Who Let The Dog Out, Stories from Kashmir #Indian_Army

WHO LET THE DOG OUT

Major Sarkar's company located near Ramban played a key role in maintaining peace and tranquility in an erstwhile sensitive area. The patrols kept the miscreants at bay and instilled confidence in the local population.

Major Sarkar, himself a thorough gentleman, had made good friends in the area and he was liked and respected by all. However, his reputation was put to test recently through a minor incident of Dog bite.

A stray dog moving behind one of the patrols happened to attack and bite one boy named Akhtar. Major Sarkar's men chased the dog away and took Akhtar to their post and administered first aid. The boy was safely handed over to his parents alongwith medicines. This should have been the logical end of the small story. But that was not to be. Sarkar received a call from Sub Inspector Sheikh the same evening saying that an FIR had been lodged by Akhar's father that his son had been bitten by an Army Dog.

Sarkar, a battle hardened soldier was un-fazed by the preposterous allegation. He drove upto the police station and explained the matter. The local shopkeepers who were witness to the entire episode, confirmed Sarkar's statement. Sheikh reprimanded Akhtar's father, who broke down and said that he was asked to lodge the FIR by the head of local madrasa.

End of the story. No!

The same dog, the very next day, again walking behind a foot patrol from Sarkar's Company, happened to attack and bite Farida Begum, an old lady who sold vegetables in the market. Sarkar's boys gave a chase to the dog and killed him. That the dog had been killed was not known to the madarsa head who himself had come to the Deputy Commissioner's office the next day with a complaint, that the Army unit were targetting his community members through a well thought of plan under which they were feeding and training the disease infected dogs.

Major Sarkar got a report from the Deputy Commissioner Office and Sarkar asked the DC to hold the Madarsa head in his office till he had arrived.

In DC's office, in presence of Major Sarkar the gentleman went ahead with his rhetoric of Army being against his community. He alleged again that it was a specially trained Army Dog.

`Very well Shahabuddin Sahab' said Major Sarkar politely. `We have taken action on your complaint. We caught the dog yesterday, court martialled him for repeated grave offences and awarded him death sentence”. He added “and I have brought the dead body of the accused as evidence”.

There was a smile on Deputy Commissioner's face and Sahabuddin's face, was for the first time; expressionless. The Dog of propaganda had finally bitten the dust .

Open Letter to Stone Pelters #Indian_Army

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AN OPEN LETTER TO THE STONE PELTER INC

My dear Stone Pelter,

Yes ! the stones thrown by you have caused some ripples in the sea but its just ripples and nothing else. Your pictures have appeared on the covers of magazines, hate videos on Youtube and Google has accepted stone pelting as a new form of non-violent protest. As your face is always covered behind a mask or a cloth, I am forced to write this open letter. Some of you, I am sure, are literate enough to read this, and a handful of you may be hit by this `non violent ' stone of mine. Yes! I am concerned about you. You are a young man. You are the future of the nation, state, district, town and more importantly your parents. I must caution you that stone pelting will never get you the right answers, let alone a decent job because even though you may have mastered the art of throwing a store for more than a 100 yards, and hitting `many birds with one stone', it still cannot be added to your resume for a job application. As it is, most of the stones thrown by you,do not hit anything at all.

The uniformed people whom you are tangetting have adequate protective gear now and god forbid, it DRDO develops an automatic stone pelting machine for them. Your masters do appreciate your effort, with a cuppa of `Kahwa' in their hands, and a kangri in their `Firan'. They smile when they see you live on the TV. They are safe behind the walls of their houses while you are out in the open. I wonder if you often get the feeling of being a puppet. I also14 wonder what kind of ideology needs stone pelting as the medium of communication. You may be convinced about your methods but its not very popular among the masses. Think from the point of view of your parents and your siblings and you will have the answer. Day after day i see quite a few of you bringing the life in some areas to a standstill. But, have you ever wondered, its the life of your own people. Your actions have harmed your own friends and neighbours. The children of your area miss the school for daysat a stretch. What future are you going to promise them? That of a stone pelter only, if i am not wrong. I am sure that most of you don't even know what are you doing, but some day someone will ask you. Someone very dear to you will ask you as to why you threw stones at their future.

