The four factors taken into consideration while selecting a candidate for the army are – head, heart, guts, and limbs. Guts is of course of the utmost importance in the selection procedure. Along with the army men, the families too certainly possess the factor- guts. Especially the army wives, they are full of guts and determination. For every time their husband go for a field posting, she knows that he may return wrapped in the Tri-Colour.
We all applaud the martyrs and pray for the families. We even feel the pain for a few days. But what do we know about life after? Naik Yogender Singh Pathak, whose brother Devinder Singh Pathak, also in the army, was martyred in an IED blast 6 years back. Naik Pathak recounts that when the call came about the martyrdom, there was a deadly silence as every family member turned towards the martyr’s wife, who had a 3-year-old son and had just been blessed with a daughter. Martyr Devinder Singh Pathak had not even seen his daughter. Then the tears came and a day later the body arrived. Naik Yogender says that he still feels haunted sometimes with the sound of his wailing sister-in-law. After the rituals were over and the extended family and friends left, the immediate family was left alone trying to fathom what had happened and why it happened. They could not help wonder what was there in the closed coffin if it was the whole body or only parts of it. They could not help but wonder if the martyr had felt pain. Naik Yogender goes on to say that even after 6 years, his sister-in-law is inconsolable. The martyr’s wife is now forgotten; just another widow trying to raise her children. Their joy and happiness will never be complete. Their family will forever remain incomplete. At every important occasion, there are tears in his mother’s and sister in law’s eyes. Naik Yogender says, “Life will never be the same again.”
All the 44 martyr’s families of the Pulwama attack are going through the same right now. And unfortunately, this distress is a lifelong affair.
Imagine how Charulatha Acharya, the wife of Martyr Maj Padmapani Acharya (MVC), martyred in the Kargil War, would have felt when her husband came back home wrapped in the Tri-Colour. She was expecting their first child who was born 3 months later. Jasleen Sarna, Salma Shafeeq, Sangeeta Akshay Girish, the list just goes on and on. Sangeeta Akshay Girish has an unwashed uniform of her husband which she smells to get a feel of him when she misses him. How much more heart wrenching can it be. Yes, each of these brave ladies is full of determination. Donning a smile for their children, bringing them up on their own. But at the end of the day, will their lives ever be the same again? No!
The Pulwama attack has aroused in the people of India the need for revenge. Yes, every security personnel joins the forces knowing that they have to lay down their life for the country if the need arises. But what about the families? Even with all the guts, glory and determination, life would never be the same again for them. So while the public screams the Josh is High from the comforts of their drawing room, do keep in mind the plight of the family in the aftermath.
Know more: Pulwama Cries for Action
