It's almost a year past. A letter from a village in the state of Himachal Pradesh came to the MoD. The writer introduces himself as school teacher and puts forward a request. It said, "My son had died a heroic death in the Kargil War and the date of his death is falling on 07 Jul 2000. On that day, he and his wife would like to see the place where his son died. It's okay if you can't, if it is against national security then I'm willing to withdraw my request".
The department officer who read the letter said, "It does not matter whatever the cost, I'll pay (If not paid by the department) from my salary to bring the teacher and his wife to the place where the boy had died and an order was issued accordingly.
On the Remembrance Day of the deceased hero, the elderly couple was brought to the ridge with due respect. When the father was taken near the place where his son had fallen, everyone who was on duty stood erect and saluted.
There was only one soldier, with a hand full of flowers, bowed and sprinkled them on the teacher's feet and rubbed his eyes and then he stood upright and saluted like everyone else.
The teacher was stunned and said, "You are a great officer.....why should you touch my feet and worship? Like the others you could have saluted and I would have greeted you in return....!"
"No sir. Here I am slightly different from the others ie. everyone who have been here on duty and posted less than a year or so".
"I was with your son who fought with the Pakistanis on this same mountain ridge in the same regiment and the one who saw your son's heroism live on the field. and not only that...."he stopped for a moment.
The teacher took the JCO's hand and said, "Tell me.....without any fear....I will not cry...." I know you will not cry, sir.....but I should not cry'na....." the JCO continued.....
"That's where the Pakistanis were shooting hundreds of bullets per minute with their HMG. Five of us advanced up to a distance of thirty feet and we were just lurking behind that rock to watch. The Pakistanis were also on the verge of retreating and saw the rock(us). Just, if they were able to see us (a bit of a leg, hand or even our kit) was enough to splatter the bullets on us. Indians' progress in the scale of a Brigade strength was yet to begin. We didn't know what to do.....then...." The JCO sighed a little.
"What happened....? the teacher enquired...the JCO continued....."Their shooting will go on...no point in wasting time......I am going to do the 'death charge' from this 30 feet....ie., I am going to take their bullets on me and run to the bunker and throw the grenade. After destroying it, you all capture their bunker and I was about to run towards their bunker with the grenade".
"That's when your son looked at me. "Are you crazy? Your wife and children are depending on you and I'm still unmarried. I will do the death charge and you do the covering" and without waiting for an answer, he ran on the 'death charge' after taking the grenade forcibly from me.
"Bullets shattered down like rain from the Pakistani HMG. Your son dogged over and reached the Pakistani bunker and took the pin of the grenade and threw it right into the bunker and sent 13 Pakistanis to death. HMG was paralysed and the area came under our control".
"I was the first to lift and evacuate your son's body. He had 42 bullets in his body, sir. I lifted his head in my hand, only then did he take his last breath. I asked my superior to give me the responsibility of bringing your son's coffin to your village but someone else was assigned that duty as my presence was needed here for doing another important duty."
"Maybe if I had the privilege of bringing the coffin, I would have put these flowers at his feet. I couldn't but I have the privilege of putting these flowers at your feet", the JCO ends with a sigh.
The teacher's wife had covered her mouth with her sari and cried silently. The teacher didn't cry.
Now it's time to know.......
The Kargil hero's name : Captain Vikram Batra
His father : Girdhari Lal Batra
His mother : Kamal Kanta
These people are our real heroes!
Tailpiece.
Got up at 6, the chores and had breakfast before the bath. A quiet day.
Participated in a webinar : "Cloudful of Stories" - A Story telling session by Vikram Sridhar from Madras from 1800 - 1900 hrs.
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