This short story became SPIXer (Most popular story) on 08 Feb 2014 and won INR 500
Letter from A Soldier – Dear Mom
(Note: Image does not illustrate or has any resemblance with characters depicted in the story)
Photo credit: keeshu from morguefile.com
Dear Mom,
How are you? Is your diabetes getting better? Is dad still working tirelessly all the day for his business? How is Bindhu preparing for her entrance exams? Heard my favorite heroine Bipasha is getting married. A little worried about that of course! What happened to the rose plants I had planted during my last visit? Tell them I will be there soon, to take care of them again. Yeah Mom, I will be there in a month.
This type of old fashioned letter may be strange for people of advanced technologies here. But Mom , only people like us who live with memories know the value of such letters.
Mom, Do you remember how much you protested when I expressed my desire to join defense services? It was such a difficult task for me to convince you. You hoped a lot, that your only son would take care of the family business and be with you always. But after knowing about my decision to join the armed forces, you allowed me to follow my passion. I knew it was really hard for you to let me go. I knew you agreed only because, I was happy with it.
I am really happy here, Mom. Everything is as I expected. The training sessions, my colleagues from different parts of our nation, unexpected fights and above all the great feel of serving our country. Though being away from home, disturbed me a lot initially, my new friends and my work kept me busy enough, to forget about everything else.
Mom, I know you hate violence. You don’t even watch action movies. I know you hate my job. But Mom, my life here, is enjoyable beyond description. Each and everyone here is different .We are all here, from different languages and religions. But when people really want to communicate nothing matters, right? We are all like brothers here. It is like working with a band of heroes, Mom.
To be truthful Mom, there are also a number of hurdles we need to come across. Anything may happen to anyone at any moment. Nothing here is expected. During our last fight, my best friend died and other one lost his left leg. I was worried for his loss but I consoled myself that he died for our nation. Still I miss him a lot Mom. He was very bold and daring. There is no one to replace him ever. It is horrible to think how his family would bear his loss. But I never hated my job for these things. I never thought that I would hate my job. But something made me to do so.
I told you about the one who lost his leg in the fight. He was given retirement and was asked to return home after his treatment was over. I was asked to accompany him for his return travel. It was such a worst experience, Mom.
It was a two days travel by train. We left in haste that we neither changed our uniforms nor booked our tickets and the result was we had no seats in train. The way we were treated there, it was cruel Mom. My friend was not able to stand since he had lost his leg. There was not even a single human to lend him a seat. We had to complete the entire journey by sitting at the entrance of train, nearby bathroom. The annoying looks that people gave on seeing us, you don’t know how much we were hurt by them. When we reached the station, I had to help him in getting down from the train. We needed help to get his luggage out of the train. Again there was no one to help us.
Mom, we don’t want people to treat us as stars. But Mom, we are risking our lives for you people be safe and happy. We are suffering here, far away from our homes, when you people are rejoicing everyday with your families. We are dying here in cold, when you people are enjoying warmth inside your homes. We are not getting paid in huge amounts for all these. Even if we die our families get only a small amount.
Mom, all these doesn’t matters when we get a little respect and humanity from you all people. But when it lacks we cannot avoid the question “ whom are we dying for here?”
Ok Mom. There is an emergency call. Seems that there is some serious issue. I’m leaving. Pray for everyone’s safety here….
__END__
