A Day In Captain's Life

This morning I wake up at 4:30 am, as always. I washed my face and went outside to meditate in open. Our quarters were in open plains and mornings were almost silent, that’s good for meditation. I had been doing meditation for years and thus it was habitual for me to meditate for an hour.

After that as I went in, there as a notification in my phone, text from my sweetheart. The message read- “Good Morning Captain Sahab!!!….n btw…I LOVE YOU more than u love me…..”. She continued the quarrel that we had last night, that who loves more. So, I just simply replied-"Gud Morning…I LOVE YOU…but u know what…I MISS U A LOT…”.

Then I went to take showers. The water was obviously icy cold, and that's the only good thing about having a bath. After that I went in front of mirror, to dress up. Dressing up is the best part of the day. You have to wear the uniform that you dreamed of. That olive green uniform, with decorations and badges, Oh! Its so divine. Then cleaning the pistol that was registered on my name and keeping it in.

Then I grabbed wrist watch, wallet and keys of my bicycle. I started pedaling to the post.

The Great Himalayan mountains surrounding from three sides, makes a pleasing view for eyes. “I have been here for months but still everyday I find these mountains more and more beautiful”, I thought to myself. Obviously those ice covered mountains were good to look at.

I reached there at 6:45 am, the two guards at the entrance saluted with a “NAMASTE”. I replied them with a smile and Namaste. I parked my cycle and went into the building.

Colonel Sahab was already sitting there, he was always before time. I saluted him and he smiled and asked me to have a seat.

After all other officers were there, the meeting started. It was just a casual meeting that took place every morning. We simply divided duties to each other and discussed on the info that our messenger provided. Last night a messenger informed about the terrorists who were ready on other side of border to infiltrate into India. So, two other officers were asked to investigate the news. This was common for us, so we were always prepared for any situation and we knew how to counter them.

And for today I got patrolling at the fences along the border. There are twenty two sub posts under this one. And while patrolling we have to cover all those in whole day, with a stop of about 15-20 min at every post. The average distance between these post was only about 5 km but this rocky terrain makes it like 50 km. We had two jeeps and about 10 men in total. I took the jeep at front, the driver was Subedar Arjon. And other riders were Lieutenant Malik, Lieutenant Shera and Lieutenant Abdul.

And coincidence was, Malik was my room mate, still like everyone else he used to call me Sir, as a matter of fact that I was his senior. But I treat everyone as my friend, that's exactly what we were taught in Academy, brotherhood. And the riders in other jeep were Lieutenant Mathews, Lieutenant Sing, Lieutenant Mishra, Lieutenant Iyer and Subedar Chaudhari, who was the driver of that jeep.

We started at around 8 am. The routine was to be followed, a stop of 15 min at each sub post, and at Pt. 5457, the check-post no. 8, we’ll have our lunch. The “caravan” moved swiftly on the rocky and sandy mountain roads. Initially all were quiet, but then Shera started music in his pocket sized Bluetooth speaker. And his choice of music was obviously awesome, as his playlist was mix of remixes and melodies. After patrolling at 3 check-posts we were bored of same songs, so I started- 

“Abdul! Why don’t you start some shayarri???” Actually he is very good at shayarri, so he was a good entertainer for all of us. And obviously he liked that because that was the only way his art can be praised. So he started-

Zikr jab hota tha beshumar pyar ka,

Nazara dikhta tha maa k dular ka.

And the applaud was need of the moment.

He continued with his shayarri that penetrated deep into our hearts. And the other one that I remember is- 

Khuda ki karamat ko mai, khuda kaise maan lun,

Patthar ki murtiyon ko, bhagwan kaise maan lun.

It reflected his religious beliefs that that there is no point in idol worship.

We continued with more music & shayarri and at 2 pm we reached Pt. 5457. We did regular checks and I signed in the diary. We had our lunch and at around half past two we were ready to move. We were moving with same pace but we were bored of same songs and even Abdul was out of new shayarri. Everyone in our jeep was quiet for a significant time, and in our case two minutes of silence was more than enough. So I started-

“Malik! What about that girl???”

“Which girl, Sir?!”, he was acting as if I knew nothing about his cross religion love story.

