Short Story of Soldier – The D Day
(Note: Image does not illustrate or has any resemblance with characters depicted in the story)
Photo credit: keeshu from morguefile.com
Illimitable desolate patches of terra firma festooned by huge arroyos and crinkles surrounded me. Soft moon light diffused itself in diverse gérances after pounding onto the jagged land frames. Soaring mountains gawked at me from a distance as I looked at the innate giants back, straining my petite green eyes. The supple, serene and unruffled night was continually polluted by the unremitting jingle of fire power that originated from both sides of the mountains. The voices echoed persistently creating a deafening wall of reverberation hitting the eardrums, weakening them with every passing hour. I belonged to the 14th Light Infantry that had been in that particular locale of peak 4660 for the last thirty eight relentless hours trying to confine the illicit déchirure of the enemy troupes into the Indian Subcontinent.
The sounds increased at several instances and reduced to mere silence at others. I glanced below for a moment to locate a refilled magazine of the 9 mm dreadful disaster that I held in my arms. The split-second of un-alertness was austerely adequate to grant the harshest retribution of my life. A 7.62 mm projectile entered my right shoulder moments before I could re-fix my empty magazine with a filled one into my hand held cannon. I felt something happened but couldn’t believe as I saw the darkness of my light green camouflage overalls increasing around the localized fissure. A cavernous twinge followed thereafter and my arm became immovable. This finally confirmed that I was shot. Darkness seemed to creep in front of my face as I saw that everyone else was situated perpendicular to my vision. The indistinctness continued till the entire prospect ahead of me was absolutely black except a holler; an instinct to stay alive.
Illimitable desolate patches of terra firma festooned by huge arroyos and crinkles surrounded me. Soft moon light diffused itself in diverse gérances after pounding onto the jagged land frames. Soaring mountains gawked at me from a distance as I smiled back at them with a glimmer in my eyes and an aspiration in my young heart; a yearning to be a part of the Indian Army and serve my country.
My class 12th boards were round the corner and I was taking a time-out from the perilous books, which had become a part of my life.
“Come in ….Sanket, the dinner is ready”, my mother yelled from the window of the destitute residence where my family dwelled. My mother had been a sheer force behind my studies all my life, the more I ran away from books, the more hopeful she became of my success. She always wanted me to become a doctor, a thought that terrified every part of my famished self. I could have never even anticipated the quantity of books I may have to memorize to accomplish the enormous reverie of hers.
I loved the way, soldiers marched and the Officers led them during the Republic Day Parade, which our family resolutely witnessed every republic day on our Bush television set. The army fascinated me since I was a kid and the adventurous life was an icing on the cake, I believed I shall gobble one day. My father was an ardent supporter of my decision of joining the army too. That made my ascending mission of convincing my mother a bit easier.
The twelfth result was out and I had secured 84.6 %, which made me eligible to apply for the written exam of the National Defence Academy (NDA) by a huge margin. The written exam appeared to consist of a simple permutation and combination of the nearly 86 books that I had practiced towards the preparation of the exam. Within two months I received a registered post to face the 34th Service Selection Board (SSB) at Allahabad. The preparation time had started again and I was surrounded with a huge pile of books once more. But I wasn’t afraid of these books; on the contrary they excited me.
The matter they contained was either General Knowledge or practical aspects of achieving a solution of the given problem; fields that provoked me to toil harder rather than the boring formulae and chemical compositions that had the panache to effectively put me to sleep each and every time I tested them. Days flew before I boarded the Prayag Express towards my Mecca. The day I had waited for all my life, had finally arrived. I wanted to know the answer of the illustrious question that I used to read in various army advertisements… “Do you have it in you”? The question amused me always; I had two eyes, one nose, two arms, two legs and other body parts weighing a sum total of 52 kgs. What else did they want me to have in me? So I left in search of diverse queries my brain was fraught with.
The consecrated conurbation greeted me with an enormous sweaty swamp of auto drivers trying to lure me to the nearby lodge or hotel. I somehow managed to escape my way through the horde of virtually insane creatures and locate the Movement Control Office (MCO), where I introduced myself to a subtle bunch of rivals. We were loaded in an aged truck that the sophisticated jawans called a three tonner and were shifted to the SSB. The place had a resemblance to a colossal realm of the monarch empire with cannons and swords displayed almost at every junction and lush green parks covering the entire campus. Buildings were infrequent and located at distant localities.
The first day consisted of the screening test wherein a vague picture was displayed and we were obligated to write down a few lines we felt about the depiction making a sort of a miniature story followed by a group discussion. The first exercise made me transport myself back to age six when my grandmother used to narrate, fascinating stories to me whenever there was a power cut and I now utilized my eternally gained astuteness, fused with the advice of the learned writers of the books I had procured to prepare. The group discussion thereafter seemed to be a cakewalk as my competitors appeared to have conspired previously that they would transform the entire vestibule into an urbane fish market. I could manage to start the discussion bringing out all the solemn points I could collate and sum up the discussion after all the commotion creating individuals had lost their energy in an endeavor to prove their opponent’s point invalid. I guess the strategy worked for me as I got selected and was allowed to stay back for the full 5 day evaluation.
The lunacy started the very next day as we were put to an enormous assortment of tests ranging from psychosomatic written assessment to Personal Interview, Group Discussions, Practical problem solving techniques and the obstacle course; a task that made us feel somewhat like a flawlessly draped Tarzan. Five days appeared to be breathtaking holidays as I enjoyed each and every task assigned to us and the vicinity to the natural splendor supplemented significantly to the professional panorama. The D day had transpired and we all congregated together for the conference. We serially entered a softly lit foyer, wherein resided the jury; an army of our assessors, an army of men in uniform, a faction I had always cherished to join. The exceedingly hyped conference seemed to be a cinch for me. All I was asked was about my stay at Allahabad and my comfort and was sent back from the jamboree.
It was time for the outcome now; god would have never received so many prayers in a single instant as he did at this particular split second. Every other gentleman was busy flattering his particular god towards his advantage. Not that I didn’t believe in god, but I thought, why to trouble him at this moment, I had already bothered him enough throughout my battle field with my books all my life. The results were out and 12 out of the throng of 387 had cleared the SSB; the rest were departed towards the railway station. We 12 stayed back for the medical examination and returned home thereafter with joining instructions to join the finest institution of the tri services academy. My father was too excited and cheerful; it seemed I had fulfilled a dream that he ever dreamt when he was a kid of my age. My mother had mixed feelings as she rubbed her hand across my head with affection and pride along with tears rolling down her cheeks.
I could sense the acquiescent touch of her hands; the vision was still a bit imprecise as I opened my eyes warily. I was in the Military Hospital and I saw my mother standing next to me. My mother had mixed feelings as she rubbed her hand across my head with affection and pride along with tears rolling down her cheeks. I could see things around now, the headlines on the wall mounted LED TV read…..
“A successful win for the country over peak 4660 brings great pride to the Indian Army; 13 dead and 46 injured”.
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