The Indian soldier- Lost in the sands of time, is he?

They justified the cause for which Daddy might give up his life
It's been so long, so long a time, still I miss Daddy at night..

At the eastern end of the Rajpath, looming over the festivities, come every January, is the massive shape of India Gate, a triumphal arch 40 metres high, bearing the inscription "To the Dead of the Indian Armies who fell and are honoured in France and Flanders, Mesopotamia, East Africa and Gallipoli". Beneath are the names of 85,00

0 soldiers who died for the British Empirein the First World War. For anyone raised on Kipling's tales of the Raj, the names alone stir the blood: 3rd Skinners Horse, Rajput Light Infantry, 129th Baluchis, 13 Frontier Force Rifles; and the military ranks, subedars and sepoys and havaldars; and above all, the names of the men - distinctively Hindu, Muslim, Sikh and British. As I walk past the hallowed gateway this fine summer evening, I wonder why India's numerous patriots are so silent when it comes to honouring their soldier. Why is there never any public clamour for a national memorial for the soldier? Where do our leaders and people vanish on Remembrance Day (yes, we do have one on January 30)? These are just some of the questions that come to my mind as But it rained rings in my ears and sends that dreaded chill down my spine.

Honouring servicemen is a time-honoured tradition in most countries of the world. In Britain, November 11 is traditionally Remembrance Day. The erstwhile Soviet Union lost over 20 million men in the Second World War, or the 'Great Patriotic War' as the Soviets called it. Every town and city has its war memorial and as a part of a touching tradition, the first visit of all couples after their marriage ceremony is to the war memorial. Each year, on the last Monday in May, the United States celebrates Memorial Day. Memorial Day has traditionally been a day of remembering the many heroes who lost their lives during the Civil War and other wars in which the United States has been involved. People visit cemeteries, war memorials and monuments to the many soldiers, sailors and airmen who were lost in action and lay flowers at these sites in their memory. There is, of course, no dearth of such memorials and statues in other countries as well.
Snap back to reality. India has fought many wars since Independence and lost many jawans, sailors and airmen in them. A few questions cloud my mind as I try to recollect in vain, the name of the street in New Delhi where India's war memorial built after Independence is situated. How many streets, flyovers, tunnels, ports or airports have been named after India’s war heroes?

Everyone knows the answers to these questions. Shamefacedly, we have to admit that our concern for the jawan vanishes the day the action is over and he returns to the barracks. The country makes much of its armed forces before and during a battle, not afterwards. It is an unfortunate fact that except for those put up by the soldiers themselves in army cantonments; there are no monuments in memory of jawans even in the nation's capital. All you have is figures of the leech-like politicians gracing every alternate corner and that I-know-you-hate-me-but-I'm-the boss smile staring into your face from a decent ten feet or more!

You maybe getting me wrong if you think that honouring your soldier is confined to just naming your neighbourhood park or the roads in your city in his hounour. But, it surely is a way of reminding you of the great sacrifice they have made, giving up the years of their prime for the safety of you and me. Spare a thought for their families, many of them still waiting with that flicker of a hope to see their sons and fathers and brothers just once more. The men have not only defended their country bravely, but are always prepared to lay down their lives for its independence. In return, they ask only that they and their families not be forgotten in times of peace.

But sadly, like in many other things, we tend to be fickle in our love and devotion for the jawan. For every soldier who lost his life, thousand others also fought just as bravely. And what about those who laid down their lives in lost causes? What about the many prisoners of war still struggling for a morsel in Pakistani jails? On what basis do human rights activists (the most ignorant and hypocritic men of all) claim justice for the terrorists and let our soldiers go to dogs?

The people who have been waiting for their families ten years ago are now older, others must be dead. As I them on television as a backdrop to the token talks, I felt even more helpless as I recalled the wrinkled face of one Mr. Datta, a next door neighbour of mine. Imagine you were the father and someone knocked on your door and told you that your son was dead, and that they had attended his cremation and condolence meeting. What would you do?
A certain Major A.K. Venugopal’s story is more or less similar. At the end of the 1971 Indo-Pak war the family was informed that he be presumed dead. Sometime later his wife wrote to the commanding officer saying that if her husband was cremated with full military honours his ashes should be sent to her. Amazingly, she got the urn only one year after the request. No one believed it. Tangible proof was missing. Major Venugopal’s brother, A.Venugopal, an ex-warrant officer, was incredulous at the blatant absence of credibility. “After an officer dies there are a number of his men who are prepared to accompany his cortege to his home, and the government does not incur any extra expenditure. Later, however, we were told about his whereabouts. Obviously someone was trying to save his skin.”

If the treatment meted out to our heroes and martyrs is bad, the fate of those who serve silently and then retire is worse. Nowhere in the world are ex-servicemen treated as indifferently as they are in this country.

Today, the country stands silent. Not one political party has included the return of our POWs in its manifesto. Why? Have our defense personnel become pawns? Why hasn’t a single government delegation gone to  Pakistan? What have our various ambassadors done?

What about public opinion? Do we care? Are defense scams all that the Armed Forces are about? And are we more interested in scoring points over our neighbour rather than trying to get back what is ours – the war hero? Does not the irony of this phrase hit us in the face anymore?