He could not make it ……..
It
must have been around 11.00 yesterday at night I was online, reading and responding to the
readers of my blog, postings by friends, I casually logged on to the facebook
to see the first post, it was from Rakesh Tripathi, one of my student who opted
for unconventional career and joined army. Now major and doing M.Tech at IIT
Pawai. The post was the photo feature of last journey of Lt. Sushil Khajuria. A
young man of 26 made supreme sacrifice in Jammu and Kashmir while fighting highly
trained infiltrators from across the border on 27 September. He fought bravely
in the difficult terrain, killed two terrorists but fell to the enemy bullets while
retrieving a wounded colleague. I went through the last journey photos, the coffin
with his name, the wreath laid down by army men, inconsolable family, the
father, brothers, sister, the villagers, the showering of flowers, the gun
salute and finally flames, a brave son of India makes his departure never to
return but not before ensuring safety of motherland.
It
was emotionally squeezing, everything from heart beats to eyes all were at
work, didn’t want to speak to anybody for I could not have. For the whole night
the pictures of Lt. Sushil holding his gun, at passing out parade with father
and brother and of the last journey followed by comments of condolences,
respect, bereavements…. were chasing me. I was restless. He was just 26 and was
to marry next year. An engineer by education opted for the 18 grenadiers. His
brother is also in the army. He was from Samba district of Jammu and Kashmir. Youngest
of family always wanted to join army. Commissioned in the army only on March
20, 2010, he was cremated with full military honour only after one and half
years.
How can these men be like this? No fear,
only valour. Love for the family but country is supreme, their dream martyrdom,
want to make the family proud of their bravery. They are of different stuff. From
the childhood they show signs that they are a different lot. They join the
armed forces to fulfill the dream of serving the nation and never hesitate to
face bullets. It is so difficult to map their mind when in the line of duty but
may be easy because of their dedication, devotion and discipline, all focused
on call of duty.
Immediately after his sacrifice the page on
Facebook appeared with lots of respect, full of patriotic comments, all expressing
grief but saluting him for his ultimate service, expressing to the family the feelings
of the thankful nation and all are with the family. As usual the political
apathy continued as no minister could spare time to attend his last rites and
pay tribute. Are we giving to much importance to them? Let them do what they
want to in the best tradition of their insensitivity, we will show in whatever
small way we can to the family of Lt. Sushil that the nation deeply respects their
immortalized son. This blog is a small attempt to pay tribute to this young
fighter.
On his Facebook account Lt. Sushil’s friend Vikas
Hans has posted: “One day when a bullet gets stuck in my heart and I lay down
my life for my country, pin my medals on my chest and say to my mom that her
son was a brave man. These words were written by my friend Sushil on a simple
page of my copy nearly six years ago. Who knew he gonna prove this today. I am
proud to be your friend. I love you my brother. Missing u.”
While briefing
the media about the battle that lasted for more than 48 hours, the officials
said that they killed five terrorists in close battle. In the search operation havaldar
Ravi Kumar was hit and Lt. Sushil volunteered to evacuate Ravi Kumar. But he
couldn’t make it. Yes, he couldn’t make it there but he did make it to the
heart of India by his supreme sacrifice, to the list of men we are proud of, to
the list of men who faced bullets for our safety, to the list of men nation is
thankful to and ultimately to the league of Capt. Vikram Batra, Capt. Manojkumar
Pandey, Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan….. exceptional, brave, immortalized sons of India.
Salute to Lt. Sushil Khajuria.
Report in tribune
Sir a very touching post from you.It's nice to know that people of India still value their brave Martyrs.It was indeed touching that you spared thoughts and effort to post this blog.
ReplyDeleteHatts off to you sir. The last paragraph is the best part of it.
ReplyDeleteSalute to Lt. Sushil Khajuria..
ReplyDeletebravery never falls.. salute to Lt. Sushil Khajuria..
ReplyDelete