We started on a
chilly Mussoorie night, with a short bus ride to Dehradun. The AC Express
pulled out soon after we had boarded, and we woke up in New Delhi the next
morning. It was a heart warming reunion with our diplomat friends, and then we
went off to the airport, to fly straight into the Vale of Kashmir.
Run through
The presence of the Army is
written all over Kashmir, and it was evident when it was announced that
photography is forbidden from the aeroplane windows near the Srinagar airport.
Once we landed up, 3 hours late, we were met by our Liaison Officer, a young,
cheerful Major with the Grenadiers Regiment. We were bundled in a bus and
driven off. The windows were shaded with heavy blue curtains, to prevent the
terrorists out there from knowing the location and number of passengers, thus
preventing chances of a headshot! We reached 216 Transit Camp, a unit directly
under 15 Corps, Srinagar. We had a nice chat with the camp in-charge, a
Lt. Colonel with the Jat Regiment. After the tea, we were shown into our rooms.
To call them rooms would be an understatement. They were complete suites, with
a parlour, a dresser and a big bedroom – all well furnished. It was not much
time before we got back for the dinner, with the Commandant of the Camp – a
Colonel with a long experience. To be truthful, we could not talk much – the
seniority – in rank, but much more so in age, left us largely tongue tied.
The next morning was the start of
our attachment proper. Waking up, at 6, in the freezing cold, was a big pain.
The beautiful gardens outside were all really frosted over and the wooden
structure of the camp housing made the whole thing look like a fairy-tale
setting. After the breakfast, the real fun began. We were handed over our sets
of ECC Clothing (Extreme Climatic Condition) – consisting of one multi-layered
down jacket, one set of leggings, one set of snow goggles, and one pair each of
snow gloves, snow boots and woollen stockings. Most importantly, we got a set
each of Bullet Proof Jacket (BPJ) and Bullet Proof Patka (BPP) – the latter is
simply a band of bullet proof material running around one’s head. Putting the
BPP and BPJ on, for the first time, was really stifling. And the rest of the
material was hastily put in the polythene in which the great coat came – and it
became another set of luggage to be lugged around – and, because of the
similarity of all the packages, a major source of confusion. However, the
utility of it all was never in doubt, and it all came handy, as seen later.
We drove off to Kupwara, a
district that borders the LoC, via Baramulla. It was a 4 hour long drive, and
was made easy by chatting and music. At Kupwara, we visited a Military
Hospital, and were given a round of the facilities by a nice young Captain. We
were briefed by the Colonel who was the Commandant of the hospital. Then we
visited the Workshop of the Electronics and Mechanical Engineers Corps. It was
in many ways similar to any of our Railway workshops. However, the contrast
between the two had to be seen. Unlike the Railway shops, which are mostly
littered with oil, nuts and bolts, and scrap metal pieces, this one was spic
and span. Soft music was playing along from many of the speakers mounted on
poles along the campus. We had our lunch there, and then we moved on the
Divisional Ordnance Unit of the area. They procure, stock and supply General
Stores as well as Ordnance for the whole division. Being an ex Stores Officer
myself, I wanted to get an idea of the scale. The answers were just mind
boggling. While I had my hands totally full with some 350 odd items at
Mahalaxmi, these guys were handling 40000 s.k.u. !! That was excluding the Ordnance items! We
spent the night in the Brigade HQ at Drugmulla, where we were hosted by the
Brigade Commander at the dinner.
The next day, we dressed up in
our ECC outfits, for the trip to the outposts. However, the first stop was the
HQ of the 28th Division – The Vajras. For the uninitiated, the Army
is divided into 7 commands (headed by an Army Commander – a Lt. General). Each
command has 2-3 Corps (again, under Lt. Generals) under it. Each Corps has 3-4
Divisions (commanded by Major Generals), each division has 3-4 Brigades (under
Brigadiers), each Brigade has 3-4 Battalions (under a Colonel), each Battalion
has 4-6 Companies (under a Company Commander – a Major or a Captain), and each
company is further divided into Platoons (under Lieutenants / JCO’s). The
personnel below officer ranks are recruited from a given ethnic base into largely
ethnicity based regiments, and trained at regimental centres – Jats, Mahar,
Gurkha. Each regiment may have 20-30 battallions – like 1 Punjab, 2 Punjab etc.
