Three Bows to our Little Brave-hearts!!!

-- Dr.Navniit Gandhi

Sunday, January 23, 2022

The very mention of 26th January---the day when India commenced its proud journey as a Republic, conjures a very wide range and variety of images in each one’s heart. Each one of us relates this day with a vast array of memories, emotions, people and sights.

If there is one image, however, which all of us unitedly cherish in our hearts---it is the one wherein we honor the brave soldiers of our nation on this day. We remember those who laid down their lives for the nation, while defending its security. We remember those who stand unflinching at this moment at the borders on all the sides of this country, in the harshest of weather conditions, even as we relaxedly sip tea---huddled up in our blankets. We remember all those who have served and are serving the nation in uniform and holding the nation’s glory aloft.

We annually felicitate and honor our brave kids too on this day. The whole nation cheers for the little ones during the Parade at Rajpath, as they smile and wave--wearing garlands, and very courageous spirits.

On this 26th January, shall we close your eyes for a minute and say a word of prayer this year for another set of little brave-hearts---a few of whom are:

Dakshin Dev (5 years), Dev Prayag (2 years), Darshini (2 years), Fatahdeep Singh (3.5 years), Mokshagana (4 years), Gurleen Kaur (7 years), Simratdeep Kaur (9 years), Preet Kaur (12 years) Aashna Liddar (17 years) …

The above and a few others (all of whose names, I could not list and I apologize for it), received the painful news of losing their brave fathers forever on December 8th last year when the helicopter carrying our CDS Gen Bipin Rawat, his wife Madhulika Rawat and 12 other defence personnel crashed in Tamil Nadu. The loss struck a week later at the house of Group Captain Varun Kumar whose two little kids must have fervently prayed for his survival. For Kritika and Tarini---daughters of General Bipin Rawat and Madhulika Rawat—their parents lay side-by-side as the pyres of both were lit together by the two girls.

These kids will not be awarded by the nation for their bravery. But brave they have been! The families and kids of all our defence personnel and other security forces display exemplary courage, and dignity when untimely death snatches from them their loving mothers or fathers. It is to those little ones that we must bow who hold their head high and bear the trauma.

Even as the 12-year-old Preet Kaur and 17-year-old Aashna Liddar lit the funeral pyres of their respective fathers, the other grief-stricken families such as the daughters of General Rawat set aside their personal loss and went to give courage to the younger kith and kin of the martyrs.

One of the girls ---Aashna Liddar had this to say after performing the last rites of her father: “I am going to be 17. So, he was with me for 17 years and will go ahead with happy memories. My father was a hero, my best friend. Maybe it was destined and better things will come our way”.

Three weeks later, the teenaged girl wrote a letter to her father: “…It hits me in waves that you aren’t here. Sometimes, in the normalcy of things, in the routine and monotonous beat of life; while brushing, while talking, while looking at any photo, clicking a selfie…I suddenly remember that you’re not here; that you won’t be here… I am new to all of this, so new, not ripe yet. But one thing I really wish is for no one to even be new or familiar to such a feeling.”

Fortunate are the children who learn to embrace grief thus…

All those kids out there, whose parents have taught them to not wail, and not dramatize inconsolably even if the most loved one is lost forever, are blessed, indeed!!! Otherwise, most of us have grown up watching scenes and situations wherein, in the wake of death at home--- wailing goes on in epic proportions and there are massive displays of grief.

And yet, there are those parents (yes, for real!) who teach their kids to handle adversities with grace. In fact, such kids learn to not look at any situation as ‘adverse’. The kids are lucky to have parents who neither themselves fake emotions or even dramatically display them and nor do they let their children do any of that nonsense.

A few kids do have a childhood that is deeply contented and fulfilling because their parents have taught them to accept what life springs upon them; to persevere and hold their head high; and to be forever grateful for all that their baskets are filled up with… I envy those kids who have experienced balanced set of values, ethos and have grown up learning all about good manners and fine conduct. They are those who do not throw tantrums for attention; who do not have to brag; who do not sit sullen and dull and who do not create a ruckus for the silliest and the most harmful of foods, gadgets, and other materialistic possessions. They usually grow up to be neither insecure, and nor foolhardy!

Let us send across a little blessing for each and every one of those kids who have inherited bravery from their parents. A respectful bow to them for they have inherited the art of conducting themselves gracefully at all times!!!