On the occasion of Republic Day, author Rachna Bisht recalls for City
Express, memories of her meetings with the three surviving winners of
Param Veer Chakra who will be marching on Rajpath today, their medals
proudly pinned on their chests. On republic day, three soldiers in the Indian Army will wear the Param
Veer Chakra; a gallantry award that the President also gets up to
salute.
And he will do it this Republic Day too when Subedar Major (Honorary
Captain) Bana Singh, PVC; Subedar Sanjay Kumar, PVC; and Subedar
Yogender Yadav, PVC, lead the parade down Rajpath to the sound of
marching bands, stomping boots, fluttering paper flags and cheering
citizens of the world’s largest democracy.
Today also happens
to be the day when Shoorveer- Param Veer Chakra Vijetaon Ki Kahaniyan,
the Hindi translation of my book The Brave- hits the stands.
In
all the wars it has fought since independence; right from the marauding
Lashkars of 1947 to the tragic unprepared event of 1962 to the glorious
victory of 1965 to the heroics of the young officers of Kargil who
walked up treacherous mountains with Insas rifles, unflinching in the
face of flying enemy bullets; India has recognised 21 Param Veers - the
bravest of the brave.
Most of these heroes did not come back alive
from the battlefield but we still have with us three who did. Which
makes their presence at the parade even more special and the fact that
we know who they are and what they did even more important.
The bravest of the brave
Subedar Major (Honorary Captain) Bana Singh, fought a battle at 21,153
feet in Siachen, where men find it difficult even to breathe, and pushed
back Pakistani intruders.
Subedar Yogender Yadav, defeated
death and crawled his way back to warn his battalion of Pakistani
presence, with 15 bullets lodged in his body, his mangled arm twisted
and tucked into his belt and Subedar Sanjay Kumar pulled out blazing
enemy machine guns with his bare hands so that his men could stage an
attack. And yet each time I expressed respect for their acts of bravery
all three told me the same thing: “It was our job; any soldier in our
place would have done the same.”
What I’d like to say about the 21
PVCs whose stories I was fortunate enough to get an opportunity to
write, is that they were brave men; just as every soldier is who goes to
the battlefield knowing that he might not come back.
The danger seeker
But
if you ask me to pick one who came closest to my heart, it will have to
be Capt Manoj Pande, PVC, who died at 24 years of age outside the last
bunker of Khalubar with his khukhri still in his hand.
Manoj came
from a poor family. When I interviewed his mother, she told me (breaking
into tears so many times) how he would not ask for new copies till he
had used up every bit of space on his notebooks; how he would darn his
clothes and never demand new ones since he knew his father was poor; how
he begged her to buy him a flute at a fair when he was three and which
he played tunes on till the time he left for Kargil never to return. Yet
he always wanted to be a soldier. During his stint at Siachen, he asked
to be sent to the toughest post; during the Kargil war he performed one
act of bravery after another.
He was amongst the first troops to reach there and would often climb up icy mountains using socks as gloves. He
put his life at risk to retrieve the bodies of fellow soldiers. He
performed these unparalleled acts of bravery one after the other, not
because he was looking for a reward but because he was born brave.
His
story convinced me that heroes don’t become heroes on the battlefield;
they are heroes since childhood; the battlefield just becomes a place
where this is proved in the eyes of the world.
Children need to be
exposed to the stories of these brave soldiers so they can find role
models for sacrifice in a generation increasingly turning materialistic.
Rachna Bisht Rawat’s book published last year chronicled
the tales of twenty-one of India’s bravest soldiers who were awarded
the Param Vir Chakra, India’s highest military decoration for valour in
the face of the enemy. It explored their lives through stories from
parents, siblings, children and comrades-in-arms and brought to life the
brutal hand-to-hand combat and the lonely deaths of these men. The
book, divided into eight sections, each underlying the wars and
operations India fought in post-1947, relies heavily on Army records. To
record these extraordinary stories, Rachna travelled across the
country, journeying to places that have literally fallen off the map.
This
year also marks the 50th anniversary of the 1965 Indo-Pak War which saw
three extraordinary men — CHM Abdul Hamid, Lt Col A.B. Tarapore and
Major Hoshiar Singh — being awarded the PVC, whose
life stories are
beautifully penned in this book.
On the occasion of Republic Day, publishers Penguin release the Hindi edition of the book titled
Shoorveer — Param Vir Chakra Vijetaon Ki Kahaniyan
translated by Rajender Singh Negi.
रचना बिष्ट रावत ने परमवीर चक्र से सम्मानित जांबाज फौजियों की कहानियों को एक किताब की शक्ल दी है. किताब का नाम है 'शूरवीर'. पेश है इस किताब का एक अंश.
