RCT's musings

Where are our heroes? (A reflection by Rohan Chand Thakur) In an article titled “Where are their heroes?” (Tribune, 10 th December), Colonel PS Randhawa raised an interesting point about why unlike the army, the bureaucracy (the IAS mainly) does not talk about its heroes. He contrasts his visits to LBSNAA, the National training centre of IAS officers with that to the IMA, the Indian Military Academy in Dehradun. Post this he says there are quite a few career bureaucrats who are potential role models or heroes but yet, why is it that they are “not looked up to or known as heroes”? This question was deeply thought provoking for me. To begin, we need to understand that every act of heroism requires sacrifice. Sacrifice of something that is dear to the individual but has to be given up for the mission/ job at hand for the larger public good. Acts of sacrifice are of different types. At the apex are those acts which involve sacrifice of life. So selfless and pure is this act...

The Pulwama suicide attack which took the lives of 40 of our brave hearts of the CRPF has the entire nation in deep mourning. Not only is there great sadness about the loss of lives but also a great sense of anger. How we channel this mass public anger is very important since rash actions could further exacerbate the situation.  On deeper reflection slowly a feeling of déjà vu started taking over. Feelings which I had not felt for some time came back to me. We have experienced such pain before. This piece is an attempt to capture the feelings one has had at major points of India’s battle with terror. I have also tried to capture my own experiences and observations of the harsh realities faced by soldiers at work and at home. That is, when there is no Pulwama, no air strikes and when the hungry media is chewing some other story to feed its evil, insatiable hunger.     One of the first things of relevance I knew about my family what that my grandfather, Col...