“The Kargil war has commenced,” A newspaper headline said.
The line forced the forehead of many families to form wrinkles. There was panic among the citizens and tension prevailed in the whole country. Family of soldiers was the worst affected by the news. Each and every citizen prayed for the soldiers who were facing a grim battle against the enemy. The fear swept across the country among the family of soldiers who were the most anxious about the war. The war snatched away their sleep, they smiled in front of everyone, but no one knew the thoughts that whirled deep in their heads. They waited for the phone call every day, but it never came. Those few days looked like a million years to them. Every time a picture of the battle came in front of their eyes, which shook their bodies and numbness overpowered their heads. On one hand, the families were facing a serious battle and on the other hand their loved ones were fighting for the country.
The sound of constant gun fires and bombs being dropped in the pious mountains of Ladakh from both sides. The air was filled with smoke and the field was filled with bomb shells all over the place. There were few wounded soldiers that lay on the snow capped mountains that stand there. The war turned out to be very laborious because of rough terrain and harsh natural habitat. The dropping temperatures at night added more problems to the situation.
“The firing is heavy,” Sandeep said with a perturbed look.
“But, we have to fight,” Rakesh replied.
As the enemy was sitting on high altitudes which made it easier for them to attack from the top. This made the soldiers to remain alert all the time on the Line of Control. Pin drop silence for some time and then bullets come again flying from the top like some tiny supersonic rockets. This thing became monotonous after a while, but Sandeep kept fighting along with Rakesh. Heavy bombing started from the enemy side which took lives of many soldiers.
Sandeep was sitting with Rakesh behind a large rock so that no gun fires could hit them. They were breathing heavily due to dropping oxygen levels at that height. They were together from the day they joined NCC and cleared the Indian Army exam together. Rakesh was more like a brother for him and his family also knew him. He was a frequent visitor to their home because he misses his parents who met with an accident few years back. They both shared their grief and happiness, they both shared their joy, and they both shared their things, their food, their clothes and everything. They were not friends; they were brothers. They discussed about the imprudent things that they did in the past which made them laugh. As gun fires tend to descend so Rakesh said,
“Can we move forward?”
“I think so,” Sandeep said with a confident look.
They started crawling so that the enemy couldn’t get a glance of them. They were about to reach the top where they could attack and destroy the enemy base camp to register a victory for their battalion. As they ascended nearer, the enemy opened the fire. They revolted back and their cunning techniques made them to reach there. More heavy fire was deployed on them and they fought hard, but from nowhere, a bomb came and exploded at some distance apart. The explosion was so hard that made them deaf for a moment and they fell on the ground with a bang. Soon Sandeep got up and saw Rakesh howling with excruciating pain.
He ran towards him and he could see him with no legs. He was shocked for a moment, stood their numb with his eyes open and a tear came out from one corner of the eye and reached his lips. But Rakesh’s howl brought him out of the numbness and he picked him up on his shoulders and descended down. Soon, he was taken on a stretcher to the medical base camp by the group of soldiers. He became unconscious but Sandeep constantly pumped him up to not close his eyes. The tears kept flowing but he was adamant for saving his brother with whom he shared everything, even his family. Soon they reached the camp and his atrocious condition made doctors to come in action swiftly. They operated him but he lost his legs.
The Kargil war took more than 60 days to get over which resulted in large number of deaths on both sides and endless injuries that soldiers suffered which made them face hard time in the future. But the great thing was that India won. Soon, Rakesh gained consciousness and saw Sandeep sitting beside him.
“Did we win?”
“Yes!” Sandeep said with a satisfactory smile.
There was a glow on his face, it seemed like he forgot all his pain because country’s pride was far more superior; his personal atrocities could be ignored. The soldiers were felicitated for the victory. Newspapers were flooded with Heroes of Kargil and a wave of happiness swept across the whole country. The victory was like a festival for all the citizens and they danced with their heart out.
Rakesh was jovial with the victory but he had deep condolences for the soldiers who lost their body part in the war because he could completely understand their situation.
Soldiers take responsibility to save their country, its people and its pride without any selfishness. They don’t want the same from whole country but at least they expect this selfless behavior from their families. Sandeep was sanguine that his family has that selflessness attitude that they will take care of Rakesh as he has no family to look after him.
So he called home,
“Hello Mom,”
Mother jumped with joy and there were tears in her eyes.
“How are you Son?” mother asked.
“I’m fine,”
“I need a permission, it’s just a formality because I know you won’t deny”
“Yeah! Go on Son”
“Mom! You know Rakesh?”
“Yes”
“He lost his legs in the war. So can I bring him home as he has no family to look after him?”
There was a pin drop silence on the other side and after collecting all her strength.
“No! We can’t take his responsibility and you also shouldn’t”
He was shocked and cried hard. He hugged Rakesh tightly and said,
“I lost today”
Sandeep never went home after that and he devoted his life for Rakesh and all other soldiers like him who have no family to look after them.