These battalions are immutable units, and they are posted under various
brigades as one, i.e. usually individual companies and lower formations are not
transferred separately. The Vajra, or the 28th Division, was a
Division, HQ-ed as Zangird in Kupwara, under the 15th Corp (HQ-ed at
Srinagar), under the Northern Command (HQ-ed at Udhampur). This visit was
straight out of somebody’s old time war movies fantasy – there was a room sized
sand model of the Area of Responsibility (AOR) of the Division. In our front
was the replica of the mid western J&K – covering the valley and the
Himalayas beyond. At the call of the briefing Colonel, the LoC, the LoC fence,
the Kishanganga river, and the posts and passes flashed in bright lights on the
model. It was good, and the address by the GoC of the Division was really
rousing.
The journey ahead is better seen
in pictures than described. As we ascended from Kupwara, the snow patches on
the ground kept getting larger and larger. Finally, as we reached Chowkibal, we
had a lot of snow all around. The road further did not permit heavy vehicles,
so we changed from the bus to Gypsies. The tyres of the Gypsies were rimmed
with chains – to keep up the traction in the snow and ice. It was a slow, shaky
and tiring ascent to the NC pass, and it included half a kilometre of trek in
between, to avoid the skidding of the vehicles near the aptly named Khooni
Nala. The journey was made worth it by the breath taking scenery of ice and
snow, which gave us plenty of photo-ops. The NC (Nushta Chun) pass was named
after a cut nose, which was the shape of the geographical feature. However, it
was more famous as Sadhana pass – for the reason that the actress Sadhana
Shivdasani had visited this post in 1972, in the wake of then recent Indo-Pak
war, to boost the morale of the troops. The post featured a nice LoC
observation deck, nice facilities and a life size portrait of the actress, in
which the painter had taken a lot of ‘artistic liberties’, again something to
be seen rather than described. There on, it was a descent into the Tangdhar
area, where we were to be hosted at the base of Punjab Regiment. The base was
headed by a major, with whom we had a long chat, and a wonderful dinner.
The next day we set off to one of
the border posts along the LoC. The Black Rock post was said to be named after
the colour of the substrata. But then, there were other stories, about how it
was named after one of the horses of some departed Major. We saw the LoC –
which is really nebulous, unlike the Wagah border. It’s just a mutually accepted
line – running along this thicket here, that brook there. We could clearly see
the posts of the Pakistan Army, roughly parallel to ours. There were villages
in the middle – parted in Indian and Pakistani halves – it would have been
comic if it were not so tragic! We also visited a nearby post of the BSF, where
we saw the dry run of a mortar launch. Back at the Infantry post, we had a demo
of various common weapons – the Multi Grenade Launcher, the Rocket Launcher,
the Light Machine Gun, the Dragonoff. We had a good lunch with the Major of the
company and the Lieutenant in charge of the post. In the evening, we visited
the Baghbela firing range of 1 JAK RIF. The snow covered range looked very
beautiful. We got to fire 5 rounds each of INSAS and AK 47 – I got all 5 on
target with the INSAS, including 3 headshots. Due to the creeping evening, we
could not inspect the damage we did with the Kalashnikov – but the sheer roar
and the kick of it made me realize what Mao had meant about power flowing from
the barrel of a gun, and it was another thing checked off my bucket list!
Next day, we set off back for
Kupwara – the snowclad route appeared even more beautiful in the morning
sunshine – but the ice on the road was even more treacherous this early. We
changed transport again at the Chowkibal grounds, and then we were sent to the
Kupwara town HQ of 41 Rashtriya Rifles. Here, we were divided into pairs, and
I, along with my room-mate, was attached to the A-Company. We drove off with
the Company Commander, a young Captain, to his company observation base.
