For Flag and Country, A Life

Ae mere watan ke logon, zaraa aankh mein bhar lo paani/ Jo shaheed hue hain unki,zaraa yaad karo qurbani

These immortal words sung by Lata Mangeshkar as an ode to the men in uniform who perished in the 1962 Indo-China war has stirred many a patriotic heart since then, and rings true even today as India's bravest put their lives on the line every single day.

In more recent times, the scale of war has shifted from an all-out confrontation to more limited theatres of conflict, including occasionally inside the country's borders to tackle domestic insurgencies. But the dedication of these soldiers has not always met with the appreciation due to them.

While the Indian Army's reputation as one of the most professional in the world remains unsullied, despite being the world's second largest standing infantry, the condition of those at the frontlines of the country's defence remains fraught with official neglect.

On Army Day, commemorated on January 15 every year, we take a look at the families of those who made the greatest sacrifice.

Alka Rai,13

(Daughter of Colonel MN Rai, RR, Yudh Sewa Medal. Col Rai was the youngest of 13 officers awarded the Yudh Seva Medal for killing a terrorist in close battle. The Yudh Seva Medal is awarded for the highest degree of distinguished service in a war or conflict)

"Itni shiddat se nibhao apna qirdar, ki pardah girne ke baad bhi taaliya'n bajti rahein" ("Play your role in life with such passion, that even after the curtains come down, the applause doesn't stop.") was the last Whatsapp status of Colonel MN Rai, Commanding officer of 42 Rashtriya rifles, who attained martyrdom on January26, 2015, while saving civilians during an operation against mujahideen in Kashmir.

Alka Rai, 13, remembers her father as a man of his word who would go to any lengths to help people, saying she is blessed to have got a chance to send 11 years with a man like him as her father.

"The curtain has fallen but people are still clapping. He was truly blessed to have a chance to die like this," says Alka Rai, who gave her father a final war cry during his wreath laying ceremony. The videos of her saying - "Ho ke hoyina ho ho ho" (we can do it, yes yes yes) - war cry, shook the entire nation two years back.

The eldest of the three children, Alka did not know the meaning of martyrdom until one day she heard the news followed by her father's body wrapped in the National flag. The initial shock and anger took away her happiness for the first few months, after which she says she realised that "Life will never be simple, there will always be some complications. Better accept what comes your way. I'm proud of my father."

But in spite of her father's martyrdom, the young girl is determined to join the army herself. "I asked myself a lot of questions and realised this is what I want to become. It's in my blood," says she.

The family has lost its most important member, but they are not bitter about anyone. As Alka puts it, "If there are borders, there will always be safeguards. There will always be families like mine, who will lose fathers, brothers, sons. I request all the children, who like me, have lost their fathers to the nation, to feel proud of them." adds the 13-year-old.

Aparajita Acharya, 17

(daughter of Major Padmapani Acharya, Kargil War, MahaVir Chakra (P))

Seventeen-year-old Aparajita never met her father, but given that everyone tells her that she looks exactly like him, she believes she knows him.

During the Kargil war, on June 28, 1999, Major Padmapani Acharya was assigned the task of capturing an enemy position which was heavily covered with mines and artillery fire. Disregarding his personal safety, he charged through artillery fire and despite serious injuries, asked his men to charge the enemy. He later succumbed to his injuries, exactly a week after his 30th birthday on June 21.

Charulata Acharya, his wife who was six months pregnant at the time, gave birth on September 14, 1999, three months later after Major Acharya's martyrdom. She named their daughter Aparajita – one who cannot be defeated.

"I do not miss him, but I do miss his presence," says Aparajita, who never got a chance to know her father. Now in Class 12, she only knows her father through his letters to the family. In his last letter to his father on June 19, 1999, Major Acharya had written:"Combat is an honour of a lifetime and I would not think of anything less. What better way to serve the nation." He also asked his father to read a shloka from Mahabharata to his then-pregnant wife so that the newest member in the family would imbibe good values.

"If I ever get a chance to see him again- I would first ask him to apologise to mother and then tell me all about his life as a soldier, and if he wants to go for war again, I would be proud to send him again," says Aparajita who, as an NCC cadet herself in Hyderabad, aspires to be in the Army one day. In Class 2, she wrote an article 'My daddy, my hero' in which she said "My daddy was the first Mahar Vir Chakra (Posthumous) of Andhra Pradesh. He is my hero and like him, I am proud to be an Indian. I will be everything for the country though I was born 2.5 months after he died, I dream of him because he is man with bravery."

Aparajita has been told by family members that every time she wears her NCC uniform, they see her father in her. But she has one thing to say to her countrymen: "People do not know about Kargil war. Even in my class, many do not know what happened in the war, they expect me to know because I lost my father, but shouldn't every citizen of the nation know their history?"

Acharya family lives a simple life in. A community centre and a road has been named after the brave soldier in the area. Charulatha Acharya lost her husband at a young age, but she did not lose the will to live and give a happy life to her daughter. She plays the role of both. She helps her daughter study and also manages the gas agency given to the family by the government.

Phillamon Thomas,19

(son of Colonel Jojan Thomas, Jat Regiment, Ashok Chakra)

"He told me he will be back next year when he left for Jammu and Kashmir. I cried a lot. He was the only man I loved the most," says Phillamon, who was 11 when his father, Colonel Jojan Thomas was killed in operation.

On August 22, 2008, Col. Jojan Thomas led an operation with his team from 45 Rashtriya Rifles, in the Machhal area of Kupwara district against terrorists in the forests. During the operation, he successfully managed to kill three terrorists, but later succumbed to his own injuries.

"He was a gem of a person. A little strict on the outside, but had a heart like no other," Phillamon recalls. He would go to any lengths to help people." He still remembers the dreadful day when they heard the news. The young boy was watching television when he saw his mother go pale while talking on the phone. His elder sister, Meghana, broke the news to him.

Phillamon still holds dear the last gift he had received from his father: a commander set. It is still the best birthday gift he has ever received as it comes from the man he most respects.

Whatever happened in their lives, Phillamon is determined to join Army one day, while his sister is married to an Army officer herself. The family feels proud of the men who lay their lives to save the nation.

"My father used to read Quran and Bible every day to know the perspective of other religion. I wish I grow up to be like him some day," Phillamon says.

Neeraj Chauhan, 20,

(daughter of Lt. ML Chauhan, 11 Mahar, Operation Rhino- Sikkim)

Neeraj was only two when her father passed away during Operation Rhino in Sikkim in the March of 1998. Like others, she cannot find any details about her father on the internet or anywhere else.

Lieutenant ML Chauhan was a Jammu native and, having seen the disturbances in his state since childhood, was determined in joining the Army. Lt. Chauhan was deployed in Sikkim in 1998 when during a counter-insurgency operation, he passed away after a landslide occurred where they were marching.

Unlike Aparajita, Philly and Alka, who can read about their fathers on the internet and get all the iinformation about their Operations, Neeraj does not find any information about her father anywhere.

This young girl, who has lived all her life in Jammu, has always heard Operation Rakshak in the valley and thus mistakenly believes that her father also died in it. From an old letter, she knows that he was posted in Sikkim and was a part of 11 Mahar regiment, but does not know much about the circumstances in which her father gave his life for the nation.

Soon after hearing the news, Neeraj's mother started to have panic attacks and was admitted to the hospital for few weeks, around the same time, her grandmother passed away. The four siblings had nobody to take care of them for several weeks. "I have missed him at every state in my life. I miss the love, care and affection of a father," she says.