This poem has been composed by a fourth generation, 24-year old career officer in the Indian Armed Forces, spurred by the report of the Sixth Pay Commission and an insensitive article written by a 'respectable' denizen of the country in a national daily on the armed forces and the pertinence of the Sixth Pay Commission therein. This free-flowing verse has not been edited; it's to ensure that the originality of the angst is maintained. After all, when you are in pain, the language of expression is the last thing in your mind.

'How you play with us, did you ever see?
At Seven, I had decided what I wanted to be;
I would serve you to the end,
All these boundaries I would defend.

Now you make me look like a fool,
When at Seventeen and just out of school;
Went to the place where they made 'men out of boys'
Lived a tough life sacrificed a few joys!

In those days, I would see my 'civilian' friends,
Living a life with the fashion trends;
Enjoying their so called 'College Days'
While I sweated and bled in the sun and haze.

But I never thought twice about what where or why
All I knew was when the time came, I'd be ready to do or die.
At 21 and with my commission in hand,
Under the glory of the parade and the band,
I took the oath to protect you over land, air or sea,
And make the supreme sacrifice when the need came to be.

I stood there with a sense of recognition,
But on that day I never had the premonition,
that when the time came to give me my due,
You'd just say,' What is so great that you do?'

Long back you promised a well to do life;
And when I'm away, take care of my wife.
You came and saw the hardships I live through,
And I saw you make a note or two.

And I hoped you would realise the worth of me;
but now I know you'll never be able to see,
Because you only see the glorified life of mine,
Did you see the place where death looms all the time?

Did you meet the man standing guard in the snow?
The name of his newborn he does not know...
Did you meet the man whose father breathed his last?
While the sailor patrolled our seas so vast!

You still know I'll not be the one to raise my voice
I will stand tall and protect you in Punjab Himachal and Thois.
But that's just me you have in the sun and rain,
For now at Twenty Four, you make me think again;
About the decision I made, Seven years back;

Should I have chosen another life, some other track?
Will I tell my son to follow my lead?
Will I tell my son, you'll get all that you need?
This is the country you will serve,
This country will give you all that you deserve?
I heard you tell the world ' India is shining',
I told my men, that's a reason for us to be smiling

This is the India you and I will defend!
But tell me how long will you be able to pretend?
You go on promise all that you may,
But it's the souls of your own men you betray.

Did you read how some of our eminent citizens
Write about me and ridicule my very existence?
I ask you to please come and see what I do,
Come and have a look at what I go through.

Live my life just for a day
Maybe you'll have something else to say?
I will still risk my life without a sigh
To keep your flag flying high
But today I ask myself a question or two
Oh India, Why do I still serve you?

If you have to die, do so around Delhi or Mumbai.

The passing away of the only Indian to be appointed Field Marshal when in active service has been remarkable for the warmth of the ordinary men and women, who queued up to say meebeenamet to the adorable dikra who put his life on the line for them.

It has also been remarkable for the complete lack of grace and gratitude, civility and courtesy, decency and decorum on the part of the bold-faced names rapaciously grazing the lawns of power in Delhi and elsewhere, for the brain behind India's only decisive military victory.

Sam, the Bahadur, had been unwell for a while now. From about 1000 hours on June 26, reports of his being "critically ill" had appeared in the media. Yet, when the "expected tocsin" sounded at 0030 hours till the guns were fired in salute around 1500 hours on June 27, "civil society" chose to show its incivility.

- Pratibha Patil , the commander-in- chief of the armed forces with all the time in the world: Absent

- Hamid Ansari: Vice-president releasing books and writing reviews of books by fellow-travellers: Absent.

- Manmohan Singh , the prime minister who could do with a bit of the field marshal's charisma and heroism: Absent

- Sonia Gandhi : daughter-in- law of the woman the field marshal called "sweetie": Absent

- L K Advani: prime minister in waiting of the party which would like to do to Pakistan what Manekshaw did: Absent

- M Karunanidhi and Surjit Singh Barnala: chief minister and governor of the state which Manekshaw had made his home for 35 years: Absent.

Politicians may have their reasons. They always do. Maybe, there are issues like protocol. Maybe, this is one way in which 'civil India' shows the armed forces its place. Maybe, this is why we are not as militaristic as Pakistan. Maybe, the knees are just too old to climb the hills.

But what about the armed forces itself?

· A K Antony: the defence minister 'now behaving like the chairman of the confederation of the armed forces' trade unions: absent 'due to prior political engagements'.

· The chief of army staff: absent (away in Russia )

· The chief of navy staff: absent

· The chief of air staff: absent

The fact that the defence minister was represented by his deputy Pallam Raju, the fact that the navy and air staff sent two-star general rank officers, shows that however high or mighty, however rich or powerful, civilian or military, if you should die as you must, you should do so somewhere in the vicinity of New Delhi - or Bombay.

Or else, they must have some use for you. Or else, too bad…

As he rightly surmised once: "I wonder whether those of our political masters who have been put in charge of the defence of the country can distinguish a mortar from a motor; a gun from a howitzer; a guerrilla from a gorilla -- although a great many of them in the past have resembled the latter."

The contrast couldn't be starker:

· When Amitabh Bachchan was ill after being socked in the stomach during the shooting of Coolie, Indira Gandhi flew down to Bombay to show her concern.

· When Dhirubhai Ambani died, L K Advani cut short his Gujarat tour to pay his respects to an 'embodiment of initiative, enterprise and determination'.

