14. Arsh and his first mission...

Arsh had been posted soon after his final training was over. He had been posted in a Naxalite area as their violent activities and movements had increased over the period of time and therefore army took the situation in their hands. Though, initially we all knew that one or the other day Arsh had to face enemies and fight against them, but then when he informed us about his first mission, we all were dumbstruck as none of us were ready at that point of time to see Arsh, one of our best friends fighting against death. Arsh was as usual, very calm and casual, as if it was yet another training session and not a real life combat. His family members just told one thing to him, ’Go son, you had joined this fight (against wrong) long back, this is just your first test, go and just fulfil your dream of a secure non-violent country. You’ll definitely win, our blessings and god is always with you.’

When he went there, he could just contact his family and so we got all the information about their proceedings from them only. Naxalites had somehow got the information about their arrival so, they had attacked a truck of army, fortunately it only contained some arms, therefore resulted in no casualty. Then for the next 3-4 days, army kept silent waiting for their arms replacement to arrive. In the meanwhile, they tried to know about the positions of Naxalites. Then on 5^th day, they planned the final assault. They had planned to attack in 3 groups of 8 people. Initially, just one group attacked and when their mind was diverted completely towards them, other group attacked and the third group was kept as reserve in case Naxalited gave any tough fight. But, their need didn’t arise. 2^nd group completely manage to put the Naxalites on the backfoot. Then the police took over the charge of whole situation.

When Arsh arrived after completing his 1^st mission successfully, we went to meet him. After seeing him fine, we took deep sigh of relief. 5 soldiers lost their life during their confrontation with Naxalites. Arsh seemed very sad when we met him. He had actually lost one of his closest friend during this mission. We never saw him crying but for the first time there in his room, he just couldn’t stop himself. He started crying as soon as we went to his room. He had not told about this matter to anyone in his family. He had kept all his grief inside him all this time, and now was weeping his heart out infront of us. We then realized, what a life of soldier is all about. So many emotions, feelings are associated with them, but hardly anyone paid attention to their personal life. He had lost a friend, who used to stand by him always. Once, when Arsh had messed up a task given to him, just for the sake that Arsh doesn’t faces the punishment alone, that friend also screwed up the thing even though he could have done it really well. He made Arsh comfortable when he felt lonely and missed us. And that day also, he was the one who took the task given to Arsh, to disguise the Naxalites firing from other direction, in his hand, that led to his death, as the position decided was already occupied by Naxalites.

As we tried to calm down Arsh, he told us about his parents of whom he was the only son, and how difficult it would be for them now to pass all this life without him. But, as it was always a part of life of a soldier, Arsh composed himself, and again with the same exuberance, he said – ‘anyways, atleast his sacrifice didn’t go waste, we were successful in our mission, now no group will ever think of messing up with Indian Army. We proved our mettle. And we won, soon all the violence and its activist will face the same end, and we (Indian Army) will make sure that this happens .’

Then as we all were there on vacations, inorder to cheer him up, we asked Arsh to come with us to a coffee shop nearby. Initially, he resisted a bit, but infront of Sagar and Karan his resistance didn’t work. So, we all went there. Karan was also back from US after spending 5 months over there. So, we all had lots of things to share. We all placed our orders and then asked Karan about his first 5 months in US. He was restless to share his experience and was waiting for us to somehow initiate the talk. Before we could ask him, he started. He had an awesome first trip to US. Though he had started working under a Professor, but he never let an opportunity to enjoy go waste. Initially, for the first ten days, he felt a bit home sick, and then he started concentrating on studies. Soon he made friends and then lived every moment to its fullest. He went to parties, clubs, disco etc. Firstly, he tried to oppose his friends when they forced him to drink or smoke, but seeing the people there and their lifestyles, he also began doing all these things. And then, just within few days, he realized that his parents and most of all his grandmother had so much faith on him that whatever may happen their son is not going to fall prey to the circumstances. He just recalled these lines said to him by his grandmother-‘ son, you are going there for studies but never forget what we have taught you. We just want you to be happy wherever you are and I hope you won’t indulge in any activity which you yourself feel to be wrong and rest I have faith on you.’ (This word Faith has a lot of power)

Then slowly and gradually, he stopped all those things. Then during classes, he met a girl named Elina. She was a resident of US and a very nice girl by heart. They soon became friends and what came as surprise to Karan was that she was really interested about Indian cultures and traditions and always used to ask Karan about these things. Then suddenly, Sagar asked Karan about Prerna, to which Karan replied very smartly ‘ Elina , she... she is just a good friend of mine, nothing more. And as far as Prerna is concerned, I’m in contact with her and she knows about Elina.’ I commented ‘hmm... good friend, anyways great your life's going fine. Now are you not in a hurry to go back, Elina (good friend) must be waiting’. Everyone started laughing.