I suggest that you better have answers for him. The property that you damage is your own and a large sum of money will eventually be spent ( read wasted ) in repairing the damage caused by you. Don't you think there are better ways of spending the same money? I also request you, my friend to carry out a detailed cost analysis of your actions. You have successfully scared away the tourists to you beautiful state. The image that the world carries about you is that of a masked man with a stone, a stone against whom, the pictures do not suggest. The popularity of the basic Sufi ideology has declined. From paradise on earth, the beautiful abode of yours has been converted into a conflict zone, to which i do not see a logical end, neither do you. Your masters may have tried to kill Buddha at Bamiyan or Jesus Christ at so many church bombings but unfortunately Gods do not die this way.

You yourself doubt your masters but you can not go against them. For them you are the cannon fodder and they want to exploit you to the hilt before you open your eyes to see the truth. I also feel that deep down you are scared too. Scared of the reality, scared of the questions and challenges that a peaceful state will throw at you. For your own fears you do not want the situation to improve. Some wise man said, “Be the change you want to see” . The success of Aam Admi Party has proved that silent candle light marches generate more powerful emotions than stones. Ideologies are better conveyed through logic and emotion. Try it for change and you may, some day, hit the spot. The identity that you are trying so hard for, can not be established if we can't see your face. Its time to wake up and face the real world my friend.

Yours truly

Amardeep

A Bridge Not Too Far : #Indian_Army

                                           A BRIDGE NOT TOO FAR

Village Kotranka and Mohra do not figure on the first page of Google search, nor does Ans river figure in the Indian Mythology. Not to mention the 20,000 population of there villages as none of them have cleared CAT, GATE, UPSC and nor these villages have produced MS Dhoni or Katrina Kaif. The chances of news of a footbridge connecting these villages figuring on the first page of a national daily ( or on any other page ) are as remote as polite drivers in the NCR.

The why should this piece figure anywhere at all. It is hardly newsworthy, lacks sensationalism and is devoid of controversy of any kind. It does not merit attention of the so called 'aware' public of the state or the nation. But then,it should because, though small in effort, the job done by boys of Nagrota based Engineer regiment is by big and noble in thought.

The footbridge on this nondescript river in the nondescript area of Samote in J&K was connected by a stone and earth ramp on both sides. The local arrangement worked fine till the monsoon showers depleted the ramp. It became unsafe for use and Ans river soon assumed the proportion of a formidable obstacle. Daily there were reports of women and children and elderly men slipping while trying to negotiate the ramp. Many got injured, though none of them seriously but for the population of almost 20,000, the depleted ramp indeed was a cause of major concern.

As good Indians, we seem to adjust ourselves with whatever ecosystem we are put into. No one of value seemed to notice and none of the lesser mortals ever complained. The depleted ramp continued to be an insignificant event among the big events like Maha-rallies of political bigwigs, high profile murder cases and such like things. Things would have continued like that and in a matter of few months, villagers would have constructed the temporary ramp once again. The fact that the delay may have led to a major accident or loss of life is another story. After all, we have just sent a mission to Mars and as they say, there in no upper limit to human endeavour. But equally true is the omnipresence of the divine power which we lovingly refer to as God.

So, the God directed an Army patrol from the local Rashtriya Rifles battalion to go and cover the village Kotranka. Major `Eversmiles' the patrol commander noticed the missing ramp and instructed Subedar ' Never Frown' to remind him once the patrol reached their company base.

In the 'OK Report' to his CO, Major `Eversmiles' brought out the issue and colonel 'All yours', called up the the CO of the Engineer regiment. No letters had been written to any authority by the helpless villagers, but God's will is God's will. Colonel `Always At Work', the CO of Engineer Regiment moved a vehicle loaded with necessary manpower and stores the very next morning. It took the RR company assisted by the Engineer boys just three days to connect the footbridge to the river bank and all of 20,000 villagers finally had a sigh of relief. The aim of this story is not to put village Kotranka and Mohra on the Google's list of most searched places, nor to compare river Ans with mighty Brahmaputra. Nor it is to give out of turn promotions to the officials involved (Thats why the names have been exchanged with their character traits). The aim is to highlight the small little good deeds which are likely to get lost forever in the `Google sea of nobility'.