Three words bought out the generational pain of belonging to a family of a martyr- of a soldier who laid his life down in the icy heights somewhere on indo Tibet border in 1961 .
I did not know who Richa Chaddha is who dared to mock our army’s commander on his assertion that army is capable of bringing back POJK territories . If today there is Richa , some time back Rahul Gandhi had offered Indian airforce pilots blood money . Some or the other person asks for proof of army valour, some call Army chief a gunda ,some call brave officers names . But now we will not take it laying down.
POJK is a Dejure part of India ,occupied by Pakistan post UN mandated cease fire ,an extremely strategic territory with parts of our heritage . I have no doubt our army could have taken all back ,had the ceasefire not been implemented .
This is the story of my Tauji , Yogesh Sharma , who I did not know as I was born years after he laid down his life in the line of duty . My parents were married years after his death .
My Tauji was unmarried ,so no children or widow to carry forward his memories . My dadi seldom spoke about him, my Bua’s seldom discussed him. But his loss was a constant companion in our home ,still is !
The China war was imminent and lots of brave young men had joined the army . My family had to leave everything back in Sialkot and had started to rebuild life in Meerut post 1947. My Tauji had joined the army - I do not know which regiment or which unit .
My grandfather was very angry with my Tauji having joined the army as he had expected him to be at home and rebuild lives . My grandmother loved him and asked him to come on leave as my youngest Bua’s marriage had been fixed .
Tauji came on a short leave, and his father did not speak to him. The younger sister asked him if there would be a war and he became somber . The wedding was around the corner , and he told his sister to choose a gold set for herself . Before my grandmom had fed him fully , a telegram to recall him came .
He promised his sister he would send her the cash for the set and told the family to carry on with the wedding . My Bua recalls that when he was leaving he kept on looking back at the family assembled at the gate ,lovingly , something he never did.
Sure enough, a money order came for jewellery, wedding took place without him. And one sad day a telegram reached home that Yogesh sharma has lost his life …no details ,nothing ! An army person came with a Kalash of his ashes - nothing more .
My grandmother could not believe it -she refused to accept the ashes . She asked that how would she know the ashes were of her son . No bodies were sent home that time ,no details were divulged about how the soldier lost his life - nothing but a Kalash of ashes ! For a long time my grandmother nurtured the hope that my Tauji was lost somewhere on border and would return. That never happened but the sense of loss and the pain was there ,is still there in our family .
We grew up with this pain, sense of loss and a pride that we belonged to a family who sacrificed a son for the nation. After my grandmother passed away, I found a newspaper cutting of the newspaper reporting his death . And recently after one of my Bua passed away I found one picture of him in her papers .
It is so easy for some unknown person, safe in india, having a career to say ‘ Galwan says Hi’ ,mocking the pain of thousand families ,mocking the deaths of so many young men! My Tauji could have stayed safe, but then someone else would have had to give up his life. Can we ever repay the debt owed to those standing guard at our borders?
First pic of my Tauji -Yogesh Chandra sharma
Second -Galwan saying Hi in July 1962
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