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Friday, July 26, 2013

Kargil War

Dear Indian Readers,

Do you know what day it is today? Obviously, it's 26th of July 2013. But do you know what's special on this day? Today is 14th anniversary of the Kargil War.

"Kargil War? I haven't heard of that.", For those of you who thought this, here is some information.
Kargil War was an armed conflict between India and Pakistan that took place in 1999 between the months of May and July. It took place in Kargil district of Kashmir. Quoting Wikipedia, " The cause of the war was the infiltration of Pakistani soldiers and Kashmiri militants into positions on the Indian side of the Line Of Control ( LOC,) which serves as the de facto border between the two states."

The Kargil War is also referred as the "Operation Vijay"... and that being the reason, today is called the "Vijay Divas". I saw Papa's posts on Facebook about the Vijay Divas. He went a bit nostalgic when I asked him about it. Papa was in Indian Navy and he had a memory to share about the Kargil War. He had written about it in his blog, and here is a copy-paste of it.

"

Vijay Diwas 1

Vijay Diwas

1999 June - July days.. It’s raining cats and dogs in southern parts of India… South-West monsoon lashing the Konkan shores with ferocious beating.

And in North West of India, what’s raining are shells, bullets, bombs, rockets etc.. Yes, let me invite you to one of those days of Kargil Conflict between India and Pak in 1999 May- July days.

I was in Navy, posted at Goa, Dabolim Naval Air Base called INS Hansa. All Naval Air Bases are named after some birds like Garuda in Kochi, Rajali in Arakkonam, Madras, etc. for obvious reasons. I was Chief-in-charge of the Second line maintenance Unit for the Russian made Kamov 25 Helo( Helicopter). Our job is to support the Front line Air squadrons and ship borne flights to ensure serviceability and operability of the ‘birds’.

As you know, Kargil was a ‘localized’ conflict and not a full fledged war. While Army and Air force was in the upfront, Navy’s contribution was to ensure, there were no attacks through the Arabian Sea to the western parts like Gujarat and Mumbai. For this purpose Navy had mobilized most of its fleet from western command based at Mumbai and some major destroyers from Eastern Fleet based at Vishakhapatnam. All the fighter aircraft and helos were onboard their respective ships.

With Monsoon at it’s peak, Arabian sea was at it’s roughest and sea state was generally ‘6’ ( very rough with wave height generally 4 -6 mtrs) and for a sailor, the toughest of time in the sea. Ships roll and pitch at the max amplitude causing even the toughest of the sailor to succumb to sea sickness. It’s never easy to sail at these conditions, but that’s no excuse. Captains have no options to choose from. And they don’t look for them too….

We were on alert and have to maintain all critical spares at all times and keep them ready for a short notice requirement. My men were reduced to minimum as many of them were assigned on other general duties. We were all discussing the daily happening at the front line and our blood were fuming at some of the un-soldier like activities by Pak army. Our daily meeting with the Officers in charge (OIC) turned out to be blood boosters and we were all eager to be part of the action, some how.

And there we are…., I am called upstairs to the O I C and he shows me a ‘signal’ (Signal is a Military telegram send through morse coding) from the leading destroyer ship from R class, INS Rana. It says something like this… IN 574 stbd ( right side) Landing gear brace strut Pt No….. cracked. INS Rana reaching goa port with the U/s helo at ….. . Request supports for repair and replacement.

OIC writes ‘na pls’ in the signal and hands it to me. We had around 8 hrs for the preparations till the ship to reach Goa Mormugoa port in Vasco. Rana was sailing off- Mumbai and they would rush firing in all cylinders to Goa and by then we had to prepare the substitute for the cracked brace strut which connects the wheels with shock absorber to the aircraft body.

It was not the usual what we expected. Scenario is very serious. Helo is standing on support jacks. We need to replace the brace support either inside the ship hangar or we need to lift the whole hello to the jetty, by a large crane, and try replacing the strut on the jetty. Second option is not practicable because of many reasons, like arranging and setting up crane on the jetty, dangers of jacking up the helo out doors with the windy and rainy conditions etc.

We decided to go with the first option, but it had many difficulties of it’s own. The helo hanger inside the ship is a small room, which can barely accommodate the helo. The sea state even along the jetty was not good causing ship to move, even if she is tightly moored to the bollards. And jacking up the helo to almost 1 meter to offload the wheels on a moving ship is highly risky. Jacking up the helo, onboard has never been done earlier.

To know what happened later, milthe hein break ke baad….."


Over the turn of events, Papa became busy and he never got time to complete this post. But fortunately for you, he did tell me what happened next.
The Helo was successfully repaired and the ship returned to the war front. They did this on war foot and Rana went back to guard our waters near Karachi. Later it was told that NAVY's strong presence in Arabian sea prevented an escalated war.

Papa was awarded this 'commendation' by the Commander-In-Chief during the Independence Day Parade in the year 2000.


Wow...I am so proud him *pats him on his back* !

Another memory he had to share was something that happened when I was 3 years old. So, obviously, I
don't remember it. We went and lighted candles at the War Memorial, Visakhapatnam in memory of the
War Memorial, Visakhpatnam
soldiers who died during the war. This happened in the year 2001 on the July 26th.
I'm glad I have done that and I hope I will get to do it again. 

Before ending this post, I humbly request you to close your eyes for AT LEAST 2 minutes and pray sincerely for those soldiers who are sacrificing their lives to keep us safe and sound. 

Let me remind you, 2 minutes is next to nothing.
Even a lifetime of prayers is not enough.
Are you thinking how I know this? To quote Papa,
"We are ignorant about life of soldiers. So we become apathetic about it."

Think about it and the respect will come as a reflex.







With utmost Love and Respect,
Malavika.

4 comments:

  1. SO WAIT UR DAD WAS IN NAVY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!?????????????????????

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yup Elizabeth...He served in the Indian Navy for 15 years :)

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  2. MA PUMPKIN PIE ! <3 meh so proud of yur DADDY and his little gurl ! :P

    *MisssinYuhGodNosHwMuch*

    *CumBak* :D

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hahahhaha!! :) :P

      Aww man! I miss you too </3
      But don't you worry your pretty little mind ;)
      We will see each other again soon! :D

      Delete