Sukla Soumi

"Ya to tiranga lehrake aunga, Ya tirange me lipta chala aunga Lekin wapas zaroor aunga" ~ Captain Vikram Batra (PVC) June, 1999. I had a very little idea about a war. At that time, the war of Kurukshetra was the only war I had heard of. From my father I always used to take pride of him ( I still do), and had a vague idea that he must be doing something brave. And that's all. I had no idea what war can do to a country or to a family or to a person. What it takes in reality to fight for a country not looking back. As defence has this rule that the servicemen are not always allowed to disclose their location, especially during an emergency situation like war, we were more or less habituated. All we did during that time was watch the DD national and get the updates. On a day of July , a certain picture caught my eyes. A 20-something face with sharp features was there on the newspaper. How all they look similar? I thought. Captain Vikram Batra, the description below read. Is he dead? For a moment I couldn't believe this. I couldn't believe how a person with those eyes could be dead? What I couldn’t realise that day was , it was not the features, it was not the body but it was the heart and the soul which was similar in every soldier. He was a twenty four years old brave, young man who had all the strength to carry my country on his soldier, he was the Lion Heart who never settled on any less, because "ye dil mange more". "I will come back for sure." Yes, indeed he came back. As I grew up, I read a lot about him. Even talked to people in kargil who knew him. And the feeling of then is still the same. A soldier with those eyes can't be dead.