“Brother, Everyone here is our buddy, you don’t need to act like that!!! ”

“Sir…!!!”, he gave a shy smile.

“Go ahead!!!”

“As you know sir, me and Radhika are from different religion, and that’s all. Our story ended at the very fact it began.”, Malik sighed.

“So, does that matter???”, Shera asked.

“Not to us, but…” Malik was quiet again.

“Than that’s all! If it doesn’t matter to you then why to care about that fuckin’ society.”

Everyone smiled, even Malik, but, he knew that is not so easy.

“You simply can’t rebel against the whole society you live in. And above all its not about the society, its about parents.”

“Whose parents are in opposition???”, I asked.

“In current situation, my parents are in opposition. Initially Radhika’s parents too opposed but now as I joined army, they are ok with it.”

“Shaabji, your problem has a simple solution”, Subedar Arjon interrupted.

Everyone was at surprise, but they were curious as well, not because he had solution, but because  Arjon was famous for his nonsensically creative ideas that worked every time.

“And what’s that???”, Abdul, Shera and me asked in unison, that spread laughter in the jeep.

He stopped the jeep and asked Malik for his phone, Malik gave his phone but was in a state of excitement and fear as well. Everyone was quiet and were looking at Arjon, he dialed his father’s phone number. And Malik’s heart was beating like drums. As his father picked up Arjon started-

“Shaabji shaabji, save Malik sir. He had climbed the water tank and willing to jump from there. 

Shaabji only you can save him.” Obviously his father was panicked and as he was at home Malik’s mother was online soon. Everyone was in a state of confusion because of what Arjon said, but soon we realized our part, and we too shouted in background, making the situation more practical.

“Malik, get down. We’ll talk to your father”, I shouted.

“Malik you don’t need to die for your love”, Abdul joined me.

“Buddy we’ll talk to your father, he’ll surely allow you to marry Radhika”, Shera too joined us.

“Brother, come down, come down.”

“Bhai, we just called your father, we are talking to him, but first you come down.”

So now Arjon continued on phone-

“Shaabji, will you allow Malik sir to marry Radhika madam???”

Malik’s mother was getting emotional and her voice could be clearly heard in background, repeatedly saying “yes”. But his father was still not satisfied, so he was still arguing-

“I never thought that he’ll go to that limit, I have-”

Before he could completed, Arjon again repeated-

“Shaabji, yes or no, will you allow him or not. Its question of his life.”

And realizing the necessity and urgency, Malik jumped out of the jeep and ran to a far away point. In the mean time we continued our job. And then it was Malik’s turn-

“My father will never allow this, I’ll jump from here, because I cannot live without Radhika. I am sorry Abba, I am sorry Ammi.”

We raised our voices more and more. And our efforts were fruitful too. His father too agreed but first he wanted to talk to Malik. After scolding him for all that,his father asked him-

“What is she doing right now???”

“She is in last year MBBS, soon she’ll be a doctor.”

“Ok, then tell her to meet us with her family.”

“Ji, Abba.”

Malik’s face said it all. He was crying, tears of joy flowing down his cheeks. He thanked all and especially Arjon.

“Common Boy, now wipe these tears. Soldiers never cry ”, I said.

And rest of journey was just a merry tale. We shared the whole story with our buddies in other jeep, and they too enjoyed that and at the end, all demanded party . Obviously it was time of celebration.

But the last part of journey, while returning from the last post, our jeep went down. We were at a significant distance away from main post and our radios too gave cause we were using radios to communicate between the jeeps. So now we don’t have choice, neither we can call for help nor we had an mechanic.

But I was wrong, as Lieutenant Mathews was with us. He wanted to be an automobile engineer, but as his father wanted him to be in army, he was with us. But, he never left his interest. He learned all about automobiles while working at a garage in his neighbourhood.

I asked the other jeep to go on, but all of them refused saying-”We’ll go together, Sir.”

I smiled. As Mathews overlooked, he said it’ll take about an hour, so for now we can rest and relax ourselves.

And  everyone with my permission, took some walk, called their loved ones, relaxed in the evening and did what they can do to refresh themselves in those limited resources.

For few minutes I was with Mathews, but he advised me to relax as I was tired as well.