खूबसूरत, मुस्कुराहट से भरी 40 वर्षीय डिंपल चंडीगढ़ के पंजाब स्टेट एजुकेशन बोर्ड स्कूल में काम करती हैं. वे कक्षा छह से 10वीं तक के बच्चों को सामाजिक ज्ञान और अंग्रेजी पढ़ाती हैं. दोपहर साढ़े-तीन बजे तक वे बच्चों के साथ व्यस्त रहती हैं. क्लास लेना, टेस्ट पेपर देखना और अगले दिन के पाठ की तैयारी करना. इस दौरान उनके पास फोन उठाने तक की फुर्सत नहीं होती. लेकिन घर वापस लौटने के बाद चाय पीते हुए, उन्होंने यह स्वीकार किया, पिछले 14 सालों में एक भी दिन ऐसा नहीं बीता है जब उन्होंने विक्रम को याद ना किया हो.
वे कहती हैं, चंडीगढ़ विक्रम की यादों से भरा पड़ा है. ‘जब मैं बस स्टॉप के पास से गुजरती हूं तो मुझे याद आता है कि मैं कैसे उन्हें यहां छोड़ा करती थी और वे कैसे जहां भी उन्हें जाना होता था बस पकड़ कर चले जाया करते थे. जब मैं यूनिवर्सिटी में होती हूं तो मुझे याद आता है कि कैसे मैंने उन्हें पहली बार नोटिस किया था, जब वे मेरे और एक लड़के के बीच आकर बैठ गए थे जो अस्वाभाविक रूप से मेरे करीब बैठने की कोशिश कर रहा था और उन्होंने धीरे से मुझे वहां से दूर हो जाने को कहा था. जब मैं नादा साहब गुरुद्वारे में होती हूं तो मुझे याद आता है कि कैसे एक बार उन्होंने मेरे साथ परिक्रमा की थी और कहा था कि ‘मुबारक हो, श्रीमती बत्रा हमने अपना चैथा फेरा पूरा कर लिया है और सिख धर्म के मुताबिक अब हम दोनों पति-पत्नी हैं. ’ जब मैं पिंजोर गार्डन्स में होती हूं तो मुझे याद आता है कि कैसे कश्मीर जाने से पहले उन्होंने अपनी जेब से एक ब्लेड निकाला था और उससे अपना अंगूठा काट कर खून से मेरी मांग भरी थी. मेरा डर दूर करने के लिए कि वे मुझसे ही शादी करेंगे कि नहीं.... ’
डिंपल और विक्रम कॉलेज के दिनों से एक-दूसरे से प्यार करते थे. पंजाब यूनिवर्सिटी में उन्होंने अभी एक-दूसरे के साथ कुछ ही महीने बिताए थे कि विक्रम इंडियन मिलिटरी अकादमी ज्वाइन करने के लिए चले गए. लेकिन उन्होंने आपस में संपर्क बनाए रखा और शादी करने का फैसला कर लिया था. विक्रम अगर कारगिल युद्ध से वापस लौट पाते तो यही उनका प्लान था. वे नहीं लौटे. डिंपल को एक दोस्त का फोन आया कि युद्ध में विक्रम बुरी तरह घायल हो गए हैं और उन्हें उनके माता-पिता को फोन करना चाहिए. जब वे पालमपुर पहुंचीं तो उनका पार्थिव शरीर लिए उनका ताबूत वहां पहुंच चुका था. मीडिया और स्थानीय लोगों की भीड़ जमा थी. उनके अंतिम संस्कार के लिए 25,000 से ज्यादा लोग वह एकत्रित हो गए थे. सिर्फ पालमपुर से नहीं बल्कि आसपास के शहरों जैसे बैजनाथ, पपरोला और नगरोता से भी लोग आए थे.
‘मैं नजदीक नहीं गई. वहां बहुत से मीडिया के लोग थे और मैं वहां रो कर तमाशा खड़ा नहीं करना चाहती थी.’ वे अपने भाई का हाथ पकडे़ दूर से ही उनका अंतिम संस्कार होते देखती रहीं. विक्रम के माता-पिता ने भीड़ में सलवार-कमीज पहने उस लड़की को देख लिया था लेकिन वे खुद इतने दुखी थे कि उन्होंने यह पता लगाने की कोशिश नहीं की कि वह कौन है. वे वापस चंडीगढ़ लौट आई और यह फैसला किया कि किसी और से शादी करने की बजाए वे विक्रम की यादों के सहारे ही अपना जीवन बिता देंगी.
‘वे कमाल के मौज मस्ती करने वाले शख़्स थे. वे बहुत सुंदर भी थे. उन्हें लोगों के काम आना अच्छा लगता था. लेकिन जो बात मुझे उन्हें भूलने नहीं देती वह यह है कि वे मेरे सबसे अच्छे दोस्त थे जिनके साथ मैं अपनी अंतरंग भावनाएं बांट सकती थी और यह उम्मीद कर सकती थी कि वे मुझे समझेंगे,’ उन्होंने कहा, कभी-कभी जब वे घड़ी की तरफ देखती हैं और उसमें शाम के साढ़े-सात बज रहे होते हैं और दिन बुधवार या रविवार होता है तो आज भी उनके दिल की धड़कन रुक जाती है. युद्ध पर जाने से पहले चार साल तक वे चाहे कहीं भी हों सप्ताह में दो बार इसी समय फोन किया करते थे.
