Many topics thought upon, drafts prepared...sometimes on paper, sometimes on the volatile human RAM, the mind...but the ink gotta have the density & intensity of blood to flow down the fingers & leave impressions forever...
Forever...nice word naa...signifying longevity...ever existence..across the time zones...eternal...But does anything last forever??? Reminds me of Gunz n Roses song "November Rain"..."Nothin lasts forever...even the cold november rain..." Nothing!!!!!!!!
And as I was whiling away my time, in an uneasy state of fever, fiddling with the TV channels, all of a sudden i realized that it was July 26...10 long years to Operation Vijay, 10 long years to our brave mens' victory at Kargil...10 years!!!!! How quickly have these years passed, for us...the countrymen of India, who were well protected by & given a chance to live, by the Brave, who stepped forward to lay down their lives for the protection of our motherland....how quickly!
With the images from 1999 conflict on, as Barkha Dutt took me thru a journey back into the times, everything was refreshed in my RAM...as if my Cache memory had jst received a surge of power...a reminder of the summer of 1999, when i was a std X young boy, fuming & busting with anger...with plans to strengthen the internal security of the nation, to face any eventuality with the enemy, floating in my eyes...a passion to support the armed forces in whatsoever capacity... I was taken back to the time when I had passionately written essays on Kargil conflict...the time when my eyes wud fill up with tears of pain, seeing every coffin being offloaded from army trucks...a summer probably which shud have been unforgettable...
Capt. Vikram Batra, Major Ajay Singh Jasrotia, Capt. Anuj Nayyar...the list goes on(http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/KARGIL/Page1.php)...the pics of those men of honour float in my eyes...most of them immortalized by the most popular method to remember them...Bollywood & movies...LOC (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LOC_Kargil)
wow...10 years huh...& then what happened??? did i lose touch...or is it alzheimer...what happened....thts the question I'm asking myself today...hasn't the Kargil war, or many such countless acts of sacrifice & valour, become just another event in our lives...these come & go...shake us for a minute, an hour, a day or two, max a month...we speak passionately about our duties towards the nation, the fellow countrymen, we feel united...we feel the adrenaline rushin thru the "patriotic" version of ours..."I'm an Indian...bla bla" & all tht stuff.....thtts it? And after tht, the life goes on...we come back to our same routines, with the same behavior & attitude towards the country (what man...the country & the system rott)...duties (huh...think of urself man...make big in life....), responsibilities (establish urself in life & earnmoney yaar....go abroad...I dont wanna settle here)...& mind u all, its no finger pointing...i'm equally to blame for & accept this.....
The same thing happened with me last year when the Mumbai terror attacks happened on Nov 26...i was charged & mad with anger....i cudnt take it anymore...i wanted to screw the ppl behind such attacks..."shit man...we the youth gotta do something...."I had even started a community on Orkut "India's 9/11:...."inviting the "thinkers" & the youth to do something for this nation...& thn...i fizzed out...fizzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzeddddddddddddddddddddd out...........lost in my own life & issues like Onsite (now i dont care a damn abt it), money etc...
The occurance of these unfortunate incidents acts as a reminder from Almighty to all of us...to see how small the life is....on the time horizon....it gives us a reason to connect with each other, not as ppl from a religion or country, but as humans...a reason to do something worth doing in this otherwise "wasted" human life....Do we realize that these events are thr to make us humble, show us tht death is the real truth of life...but more importantly, realize our duty towards the armed forces as well, who are also humans....who spend their lives for others...when they also have their families..kids ....just like ours....wt makes them more than a human....its their grit to walk a fine line of wht is personal & wt counts more...tht tooo wid the highest class of pride & honor...
Have u realized it ever....i kno it sounds great today coz i've watched a couple of patriotic programs today...so, i'll remember it for another day or so....but the day i do my bit for the armed forces, my life will be made....& i'll realize the higher meaning of my life........
"Shahidon ki mazaaron pe har baras lagte rahenge mele....
watan pe mar mittne waalon ka baaki yahin nishaan hoga..."
wishin tht we never forget what these men of honor did for us....I bow my head in full respect & salute the martyrs of Operation Vijay....
