Glittering Gold but the Forgotten Heroes...

Armed forces of India offer young and brave individuals a carrier that no other profession can. At 21, you have men under your command who are ready to give their life at your command. Yes, at the mere age of 21. Men and women serving in the armed forces are looked towards with respect. Working for others sectors, one may achieve career growth, foreign trips and high incentives but working for armed forces, one achieves that glory and honor which might be impossible to be earned by any other profession.

Apart from this, the people working in the armed forces are given good pay and perks that include recreational facilities, adventure sports, leaves, opportunities for higher studies and medical facilities to self and dependents. The list does not end here. To add I would quote a military brat (as they are referred). He said, “Being a Fauji Kid, you weren’t a millionaire but you had swimming, horse riding, squash, tennis and golf; you attended many May Queen Balls before you even knew what Miss India was”.

But that’s not all about Armed Forces.

The people working in the forces work in extremely difficult conditions and terrain. After joining the forces at a very young age, they undergo physical training that is extremely tough and prepares them to survive any adverse condition. After being commissioned, they are deployed to hostile environments, under difficult climatic conditions where they have to stand holding guns at their hand to ensure that we sleep peacefully on our cozy beds. Mind you, pressing the trigger when the time arrives is a lot easier than holding the gun every time and ensuring that the time does not come. These men and women have to live far from their family and friends and at times don’t even get a chance to reach them over telephone.

Honored, yet not coveted; adventurous, yet not desired. This is the sad fact about the Armed Forces of India. We Indians are excessively emotional species and we display patriotism just as a part of emotion. Songs like “Ae mere watan ke logo” make most of us emotional and patriotic at the same time. Words like “Bharat Mata ki jai” and “Jai Hind” become obvious responses when we listen to such tunes. But when it comes to action, we turn our backs. Our armed forces have been suffering from the shortage of officers because bright candidates don’t think career in armed forces to be a suitable job for them. They rather choose to work for MNCs and earn bucks, make foreign trips and share posts and pictures about patriotism in facebook rather than joining the forces. They find the life at armed forces too difficult or too dangerous and refuse to serve the country. At this point I would like to say, it’s not that serving in the armed forces is the only way to serve the nation but a country which has such a large population and more numbers of engineers and doctors than required is facing the shortage of talented officers in the most important wing that is defense.

Why do you Hate Me????

Hi Folks..I was pretty much mixed up thinking what should my first article be. Then this small incident came to my mind that occurred while I was traveling to a friend's place. Some of you might complain that the write-up is incomplete but that's what I want it to be. I want you people to complete it by thinking over it and then giving your feedback.
I would dedicate my first article to all the female friends I have.
It was the month of March, most probably. The winters were just over and the summers were peeping in. I was to visit Kanpur to attend a marriage ceremony at my friend's place. I reached Kanpur from Varanasi by bus. Then I had to take an auto rickshaw to reach to my friend's place. Well something about Kanpur, all the people had the same accent that my friend had (might be the other way around) which had a sense of "Gundapan" and "Mauj". I started hearing the words like "Topa", "Mauj" in a typical way very similar to my friend.
Then I took a shared auto rickshaw to reach to the place my friend told me to be. It had hardly crawled few meters when a hand waved and it stopped for more passengers till it got overloaded. Thats the way shared auto rickshaw run in Uttar Pradesh, if not in the entire country. A couple they were and they sat on the seats directly opposite to me. They seemed to be from village or a rural area as suggested by their outfit. They had a couple of kids both seemingly boys. They were dressed as boys(t-shirts and half-pants) and seemed to be of equal age or might have difference of a year. One of them got a cozy seat at the mother's lap and the other kept standing. After a couple of minutes the kid who was standing tilted towards the father hoping some rest. The father gave the kid a sharp blow on the head and pushed away. The kid repeated the mistake and this time the father was fierce. He slapped the kid and started shouting over the mother calling her words. The mother in turn gave the child blows and called her words too severe for a child. I was amazed. The child didn't weep but stood expressionless as it was a regular phenomenon .The child seemed to be too familiar with the treatment to react over it. I was angry over the couple but didn't think it appropriate to react but I couldn't understand the reason.

Then I reached the place where I had to get down. I called the auto wala to stop and while I was getting down, suddenly my eyes fell on the feet of the child who was standing and was getting the treatment from the parents. She was wearing a payal in her feet.
I got down and walked to the place where my friend had come to collect me. I had got my answers....

Hi Folks..

These days have been quite eventful for the nation. Many issues have risen that have forced us to mull over them. Some of them have forced me too and I just want to share my thoughts and opinions with you and know yours. Please feel free to read and dissent and let me be the gainer.