The Great Divide

We organised this high profile seminar on Women and Terrorism day before yesterday. It had in attendance the leading female dignitaries of the city. We also ensured that the highly educated ladies from all walks of life came. A leading lady police officer of IG rank and other police wives were also in attendance along with some other ladies like doctors, army wives, dieticians, psychologists, teachers and so on. As the evening progressed and the seminar got in full swing, one of our army wives was recounting her first hand experience of terrorism while posted in Assam. Her husband had suffered serious injuries during an encounter and then this lady police officer recounted and shared her experiences. Everybody just listened to the both of them in stunned silence. The lady further said that though she respects all of the India’s armed forces but feels that there is a great divide between the respects people hold for the army personnel. While a great majority of our population holds negative opinions about the police personnel it is not the same, in case of the Indian army.

She said such are a strong sentiments for the Indian army that a common man is just not ready to accept them as corrupt or criminals even if it is proved legally. These sentences actually got me thinking and this is a FACT!! So however discriminatory is the sixth pay commission report and whatever may be the attitude of the governments, the truth remains we are indeed the most respected ones. The janta loves us…………. All we need is a platform where the love of our countrymen is directly conveyed to us.

There are number of ways we can make a difference not only to the life of a soldier, but also to their families. With so many years of military lifestyle with me I can truthfully say that the soldiers need our support now more than ever before. There has been enough of political drama, far too many debates and just too much of hypocrisy. I feel that let’s now for once take the reigns in our hands and make them all feel special and loved. And why only the faujis lets for once love all our forces like the defence, the police , the paramilitary and so on……………….The too deserve it!!!

A Call to honour....

So they called us again. Whether it’s a high profile shootout, a child in a borewell, a terrorist attack, floods, earthquakes army is called. Army is no longer meant for protecting the borders, of late, the country needs us everywhere. We clear up the mess and in the bargain lose our soldiers too, but what after that? Once the crisis is solved we are again lost in the oblivion. But, why? Why is the government, the politicians and the common man so afraid to come out in the open and acknowledge that in the current terrorist turmoil our defence forces are their safest bet?

In times like these, what the country need is a deeper and more meaningful alliance between the civil administration and the army of the area even of the smallest of the city. This will help immensely in nourishing the now heavily tattered soul of India. Now they call us when the situation is completely out of their hands. If we have a better association then any crisis would be solved in a much simpler way without losing so many lives. These simple steps will make the atmosphere conducive and the citizens secure. Further it will also help in us attaining our most basic right to leave in peace.

How much our politician may differ but what a common Indian needs today is a safe today. I spoke to a very senior retired army officer and he said “Army is supposed to be non-partisan; national in character, patriotic, professional, and disciplined how it relates to civil society in general will help immensely in the civilian set up. Obligations on both the sides will contribute to the common good by performing duties to benefit the community as a whole. This association I believe will complement each other.” During a time when every citizen of Indian is thinking of the corrective measures to be taken, I think this is the best we can do, right now…….

All Things Fauji and Fantastic

Tears swell up my eyes every time I watch a movie on the armed forces. No I am not weak; it’s just that I feel a connection, not only with the characters in the movie but also with that lonely soldier walking on the streets unaware and unsure of the largely civilian world. But for some reason, I love these movies, no matter how pathetic the plaot or the acting is. Why? That’s because I am a little crazy and love all things even remotely attached to the military world.

The craze started long before I got married to the olive green, with our very own Fauji, the famous serial of Shahrukh Khan. But my actual brush of real army movie was( on my husband’s insistence) with Saving Private Ryan, though the plot is great I loved it for Tom Hanks didn’t you? It has that old world military charm of risking your own life to save another. I simply loved the sheer intensity showed by the soldiers in actually saving Pvt Ryan and helping him finish the battle. The other military movie I like is From Here to Eternity, only for the purity of emotions. Uncle Sinatra you still make us swoon…..

Border was the first indian movie on the war I watched and simply loved it. I loved it for Akshay Khanna and Rakhi. Never saw better mother-son emotions on screen. Even when the movie ended I kept thinking about this blind mother and her life without her son. But I am still waiting for that rocking hindi movie on faujis which captivates the real essence of an Indian soldier.

Schindler’s List also holds a special place in my heart for a cinematic brilliance. Set in a military backdrop it depicts a human side in the not so human times. Next on my list to watch war movies is Apocalypse Now, have heard that it is a great piece of work on Vietnam War. Do share if you have seen some other great military flicks…

Of Jimmy Choo shoes and Prada bags

Being in the journalism so long and especially writing Olive Green for Hindustan Times for 2 and a half years gave me an opportunity to peek into the lives of so many known and unknown faces of our fauji fraternity. Every time I set out for a story I would surely come back as a proud woman, proud of the fauj and the amazing faujis I met. Some of them are legends, some are getting there and some are simple soldiers with a simple heart.

What struck me when I met each one of them was though they hung their boots long time back their wives are still active and creating a name for themselves in the civilian world and are all doing extremely well. This I think is a positive shift in the mindset. An army wife is no longer the docile dependent soul. She has always been an emotional rock for the family but it’s only now she has taken steps forward to give herself an identity. I personally am thrilled by this new found army wife. She is no longer confined to her house, her family and her regiment. Earlier when her only option was to work in a school she is now making her presence felt in the corporate world, private sector, retails, you name it and she is there!!

Some of those I know cannot do without their Jimmy Choo shoes and Prada bags, and what with that exclusive Ritu Kumar dress!! Wow! This surely is a welcome change. While being financially self dependent, she is now extra capable of being a rock whenever husband decides to hang his boots. They have stepped out of the shadows to stand beside their husband into an ambitious and envious position and how. Many of these career women I know are your typical Super-Mom," entrepreneur or corporate executive. While they say that being an army wife is the toughest job in the world as life keeps throwing curved balls at you, but this is what makes them mentally strong and capable. Kudos to all those wives out there who apart from being wives and mothers are also bankers, corporate heads, editors, event managers in their respective fields.