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bhaavna arora has three best-selling books to her credit—The Deliberate Sinner, Mistress of Honour and Love Bi the Way.
That a young boy, with stars in his eyes and enthusiasm in every act, was struck down in the prime of his life is a reminder that the problem of Kashmir concerns all of us and to solve it is our collective responsibility.
Ummer Fayaz has not died but has faded away beyond the horizon.
One day, Jameela, watching her infant son kick his legs in the air, called out to her father, ‘Abbu, I just realised that Ummer is already a month-old today.’ Her father said, with the expression of a philosopher, ‘No, Jameela. Every life has an end … we just don’t know when. So Ummer has already lost one month of his life.’
When death claims your dearest ones, anger takes root in the mind and grows like an incurable disease that eventually consumes you.
There are many things we take for granted, and freedom tops the list. In a country like India, surrounded by hostile neighbours, that freedom is bought with the lives of the soldiers who guard it. Dearly bought, for lives are priceless.
I had learnt early in my career as a writer to offer a blank slate to people, especially when information is key to a particular story. By doing so, you allow people to fill it up with their own unique perspective—their version of events.
‘Memory is selective and temporary. So much happens in this country each day and often people barely take a day to forget and move on. But can you ever forget this? No! Consider this my attempt to immortalise his story in words. I want his life to be an inspiration for the youth of Kashmir and our nation.’
Captain Vijayant Thapar. The emotional ‘last letter’ he wrote to his family from the Kargil front had moved the entire nation.
Read the letter
We mourn the martyrdom of our soldiers, but there really is no better way to meet death than by laying your life down for the motherland.
‘It is glory to die doing one’s duty.’
‘What’s sadder is that you use your power only in defence, after you’ve lost a few. Being defensive, the best you can hope for is a tie. Never a win. History is proof,’
‘But the truth is that no one has even won anything by being offensive either. History yet again is proof.’
‘Peace is not in the hands of the defender, ma’am. It is always in the hands of the aggressor. India’s defence budget is only 1.17 per cent of its GDP whereas Pakistan spends 2.81 per cent of its total GDP on the defence sector. Why do they need this kind of money for defence when we have never initiated a war with Pakistan till date?’
‘Commerce can exist between anyone, unlike deeper affiliations. If we can’t attain peace through religion, perhaps we should focus on commerce. Let economics erase a divisive history.’
* https://www.captainvijyantthapar.com/lastletter.html
Letter
When Hiroshima and Nagasaki were attacked with an atom bomb, they did not react by hurling an atom bomb back at the US. Instead, they focused on redevelopment and replaced the war industries with foreign trade, ship-building and fishing. They put phenomenal hard work into rebuilding their nation. And they took a lot of help and support from the United States!’
War helps none
‘I think you should all study and make a career for yourself that you can bank on. If you fight guns with guns, you’ll only end up dead. If you’re peaceful and if you stop protesting, the Army will have no reason to be here. Someone has to start.’
‘Ma’am, I didn’t want you to leave Kashmir with a bad opinion about us. We treat our guests like we treat God. When you go back, say nice things about us.’ Ahmed said with folded hands and it made me very emotional.
‘Ma’am, if we leave this place to them, it’ll be mayhem. We’ve spent a lot of money building infrastructure in this state. The militants will blow it all up in a day. They don’t really care for the state or its people. Their crazy ideology is all that matters to them. These gun-toters want to bring in Sharia law. They know a democratic country like India is governed by its constitution, not religious laws. But they have zero regard for the constitution and for law enforcement.
the poem ‘If’ by Rudyard Kipling had been framed and hung on the wall. Ummer
Poem
Ayush Joshi, a lanky cadet, was asked to crack a joke instead. ‘I couldn’t crack a joke even if I tried, sir,’ pleaded Ayush. ‘Why not?’ ‘Because I don’t have a hammer, sir,’ he said, delivering his punchline with great comic timing.
‘This problem will not end. No real victory is achieved even by victors of a war. There is only the stench of death. This war is in the minds of the people. One has to change their minds.’
On wr
‘Kisi ko reservation chahiye toh kisiko azadi bhai, humein kuch nahin chahiye bhai bas apni razai
‘Now imagine that your father is able to just leave her and your family one fine day by invoking the triple talaq. Would that be okay with you?’
Ummer was humbled; it was a deep lesson indeed. He understood now why he was punished when he wasn’t the one smuggling pen drives and why his team-mates were penalised when he couldn’t maintain the squad formation. A lot changed in him after that. Profoundly. He had understood what it meant to work as a team for a much greater cause.
‘I hereby solemnly swear that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of India, as by law established and that I will, as in duty bound honestly and faithfully, serve in the regular Army of the Union of India and go wherever ordered, by land, sea or air, and that I will observe and obey all the commands of the President of the Union of India and the commands of any officer set above me, even to the peril of my life.’
Oath