· When Pramod Mahajan was shot dead by his brother, Vice President Bhairon Singh Shekawat had the time to attend the funeral.

Our VIPs and VVIPs have time for dead and dying celebrities, charlatans, fixers. Not for a field marshal?

In his biography, K M Cariappa, the only other field marshal India has had (and who too died at age 94), writes of his father's cremation in May 1993:

"Honouring him in death as they did in life were Field Marshal Manekshaw, the three service chiefs all of whom belonged to the same course and at whose passing out parade from the joint services wing father had presided, the gracious chief minister M Veerappa Moily and C K Jaffer Sharief, Minister for Railways representing the President as the supreme commanded of the armed forces."

Somebody should have told the geniuses in Delhi that Sam, the Bahadur, passed away in Wellington, Ooty, not Wellington, New Zealand. The nearest civil airport is Coimbatore, just 80 km away.

If this is how we say goodbye to Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw, any wonder why Rang de Basanti could successfully tap into the angst of an entire generation?

With Love from Patriots Forum - Letter to Director, NCERT

To
Prof. Krishna Kumar
Director,
National Council of Educational Research & Training (NCERT)
Ministry of Human Resource Development,
N.I.E. Campus, Sri Aurobindo Marg,
New Delhi -110016


Sub: Request for refraining from including the questionable findings of Sachar Committee Report, already challenged in Delhi High Court, in the books of School children - the matter being sub judice.

Sir,

This is with best compliments from the Patriots’ Forum.

To introduce ourselves briefly, the Patriots’ Forum is a voluntary orgnisation of like-minded people pledged towards upholding India’s civilisation ethos and identity. A brief note on the Forum is attached. More details could be found in our website www.patriotsforum.org.

We have had the occasion to see a news report appearing in the Delhi edition of the Hindustan Times on May 29, 2008, with the title “Sachar Chapter on Muslims in syllabus” It has been stated interalia in the newsitem:

Quote (.)
Sachar Chapter on Muslims in syllabus

In a move that can cause political ruffling, the National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has included a chapter in class VIII social science text book on Muslims not benefiting from country’s social and economic development.

The chapter refers extensively to the Sachar Panel report on marginalisation of Muslims in India. …………………

It is apparently for the first time that a chapter on marginalisation of a particular caste or a religious group has been included in NCERT text books taught in thousands of CBSE schools in India.
(.) Unquote.

A copy of the newsitem is also attached for ready reference.

As it would be seen from the copy of the ‘Rejoinder’ referred to in the attached note, the Forum found the findings of the Sachar Committee, reportedly referred to in NCERT’s new text books, to be seriously flawed, even to the extent of not acknowledging facts on the ground. The Sachar Committee in particular did not, in spite of the Forum pointing out, take into consideration the following important facts:

i) That in 4 globally recognized human development indicators, namely, Infant Mortality, Child Mortality, Degree of Urbanisation and Life Expectancy at Birth, Muslims are far better placed than the Hindus.

ii) That the real reasons for lower per capita income of Muslims are two. First, according to Census 2001, every Muslim woman is giving birth to at least one more child than her Hindu / Christian counterparts due to which the dependency burden on Muslim households / breadwinners is much higher. Second, due to diktats of Mullahs and religious leaders of the community. The work participation of Muslim women, as per Census 2001, is nearly 50 percent lower than the work participation of Hindu and Christian women - the ratios being 14.1% for Muslim women, 27.5% for Hindu women and 28% for Christian women. It further reduces the total income of Muslim household.

iii) Instead of advising the Muslim community and their leaders to opt for small family norm and allow their womenfolk to come out of burka (i.e., veil) for participating in productive activity and nation building, the Sachar Committee has taken recourse to making recommendations for giving them totally unmerited benefits outside the purview of the laws of the land and the Constitution of India as such.

iv) In an important Seminar held in the prestigious Indian Institute of Public Administration, New Delhi, Prof. Sanjay Kumar of Centre For Study of Developing Societies, had established on the basis of a survey that there was no, repeat no, difference in the economic and educational status of Hindus and Muslims. He further, concluded that available data further proved that the proportion of the “very poor” persons was higher in the Hindu community than among Muslims.

Not finding any way out, as again explained in the attached note, the Forum filed before the Delhi High Court a PIL against the implementation of the recommendations of the Sachar Committee Report. The Honourable High Court of Delhi has taken due note of our submission and has posted the matter for hearing on August 21, 2008. A detailed update on the PIL has also been attached to the note. It deserves to be highlighted that apart from pointing out serious flaws in the recommendations of the Sachar Committee, it has also been pointed out in the PIL that the constitution of a religion specific committee, i.e., for the Muslim Community alone, was a flagrant violation of Article 15 of the Constitution which expressly forbids any discrimination on ground of religion or gender. The Honourable Bench of the Delhi High Court has apparently taken due note of the contents of the PIL, as you may like to see from the observations of the Bench, as quoted in the attached update on the PIL.

In any case, the entire matter of the Sachar Committee is now subjudice. You are, therefore, requested to kindly refrain from including any reference to recommendations of the Sachar Committee in school text books of NCERT, as reported in the press, till the decision in respect of the PIL. The Forum will be grateful to know that its submission has reached you and in order due consideration.

We do hope you will treat the matter with the serious it deserves.

Thanking you,

Yours sincerely,



(D.C. Nath)