I walked to some distance to find a rock to sit comfortably and then made a call at home. Calling at home was the second best thing of the day, dressing up was still at top.

“Helllllo Captain sahab!!!”, Shalu, my wife, picked the phone.

“I am glad that you called me,people like you are always busy, but you, being generous called me in your busy schedule…”, she started with taunting me.

“Shalu, dear you know everything about my schedule, I’m never free in whole day, and sometimes even at night.”

Then it all started, usual quarrels and fun. She used to tell me what happened in whole day, while trying to include less details, she usually took half an hour and if that any day she went for shopping or at restaurant with friends, believe me, she takes an hour and half. And still she believes she talk less than normal girls. When I asked about Mummy and Papa she said both of them had just went out.

Shalini or Shalu, was a girl who had grown without her mother. Her mother died the moment she was born, and her father married to someone else, who didn’t even treat her as a child. Her step mother used to abuse her and many times beat her just for asking for food. But, my strong girl, as I call her, rose up from such a childhood to be a strong independent girl, who cared for people because she know, what absence of care feels like. And that’s why I don’t need to think about my parents, I know, they are with her, so they are good.

My parents, on contrary, says that she is better than me in taking care of them. When I first introduced Shalini to my parents, they wanted her to be my life partner. Yeah, its quiet shocking, even I was shocked by their decision, but I never denied, cause that’s what I wanted.

In the end of call, I said something which is familiar to her.

“Take care of Mummy-Papa”, I said.

“Love you too!!!”, she knew what I mean, so she replied accordingly.

And then we ended with bye’s and miss you’s.

By this time Mathews was done with jeep. He was again testing it for last time and as engine started, he called for everyone. And we started moving on with greater pace, cause everyone wanted to rest after a long and heavy day. But rest was not a part of today’s schedule, because as we neared the main post, we heard some gunshots. Those were from the direction of residential area. And that means danger for our buddies who were off duty or were resting after their shift.

Taking the charge of the situation, I ordered the other jeep to meet Colonel Sahab at main post for his orders and the jeep, in which I as travelling, was stormed towards the residential quarters. Each of us carried a semi automatic INSAS Assault rifles but I also had an 9mm pistol. I gave my phone to Malik, cause I had asked Mathews to call me and tell me about the orders of Colonel Sahab. And after reaching closer to quarters, we left the jeep and moved on foot, I was on lead, as I was senior and also the incharge of others. We jumped wall through the broken barbed wire. As we moved on, our first motive was the safety of friends and confirming the number of intruders. And while moving through the lanes, I found some of our buddies, wondering and searching for the intruders. They were not armed, but still they willed to hunt down infiltrators with kitchen knives. The team of 10 now, moved swiftly through the lanes, the armed ones were at ends and others to the centre. We found some empty bullet cartridge near an open door of quarter nearby. I entered and checked, there was no one except a unarmed soldier lying in a pool of blood. I immediately ordered for his first aid as his heart was still beating. He was Raju, he had taken 4-6 bullets on his stomach. I left Abdul and other unarmed soldier with Raju, but, that brave boy, Raju, spoke in broken words-

“Sir…….Colonel Saha… save… him……take him too…..”, he said indicating Abdul.

And then I understood the whole situation. Colonel Sahab must have returned to his quarter after his shift and the infiltrators want him. And immediately I asked Malik to call Mathews and ask them to return to residential area with all soldiers at post except guards. It was the moment that I realized we were the first to get notice of attack and that was the reason why there was no other team of armed soldiers in here.

Then we ran towards the house of Colonel Sahab. In the way, we were stopped by some random shots fired at us.

“COVER!!! Everyone take cover!!!!”, I yelled.

 Shera signaled, there was a terrorist at the window of quarter at 1^st floor of the building at the end of lane.

“Spread, Spread, Spread…..be in COVER”, I used a simple strategy. The terrorist can fire only at one, at a time. Arjon hissed-

“Shabji, I am in position.”

Just after this, Shera sprinted to change cover, actually he was distracting terrorist.

“SHOOT!!!”, he shouted.

Some shots at Shera, and one from our side. Shera was safe and terrorist was down. I guess I forgot to mention, Shera was top athlete in his batch and Arjon was a great shooter.

