A Befitting Tribute From One Warrior To Another : Missing You Capt Arun Jasrotia, Ashok Chakra
By
Brig Deep Bhagat , SM, Retd
You shouldn’t have died, Arun! You shouldn’t have…. You were too precious!
If you were alive today, you would have been such a fine Brigadier or a Major General, and on your way to becoming one of the finest Generals the Indian army would have ever seen. In your glorious professional journey, you would have inspired so many of us ordinary mortals, just the way you had inspired me way back in Echo squadron in NDA.
There are some people with whom one can’t help falling in love with. You were just that person. Simple, soft-spoken, amicable and so adorable. You were the epitome of an ‘Officer and a Gentleman’ that NDA aspired us to be. You were the reason for me to join NINE. I was so excited to meet you when I received my probation call. In fact, I had booked a call for you at Valley on the very first day of my arrival in the unit, only to find that all officers of the Team were out on an operation. That night you were operating in Balkul Gali in Lolab, that I remember was your favourite hunting ground.
The information you had received about the group of militants using Balkul Gali as temporary hides was accurate. It was a pitch dark, cloudy night and with heavy rains. I am sure you didn’t want to miss this Commando weather to reach Balkul Gali.
You were considered a ‘lucky’ officer in NINE. You had that uncanny knack to outsmart militants at their own game, in their own backyard. “Jasrotia Sahab doesn’t talk much. His rifle talks instead”. That was how your team boys spoke about you.
However, it couldn’t have been more unfortunate for me that you suffered severe gunshot wounds on the same night that I joined the unit, and in the same operation at Balkul Gali. My phone call could never get through to you. You fought for nine days in Srinagar’s Base hospital before bidding us goodbye. My heart and soul felt the gunshots. I felt like I lost one of my own.
The searing pain was tranquilized only by the tales your men told about you. On one occasion after you passed, a fellow Commando said to me, “Sahab, you look exactly like Jasrotia Sahab. You have the same face structure, same style of moustache & same mannerism”. That, was the complement of my life; one that I would’ve died to receive! I felt a strong gush of pride and euphoria run through me.
Arun Jasrotia was one of the first losses I suffered in NINE. The helplessness of losing him is still so palpable. It pains to even imagine getting into the shoes of his parents. Customarily, the family of NINE kept visiting Arun’s home at Sujanpur. Once, while returning from a military exercise in Bilaspur in 2001, I was passing through Sujanpur along with Capt Bhati and decided to pay a visit to Arun’s parents.
The day was 16 August & incidentally, it was Arun’s birthday. His parents had gone to the nearby school to feed the school children, a ritual they followed on his birthday every year. We waited as we chatted with Arun’s brother & sister-in-law about him and how he was fondly called ‘Happy’ at home. I was standing in the verandah when Arun’s mother opened the gate on her way in. The moment she saw me in my uniform, she started calling out hysterically – “Happy!! Happy!! Happy is here!!”. She thought her dear son had returned.
I was overwhelmed and I did not know what to do. Should I allow aunty the momentary joy she was undergoing on seeing me as if Arun was truly back, or should I break her dying heart one more time. I was shivering when I spoke with her, “I am sorry, aunty. I am Deep Bhagat. I was passing by and thought I should meet you”. I had lump in my throat and I felt terribly sorry for her. The pain of watching her in that state was excruciating. I just held her quietly as she cried, remembering her son. It was brutal, if nothing more, to go through what this lady in my arms was going through.
That day, some things became crystal clear to me. I wanted to put an end to glorifying the deaths of our men and women on duty. I decided that even the Balidan badge that we wear on our chests will not be our balidan. It will be our enemy’s balidan for his reasons. I will not let my men die. Though, naturally, there will be times when soldiers will suffer gunshots in combat, but my experience says that most of the deaths could have been & can be prevented.
As senior officers, it is our duty to arm our soldiers with best weapons; provide them with best Intelligence; plan all contingencies in detail, train hard and yet be realistic in how we train. It is our duty to ensure absolutely nobody dies on our watch!
To young officers I would insist – Let’s not take pride in laying down our lives. That’s the easiest thing to do but you leave immense misery in your wake. You are precious if you live. You will continue to contribute to the Nation in much better way. The alternative of dying will demand immense hard work, and blood & sweat on the training ground. I insist further – Question everything and get convinced in what you do. Erase this sentence from your slate – “Theirs is not to reason why, theirs but to do & die”. You will NOT die. You will live, fight and win for this country! We can’t afford losing another Capt Arun Jasrotia.
Dear Arun, You will continue to live in our hearts. Its been 26 years, and you are being missed terribly…
It was on 26 Sep in 1995 that Capt Arun became a Martyr .
