Another brilliant book with each chapter devoted to one of the heroes from the armed forces, giving details of their heroic exploits in detail, their personal lives and their mental makeup. Somewhere in the beginning the authors explain how each story says only so much. by highlighting the story of Major Sashidharan Nair who was killed in action along with Jawan Gurung. Only after the news highlighted the deeply moving personal story of Major Nair who married his childhood sweetheart despite her debilitating condition thanks to an autoimmune disease did the general public understand the heroism that pervades the lives of these heroes.
The book details the exploits of Major Mohit Sharma (the guitar loving soldier who killed four terrorists and gave up his life in the process in a crazy gun fight), Corporal Jyoti Prakash Nirala (who showed impossible courage and just walked in and killed two dreaded terrorist with his LMG knowing for sure he would die without cover, mainly to avenge the death of two of his colleagues who were killed earlier), Lt Navdeep Singh (the baby of the unit who held his nerve and fired at infiltrators only when they were close enough to see their eyes, killed four terrorists and died in the process), Major David Manlun (the fun loving, caring soldier who wanted to join the NSG and how he killed three terrorists after a chase), Lt Cdr Kapish Muwal and Lt Manoranjan Kumar (who stayed on the literal burning deck while asking others to leave and died in the process on the submarine Sindhuratna), Capt Pawan Kumar (who successfully conducted an ambush at night and killed the terrorists), Major Satish Dahiya (who killed terrorists in a long drawn encounter), Lt Cdr Firdaus Mogal (who saved three men from the sub who went overboard and died in the process), Capt Pradeep Shoury Arya (an IRS Officer who served on the territorial army and went on a mission and killed two terrorists, and survived), Capt Raj Kumar (who flew his Sea King helicopter in the cyclone Ockchi and rescued five men including a lone fisherman hanging on to a boat alone in the sea), Major Rishi Rajalekshmy (who had half his face blown off but survived after killing terrorists), Sqdr Ldr Ajit Bhaskar Vasane (who landed a fighter jet which had fire in the cockpit, heavy smoke, heat and the prospect of heading straight into the Reliance refinery at Jamnagar), Major Preetam Singh Kumwar (who killed three terrorists who were infiltrating across the LoC) and Flt Lt Gunandnya Ramesh Kharche (who managed to safely land a military transport flight on one wheel with his able co-pilot Aditee and crew).
Just writing about these heroes makes my effort seem worthwhile though I know that I have done no justice to their deeds. But for that you must read the book which gives a detailed account of each of these heroes, their families, their passions, their motivations. It's a gripping, emotional read and rightly titled - stories of unimaginable courage and sacrifice. Highly recommend. Thanks Mythily for gifting these two books to me.
No comments:
Post a Comment