In the late evening, we were
briefed that we were to accompany an area dominance ambush team into the
mountains. We dressed up to the maximum, because it was freezing outside. The
operation was led by the senior JCO of the company. There were a dozen of us,
and we trekked along the frosted path, and up the slippery slopes of the hill,
to sit and observe the possible infiltration route from the dominating
position. We did not encounter any intruders – ambush parties rarely make contact,
but then, it gave us an idea into the tough daily lives of our soldiers. 2
hours of this was tiring enough for us, and an average soldier may have to do
upto 96 hours of this! It was a valuable lesson, and the night’s sleep was much
appreciated.
Next morning, we drove off to
Sharifabad, the HQ of Kilo Force – it is actually a Division modified for
mainly counter insurgency duty in the hinterland, beyond the LoC, in the urban
and rural reception areas for the intruders. Over two days, we had a number of
briefings – at Force HQ, at a sector HQ (akin to a brigade), at a Company Base.
We also had a visit to the Water Wing of the CRPF at the Dal Lake – we got to
patrol the waters in one of their fast cutters.
The last day was with the HQ 15
Corps, or, as it is dubbed – the Chinaar Corps – the saviours of Kashmir. The
briefing was a totally formal affair, and we looked resplendent in our jodhpuri
suits, to match the olive green of the Army brass. The address on the origin
and implications of the Kashmir Issue by one of the HQ Colonels was great – we
had seen many presentations on this issue, but the way this one was put up was
great. The address by the Chief of Staff and the General Officer Commanding was
inspiring. On a personal front, I met one of my cousins, who is now a Major,
posted at the Corp HQ – it was nice catching up. The afternoon was spent
sightseeing and shopping within the garrison. The New Year’s eve party had been
cancelled in solidarity with the victim of the Delhi tragedy. A more subdued get
together was organised, more as a farewell.
The next day, we left for what
had been referred to us as ‘mainland India’ – the term may make you cringe –
but that is the reality in many ways. We left 3 hours prior to our flight – and
for good reasons. Boarding at Srinagar airport is not like boarding at Delhi or
Mumbai. We underwent 7 rounds of security checks, with seemingly interminable
queues all over. 2 of those were detailed pat down checks – down every nook and
cranny – many of us felt violated! The hand baggage check was threadbare. It
may be necessary, but it definitely was a nuisance. So, on the afternoon of the
first day of 2013, we flew over the snow speckled Pir Panjal once more, so as
to get to Delhi – for the rest of our Winter Study Tour – the arrivals terminal
at Delhi was really impressive (this being my first airborne arrival into
Delhi)
Life in the fatigues
Whatever one may read about the
tough life of the jawans on the Kashmir frontiers, it really takes experience
to appreciate how tough it actually is. For numbers cannot always give one a
clear picture. -15 degree Celsius is not simply 17-18 degrees lower than our
own cold wave, it is a whole different world. Being up at 0430 to move in a
convoy at 0600, at these temperatures, is totally different from rising for a
morning walk at the same time back home. Even basic life functions are painful
in these places. This was for someone who stayed in star-level facilities even
in those extreme locations. It was not possible to imagine the life of those
who were in the tents and temporary structures outside, doing all it takes to
keep these bases going – even harder to imagine the life of those who were
sitting, at that very moment, at elevations about 3000-7000 feet higher,
manning their posts, keeping a vigil against intruders. It’s not just the
weather which is an adversary here. The job itself is very painful. We
accompanied an ambush party – they have to move fast, and without making much
noise. They are in groups, and yet they cannot speak to one another – one of
the main ways we relieved ourselves on those Himalayan trudges was thus denied
to them. This trudging must go on extreme slopes, against obstacles – natural –
mud, ice, snow, or man made – barbed wire fences – I lost a pair of jeans (and
luckily nothing else) negotiating one of those with them. We walked for only 90
minutes in all, and we were dog tired. Their patrols can last for as much as 96
hours at a stretch! Secondly, many of us in the cities with cantonments nearby
often think that the top brass of the Army lives in splendour, and it’s only
for the junior officers to man the borders – at least I used to think so.