‘वे पालमपुर, देहरादून, सोपोर या दिल्ली कहीं भी हो सकते थे लेकिन उनका फोन बिना नागा इसी समय आया करता था, और मैं भी उस वक्त फोन के करीब ही मंडराती रहती थी ताकि मेरे पिता द्वारा फोन उठाने से पहले मैं उठा लूं,’ उन्होंने उदास मुस्कान के साथ बताया. अब फोन उनके लिए उनके वक्त पर नहीं बजता और जब बजता भी है तो उससे विक्रम की जानी पहचानी आवाज नहीं आती. वे फोन जरूर करते लेकिन अब वे जहां गए हैं वहां फोन नहीं होते.
There could not be a better tribute to the brave sons of our country than the Param Vir Chakra Memorial at Marina Park, which was dedicated to the Nation by none other than the Lt Governor of A&N Islands, Lt Gen A K Singh (Retd). At a function at the Marina Park today, the Lt. Governor unveiled the beautiful memorial which carries pictures and details of all 21 Param Veer Chakra awardees. The First Lady of these Islands, Smt Suneeti Singh, Member of Parliament, Shri Bishnu Pada Ray, Smt Rupa Ray, the Commander–in-Chief A&N Command, Vice Admiral Pradeep Kumar Chatterjee, Chief Secretary, Shri Anand Prakash and the Chairperson PBMC, Shri K Ganeshan, besides PBMC councillors, PCC President, Shri Kuldeep Rai Sharma, senior officers of the Defence and Civil Administration were present.
Addressing the gathering on the occasion, the Lt Governor complimented the team of PBMC for developing an exquisitely designed memorial in the precincts of Marina Park. He said this memorial will serve as an inspiration through the bravery, valour and the supreme sacrifice made by India's brave sons. The Lt Governor said that Param vir Chakra is awarded to the personnel of Armed Forces for most conspicuous bravery or pre-eminent act of valour or self sacrifice made in the presence of the enemy whether on land, at sea or in the air.
The Lt Governor opined that being a soldier is a most honourable way of serving the Nation. And in the profession of Arms the PVC awardees are the most exalted/ultimate heroes.
The Lt. Governor said the National Memorial Cellular Jail is a mute testimony to the sacrifices made by our freedom fighters in the pre-independence period while the PVC memorial will remind the people about the bravery and sacrifice of our brave hearts in the post Independence era. The Lt. Governor described the patriotic feelings and the nationalistic fervour prevailing among the islanders as unmatched. He also narrated few lines of the song of the Army i.e “kadam Kadam Badaye ja khusi ke geet gaye ja …. Ye zindagi hai Kaum ki tu Kaum pe mitaye ja”…
The Lt Governor narrated some of the exploits and his interactions with the PVC heroes. He also narrated the chetwoode motto, which is a guide for all Army officers: The chetwoode Motto: “The safety, honour and welfare of your country come first always and everytime; the honour, welfare and comfort of the men you command comes next; your own case, comfort and safety come last, always and everytime”. The Lt Governor concluded his speech by saying “on behalf of the Islanders, I salute these brave hearts, the ultimate heroes of our Nation”.
The Lt Governor also released an information brochure brought out by the PBMC, giving details of various services offered.
In his address on the occasion, the Member of Parliament, Shri Bishnu Pada Ray expressed his happiness over the erection of the memorial which was so aptly conceived by out Lt Governor and which will always inspire the youth of these Islands about the brave soldiers of our country, some of who had made supreme sacrifices to the cause of the motherland. The MP enlightened the gathering about the historical past of the Gymkhana ground, currently Netaji Stadium, where Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose unfurled National Tri - colour declaring these Islands independent from the shackles of the Britishers. He also appreciated the PBMC for bringing out the Information brochure which mentioned a clear cut time frame about the services to be provided to the city dwellers.
In his speech on the occasion, the Commander–in-Chief A&N Command, Vice Admiral Pradeep Kumar Chatterjee also expressed his happiness on setting up the PVC memorial glorifying the brave hearts of the Armed Forces. He said the site selected for the memorial is pristine and apt. The CINCAN further stated that PVC is the highest gallantry award for the country. He noted with appreciation that patriotism is entrenched in the DNA of the Islanders and with the construction of memorial, the Islanders have shown their respect to the valiant men of the Armed Forces.
The Chief Secretary, Shri Anand Prakash described the occasion as a momentous one. These Islands are deeply associated with the freedom struggle and the PVC memorial at the Marina Park is surely going to inspire the young generation and the tourists as well, the Chief Secretary added.
Param Vir Chakra Memorial Dedicated to the Nation
Welcoming the chief guests and others present on the occasion, the Chairperson PBMC, Shri K Ganeshan said that the sacrifices made by the freedom fighters to the cause of the motherland has made these Islands a place of pilgrimage. He further said that PBMC team had worked hard to actualise the vision of our Lt Governor. The function concluded with the vote of thanks proposed by the Secretary PBMC, Shri S P Singh.
