem Bahadur. (We are independent, I am living with my wife and children. What else do I want? I like my job. Yes, sometimes I have to stay away from my family, but I am highly respected back at my village.)
“Achha jiwan hai, ghar hai, husband saath hain, ek saal aur yahan rahenge, phir husband border duty par jaenge, main sasural jaoongi. Azadi itni mushkil se mili thhi hamein. Kisi ko to uski rakhwali karni hai. Mujhe garw hain ki mera pati hamare desh ki rakhwali karta hai,” Mrs Usha Rani, wife of Havaldar PK Mishra. (It’s a good life, I have a house, am with my husband, I will get to stay with him another year. Then he has to go on border duty and I will go and stay with my in-laws. We got our freedom after a lot of struggle. Someone has to protect it. I am proud that my husband protects our country.)
“Mere Papa soldier hain, who bahut strong hain, mujhe apne kandhe par lekar ghoom sakte hain, unhe gun bhi chalana aata hai. Main Papa se bahut pyar karta hoon,” 6 year old Yash, son of Rifleman Yog Raj. (My father is a soldier, he is very strong, he can carry me on his shoulders, and he even knows how to fire a gun. I love my Papa very much.)
These then are a few sentiments of soldiers and families of the Indian Army. For them independence is not something that is celebrated once a year. It is not celebrated by just hoisting the national flag, listening to speeches or eating sweets. It is celebrated every day, with every breath they take. Independence is an ongoing saga for them. A sacrifice that the nation demands, and they are more than willing to give. For them the words “When you go home, tell them of us, that we gave our today, for their tomorrow” are not mere words, it is life.
We salute the brave Indian soldier, his quietly strong wife, his supportive parents, and his aspiring, optimistic children.
Jai Hind.