Nothing could be more wrong. Officers upto the level of Major are right there
at the frontline, in command of companies – laying ambush and leading patrols.
Brigade HQ’s were there in quite inhospitable places – so we had Colonels and
Brigadiers serving at places where none of us would like to stay for more than
a couple of days. Even starred Generals move along these locations at a
frequent basis – it is no picnic out there. It is very hard, and that is the
bitter truth we must acknowledge, before we even begin to appreciate the work
of our Army.
The ‘Civil Military’ conflict
One of the things we were set
thinking about before we set out for this attachment was our ‘ranking’
vis-à-vis the army brass. Since Army is a very hierarchical organization, we
were really worried whom we had to treat with how much protocol. A google
search had muddied the water further - most forums on which the issue of Civil
Services – Defence Services order of precedence was discussed had many defence
personnel using derogatory language for our kind, with babus, clerks and
similar epithets being heaped upon us. I had made up my mind to reply in kind.
Nothing could have been farther
from the truth. The army officers were courteous and polite to a fault. Very
senior officers treated us with all the respect they accord to any guest of
theirs – it was embarrassing for us to be treated thus by people so senior both
in age and rank. Sometimes, in their address, the issue of the ‘bureaucratic
insensitivity’ did come up – but it was usually backed with suggestions for
solutions, and not plain ‘activist’ type rantings. And we all played safe –
both sides ‘sirred’ each other – I guess they were equally confused.
The splendour
One thing that was striking was
the splendour of the Officers’ Area – even in far flung battalion bases in
Tangdhar – where we had full portraits, and silverware, and liveried bearers,
and unlimited supply of booze. It was hard to believe that the ramshackle
looking tin shed housed such heavenly enclaves within. Similar was the situation
of the accommodation provided to us – all looked really tumbledown from the
outside – but inside, it was well furnished, well heated, well plumbed, with
hot water supply, running water, electricity, telephone and satellite
television! It was all truly unbelievable.
Conclusion
It cannot be said that the
country has forsaken its Army. On an average, an Indian has a soft corner for
the armed forces, somewhere in the corners of his mind. The trouble is, that
soft corner has been kept confined to the minds alone. The reason is the manner
in which we put the forces and their personnel on a pedestal, and then simply
shut them out of our minds. In our hearts and minds, they are mighty supermen,
guarding us against the external threats. Much blame is to be apportioned to
the popular culture, which has given us jingoistic Army songs and movies. In
the process, we tend to forget that they are as human as the rest of us, and
have similar wants, needs, aspirations and desires. In the course of our
conversation with one Major on a forward post, we were heaping outpourings of
the nation’s collective gratitude on him and the Army – and to our surprise, he
said that they are not doing anything special – just doing their jobs. It was then that this realization hit me –
how lightly many of us in the civilian world take ‘just doing our jobs’. We may
procrastinate, we may cut corners, we may ‘let just this one go’. They, on the
other hand, can never let a moment slip by in dawdling – any actionable input
needs to be responded to immediately. They can never do it the easy way – the
sheer job of counter-insurgency is tedious – when one is faced with
brain-washed lunatics with a single purpose and no care in the world, one has
to be meticulous and thorough. It’s a battle of wills – one side is willed on by
religious lunacy, but the other side carries the burden of a normal, middle
class Indian hopes and aspirations, and it takes a tremendous amount of
willpower to put them on the stake. It must be the endeavour of each one of us
to ensure that this willpower never flags. This week-long exposure has given one
many insights into the various ways in which one might help – and it is not in
the higher echelons of the governance, but in the lowest ones that most of
these solutions lie. The likes of us in the Service can help by giving due
attention to the folk-town problems of these men. Similarly, any and all of us
can do our bit by extending all possible help, on a priority basis, in areas of
our own work and expertise, whenever a guy in fatigues comes to face us. It’s
important to remember that they are handling one of our collective
responsibilities for us – and they have given up what most of us take for
granted, and hence, it is our collective duty to ameliorate their lives.
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