Siachen Miracle: What The Lone Surviving Soldier Has Taught Us!

Ever since a deadly avalanche hit the army post in Siachen, India has been holding its breath and praying for the safety of the 10 soldiers who were reported to be missing. Following the unfortunate incident, rescue operations began immediately only to be obstructed by tough and unfavourable conditions.

Siachen, the world’s highest and coldest battle field, offers the most challenging survival conditions for humans. Reports suggest that more soldiers have died here due to adverse climatic conditions than in battles. A battle field that gets colder up to minus forty degrees Celsius is surely not a place we can imagine living in! So, first of all, here’s a big salute to that every single soldier of our country, who has ever lived or is living here to protect us from enemy nations.

After about a week of rescue operations at Siachen, one soldier, Lance Naik Hanamanthappa Koppad was found alive by the rescue team. Buried under about 25 feet of snow for over six days, the soldier was reported to be alive while all nine of his colleagues were reported dead. This, in itself, is a big achievement for the soldier, for the rescue team and for the nation on the whole.

However, the lone surviving braveheart has been reported to be in coma right now. A personification of courage, passion, fighting spirit and endless love for one’s nation, he is a hero who has made us proud in numerous ways today! Of course, the nation cannot repay these bravehearts for all the sacrifices they have made until today, merely out for love for their nation. Let’s all join hands and pray to God for his safety and speedy recovery. Also, let’s pay homage to all those brave souls who lost their lives while guarding our nation selflessly.

This one and only survivor of the terrible natural calamity has taught us more than courage and valour. It has taught us to love selflessly while the entire nation is celebrating the week of love, i.e., the Valentine’s week. He has taught us to stick by our principles and fight endlessly and fearlessly to achieve what we love. He taught us to be selfless, courageous and take pride in standing up for the nation. He has taught us to fight all the obstacles that come in our way to success. Truly, he is a person who deserves respect from the entire world!

Also, hats off to all those brave and passionate sons of India who join the Indian armed forces, not bothering about their own life.

Until we get any further update on the condition of Hanamanthappa, let us all just keep our fingers crossed!

4 Armymen Killed On LoC Today! We Have No Idea What We Are Losing!

The news comes as a great loss to the country! Three armymen were reported to be killed on the LoC (Line of Control) in Jammu and Kashmir when a fierce gun battle broke down with terrorists in the state. Another armyman is reported to have been killed in a separate encounter in the same state. Surprisingly, not many must have known this news by now since our media doesn’t list it as an important issue, enough to be reported as a BREAKING NEWS!

While going through the headlines on the website of NDTV, I found this headline that was, of course, not a part of the top news reported in bold characters. Every day, every month and every year, we lose countless such soldiers to terrorists and gunbattles which the media and the government don’t consider as a great loss. May be because people don’t know what they are losing! While the suicides of farmers have become a common issue in various states of the country, the loss of soldiers is taking India to a deadly situation!

It was way back in 1965 when Lal Bahadur Shastriji gave the slogan of ‘Jai Jawan Jai Kisan’. The slogan, since then, gained huge popularity and also made its way to the textbooks of school children. But has our government ever thought about its worth? Or has our media ever recognized the efforts that these bravehearts put in every day so that we lead a happy and safe life? If they would have recognized the worth of these brave and commendable souls, their efforts would have been appreciated and their plight would have been thrown light upon. However, it is really sad to see such a news of national relevance being reported secondary to other news and that nothing has been done to enhance their situation by the government over the years.

Most of us do not have our friends or relatives working in the army or navy so we remain unaware about the conditions that these brave souls live in every day! However, it is a matter of fact that soldiers have been suffering countless hardships while defending the country since years and nothing significant has been done by the country to uplift their condition and make their life better. Many movies have been made explaining the plight of soldiers, but to vain.

Life on the LoC is not an easy task at all! When the room gets too cool, it is our obvious reaction to turn off the air conditioner, isn’t it? Can you imagine how our soldiers live in extremely frozen conditions, in temperatures that sometimes go up to minus 60 degrees? Yes, it is not at all an easy task! Mountaineers or those who have trekked to a snow clad mountain at least once in their life will agree with me on this. They do not get leaves to go back to their towns and visit their families; some of them have to leave their pregnant wives at home and have not even seen their new born even once. An altitude that offers numerous hardships other than freezing temperatures does not even make fresh food available for them. This is the condition that our soldiers live in today!

I had read in numerous articles that the Siachen is one of the most treacherous borders of India that has the worst and most difficult climatic conditions for human existence. However, we still have our army deployed here at a height that can degrade a human’s health to unimaginable extent. Also, while terrorism and attacks by neighbouring country armies is always a threat to their life apart from the difficult conditions, there is always a fear of glaciers coming down to the soldier camps that may cause our bravehearts to sacrifice their lives!

Yet, no light has ever been put on the hardships they face on the borders or no efforts have been made to improve their lifestyle whatsoever! In fact, the media puts the news of our martyred soldiers somewhere in the clutter of lesser relevant news. Isn’t this a shame for our country?