Monday 19 September 2016

Martyr next door

A small nondescript town in the dusty hinterlands of northern India, hogs the limelight every year without fail just because a specific national-level underachiever but state level legendary Netaji wants to celebrate a Mahotsav in his own den. All the celebrities travel all the way from the Maxim city to this small town. At the time of writing this article, celebrity status in India is still reserved for Bollywood Actors and Cricketers.
While all this brouhaha is in progress, a young man in his twenties loosens his grip on his INSAS rifle, moves a step back from his guard position, twists his stiff neck and plans to take a short break before he resumes his duty for another long vigil. His job requires him to put long hours of undivided attention and focus. He cannot afford to lose focus and a minor lapse can result into a grave mistake which may prove too costly. He does this and much more  as part of his daily routine and that too without any major expectations from anyone. In those highly dangerous trenches and deceptive valleys, he moves ahead with his battalion, his smaller closely knit unit which he values even more than his own family. Any life lost is a set back for the entire group and results into a morale drop which may be even more dangerous as the enemy they face is not obvious. Their enemy has a luxury to masquerade and also an added advantage to cry foul if rules are bent to nab it.

Still, that young man who is not even considered mature enough to stamp his authority in family matters, walks with courage in uncharted territories. The above narration is written to outline the stark difference in the way, we treat our fake and real heroes. If that young man decides to return to the safety of his home and abandons his post, we can't even think of the unimaginable situation that we would need to face. Our worry then will shift from Salman's new movie and share market profits and inflation to the basic survival tasks such as protecting our life and our loved one's life from invaders. That young man stands between us and our worst fears. When he does so much for us, can't we do out bit to help him feel confident enough that upon his call, his government, his fellow citizens will rise and back him up.
Recent attack on our armymen in URI sector is one more tight slap in our face and our adversaries have asked us the same question one more time. They have challenged us once again that we have killed that young boy who was protecting you, now will you send another boy from next to die or this time, you will do something differently. A measure response , a restrained strategy, all sounds logical explanations to not act strongly against our opponent. However, a country without its pride cannot scale the heights that we as a nation always dream of. I hope the bloated 56" inch chest would do something that we can tell our grand children with pride and even if the price of acting tough is too high, we should be prepared to pay it.
आटा और दाल सस्ती तो केजरीवाल भी कर देगा, मोदीजी आपसे कुछ अलग उम्मीदे है जनता की.