It has indeed moved me to know what an officer of the Indian Army, who served in the elite National Security Guards (NSG) gets on sacrificing his life while fighting terrorists in the November 2008 Mumbai attacks.
Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan, a braveheart soldier of the Indian Army chose to wear the uniform to protect India and more importantly it's citizen from evils of the world - and he certainly did it even when it came at the cost of his life.
I mean just imagine, he also could have chosen an easy life like ours - e-mailing friends, chatting about the attack, discussing unnecessarily , blogging, etc... but he chose to beat the daylight out of those sons of bitches (pardon my language - got no better words for them) and for this the entire nation salutes him today.
But the question is how long would you & me remember this name and what about his family?
I m not sure if u remember even 1 name from the list of martyrs in Operation Vijay - if you have a defence background you might remember 1 - that's the case, we forget with time.
About his family, he was the only child - can't even fathom the pain his parents are going through. His mother's tears would weigh more than what I have cried in 24 years and i bet you too. Go here and see how the Chief Minister reacted post his death - will shock the wits out of you.The Kerala government did not send any representative to attend Maj Sandeep's funeral.
Another thing that comes to my mind is the compensation to his family - can you guess it?
Let me give you a hint on the kind of money our govt gives to our heroes - Abhinav Bindra got 3,00,00,000 (INR 30 million) on winning a gold for the country - indeed a moment of glory.
Maj Sandeep Unnikrishnan's family gets only 5 lakhs.
I am sure his family doesn't want money, the point i am trying to make here is about our govt -
'A gold medal is valued 60 times more than a soldier's life sacrificed at war-zone.'
I salute all heroes of Operation Black Tornado:
- ACP Ashok Kamte
- Hemant Karkare ATS Chief
- Vijay Salaskar - IPS (encounter specialist)
- Havaldar Gajender Singh
You are the real men of honour - sons of the soil
