FORCES (Gaurav Negi)

In April 2007 I met Mr S S Gandhi at his residence in Vasant Kunj in New Delhi. Mr S S Gandhi is the authour of book “Portraits of Valour”. This book has information on all gallantry awards of pre and post independence India with details of all individuals who have been honoured with gallantry awards post independence. During the meeting I came to know that Mr Vijay Anand had picked up material from this book for his TV serial “Param Vir Chakra” that was aired on Doordarshan in 1980s.Armed with this bible of my “Gods in Uniform” I started my search for my first God. Shaheed Major Padmapani Acharya was honoured with the Mahavir Chakra after Operation Vijay in Kargil in 1999. He was a resident of Hyderabad. Having known his fathers’s and wife’s name now I had to search for their phone nos. I looked out for these names in the BSNL directory and finally I found them. That was June 2007.We met Shaheed Major Acharya’s wife, daughter, father and mother for the first time at their residence in

Today was a BIG day. Today I spoke over phone with Shri Narpat Singh. Shri Narpat Singh is the son of Shaheed Major Shaitan Singh, Param Vir Chakra. During the India-China war , Major Shaitan Singh led Charlie Company of 13 Kumaon Regiment at Rezang La against the Chinese on the night of 17-18 November 1962. They were just 115 in number and the Chinese were an un-ending number. No one fought as gloriously as these men who defended their position to the last man and the last bullet. Their bodies were recovered three months later in February 1963 when the Himalayan snow melted. Every single jawan was found dead in his trench, each had several bullets or splinter wounds, still holding their weapons. Broken light machine guns bore witness to intensity of enemy fire. Jemadar Hari Singh was found with a bandage on his head, when recovered was still in crouching position. The brave medical orderly, Dharam Pal had gone from section to section to attend the wounded. He was still holding a morph

Date: 25 August 2007 Dear Rohin, You are the first one to have visited my website and it was very nice to receive your message saying that you wish to read the book on Shaheed Bhagat Singh. I am sending this book to you. This is for you. It is only because of patriots like Shaheed Bhagat Singh that today we are living in a free India. 27th September 2007 happens to be the birth centenary of Shaheed Bhagat Singh. Freedom once acquired has to be preserved and the Indian Armed Forces have always gone beyond the call of duty to protect our freedom. I am not lucky enough to have seen my Hindu Gods but I have been luckier to have met the wife, daughter and parents of one of my ‘Gods in uniform’---- Major Padmapani Acharya. In 1999 Major Acharya was posthumously honoured with the Mahavir Chakra, the second highest gallantry award in India. Major Acharya was a resident of Hyderabad. Major Acharya has a seven year old daughter who was born two months after her father passed away in June 1999. T

Dear India, I love you! My son is three years old. Everyone says he looks just like me. He calls himself “Papa’s lion”. I love him and would do everything possible to see him grow in life and to be a big man. I remember the days when I was studying in class three. That must be the year 1984. I had a navy blue coloured T-Shirt, a navy blue necker/ shorts, navy blue socks, navy blue shoes and a navy blue cap. Every afternoon after returning from school, I would put on these navy blue clothes and feel as if I was a part of the Indian Navy. I presumed that this shade of blue is called ‘navy blue’ because officers and sailors of the Indian Navy dress up in uniforms of this colour. I remember even saluting my fictitious fellow officers of the Indian Navy ! Had I really been with the Navy then, I would have already retired as an Admiral by now!!! India, I love you! Years later in the year 2009, I re-lived this dream in Vishkapatnam at the Navy Day function. The Indian Navy celebrates ‘The Nav