Shera and Malik went to check the building, and soon the signaled thumbs up from the top.

Now, I divided the team in two, me, Malik and another soldier, who was now armed with machine gun of terrorist were at one side. And the rest were in other. The plan was, my team will go from front and in the mean time, other team will rescue Colonel Sahab, from back of his house. The two team will communicate through radios we picked from the two quarters we went in.

Malik was at back, and I was at front. We moved slowly and cautiously. In the way, we heard some shots from Colonel Sahab’s quarter. As we neared it, we checked the surroundings. Everything was clear, terrorists must be inside. The other team was also in position at back door. We charged in at the same time. The doors were smashed and thrown open. We heard bullet shots at back door, but after two minutes, all were quiet. The radio spoke-

“Target down Sir, no casualty”, it was Shera’s voice.

But, on our side, as I looked in, the corridor was empty and dark as hell. So, I decided to step in. As I placed first first feet, there was a burst fire from AK-47 automatic machine gun. Three high calibre bullet fired at a time. I fell backwards and was pulled into cover by the company soldier. Two bullets missed me, but the third one grazed my left shoulder. The injury was not deep, but it was bleeding quite good. I stood up in no time, shoulder pained a lot, but for now, the life of Colonel Sahab was more important. I sneaked inside, I saw light reflected by metal of gun. I asked my companion to shoot at the gun, I’ll take care of rest. He did exactly, and the machine gun fell from the hands of terrorist, and this was my turn, I stood and shot him on his head with my 9mm pistol. Pistols are best for close combats. And by God’s grace, it hit him right above his ear, as he had turned his head when I fired. As we slowly moved in we met the other team, they pointed to a locked room. I called Shera and whispered into his ear. He immediately took Arjon with him and went outside. I knew there must not be more than 1 terrorist, because terrorists are always in a group of even numbers and three were already down. If there were more, they must have been outside. Because even terrorists know that hiding should be done in a way, that if they are caught, there should be as less casualty as possible, and I used this to derive to a logical conclusion. I call this as ‘cross smartness’.

Soon, Shera spoke on radio-

“Windows are open Sir,and I am in position, Sir!”

Now, I checked my pistol and asked to take positions behind me, and one was there to smash the door. As the door was thrown open what was saw was a matter of concern for us. The terrorist of not more than 18 years of age, had tied Colonel Sahab to chair and was pointing his gun at Sir’s head. I cried- “NO ONE WILL SHOOT!!!”

The young terrorist said-

“I know I’ll be martyred, but, before that I’ll do something for my motherland. I’ll kill you bastards. You’ll all suffer for sins you do……”

Before he could complete Shera bashed him from behind and I shot two bullets, one at left leg and other at right arm. And the boys did rest. We safely rescued Colonel Sahab and caught a terrorist alive. And in mean time other teams had swiped the whole residential area and found no signs of more intruders. The brainwashed boy was taken for treatment and I too went to medicals for cleaning and dressing of wound.

While Doctor was dressing the wound, I got a call from Shalu, I picked up and she said-

“Captain Sahab I think you forgot to tell something.”

“What??!!”, I asked.

“How was your day???!!!”

“Oh, you remembered this so late!!!”

“Ya ya ya…… when mummy asked me about you, I realized that…… so tell me……I have to report to your mother”, sometimes she tries to copy my language.

“Well, I shot three terrorists today”, I said with pride.

“Ha ha…… Nice one Captain”, she was trying to be funny.

“And also I got a small medal”, I added.

“Medal…. what kind???”

“A scar on left shoulder, which will heal in a week or so”, I stated so that she don’t need to worry.

“I thought you were joking……” she said in a sense of surprise.

“Miss, I don’t joke while I am on duty.”

“Nothing less expected from Academy topper.”

“Madam, its Sword Of Honour.”

“Ya ya…. I just don’t know the exact terminology”, she laughed.

And we talked for another hour.

This was just one day. Every new day, we face new challenges. We fail sometimes, we fall sometimes. But we never stop moving, and that’s why we are here,guarding borders. Protecting families and friends. We live, cause you love us, but more importantly, we live, cause they(everyone who want to harm INDIA) hate us.