Friday, 10 February 2012

Paying Respect at Kargil War Memorial



Many of us have seen film ‘Lakshya’ starring Hritik Roshan, Preeti Zinta and AB. In the film, it is shown that some shepherds notice infiltrators from Pakistan and report the same to Indian army. In other scene, we see bodies of ‘5’ Indian soldiers who were tortured to death by Pakistanis. We all watch this thinking them to be just the fictional parts of the film, not knowing that these are the actual incidences which took place on May 03 and May 05 1999, respectively.  Our country is permanently indebted to those shepherds and the five brave soldiers.
Though it is very well known to all, I feel I have to state some details about the Kargil War. The war was fought between May 03 and July 26, 1999. Since then, July 26 is celebrated as Kargil Vijay Divas. The major offensive by Indian army started on 06 July, 1999. Indian Air Force lost one MIG21, One MIG27 and one M17 and total 8 crew members, during Operation Safed Sagar.  Total 30000 Indian troops were involved in Kargil war. The official casualty figures as 527 dead and 1,363 wounded.
Two years back, I and my wife were on our road trip, Mumbai-Leh-Mumbai. The trip was stretched over 35 days and 7000kms in our sweet little Tata Indica. We were on our Srinagar-Sonmarg-Kargil section. The completely unadulterated nature, lofty peaks, chill in the air, constant company of Indus River and everything else about the drive was divine. The complete loneliness, isolation and the thoughts of being so near to the line of control (LOC) was little scary. Naturally, we were discussing Kargil War and bravery of our soldiers. As we were approaching kargil, suddenly on the left hand side, emerged this beautiful ‘DRAS WAR MEMORIAL’.  

 (This wall has names of martyrs engraved on it)

 I got down asking the guard at the gate if we could go inside, while my wife parked the car, in tree shade. (One can see me wearing shorts, standing near the guard)
We were allowed inside. We were also given a guide to explain the details of the war and significance of the memorial. There, a wall is erected on which the names of all the martyrs are engraved. We were moved. We stood in front of the wall for a while, with our heads bowed down with respect and gratitude for those who gave away their lives so that people like us can enjoy our freedom.  Then, we were escorted to the room where “Shahid Kalash’ (Ashes of Martyrs) was kept.

(Shri.Ombir Singh, who was our guide, needs special mention. We could feel his intense feelings when he was narrating the entire war to us)

It was our most natural reaction to remove our foot wares and to pay our most heartfelt respect by touching our foreheads on ground in front of “Kalash”.  Our actions were noticed by the commanding officer who was standing in the next room. He called us to his cabin and offered us some snacks and a warm cup of tea. We were surprised to receive such hospitability, and wondered if they offer such treatment to everyone who visits the memorial.  Our doubts were soon cleared when he said,” Saab, many people come here. They move around, take photographs, joke and laugh, touch a few things here and there and leave. They treat this place as one of the sightseeing spot they have to visit and no more. This is the first time I am seeing somebody paying honest, heartfelt respect to my dead brothers.”

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