Today’s flavour of woke liberal messaging, writing poems about the suffering of soldiers and their families. Trying to paint a picture, as if in India only poor people go for forces because they have no other options, and are now forced into conflicts at the whims of elites.
People living in their bubbles, who actually never had any first hand knowledge of the real scenario, only they can form such opinions. They probably heard ‘Fortunate son’ for its lyrics rather than its fantastic riff. Why wouldn’t they, they are intellectuals after all. But our intellectuals have no idea how India is. All they have learnt about the military life scenarios is through hollywood media.
India is not a military state with perpetual wars. We don’t send people on deployment overseas to protect our ‘interests’. We don’t have an oversized military, which has to chase recruitment targets, and carry out marketing when it falls short.
Our military is genuinely for our homeland defence. We actually have one of the lowest active personnel to population ratio, close to very peaceful demilitarised nations. And on achieving recruitment targets, one has to spend a day in selection camps to see it. To see how many want to join, but how few are ultimately selected. The candidates aren’t from some destitute backgrounds either. They come from good families, be it urban or rural. In fact a poor kid making through becomes news in the area.
They go through the grind of difficult selection and training, not because they have no other options, but because they want this life only. They are there to prove their mettle. They seek glory, they walk the path of honour. They are the Kshatriyas, the protectors of society, and they have chosen this life.
But what our woke poets are doing. They’re infantilizing the warriors. In their own timid bubbles, they are so divorced from human experience, that they can’t fathom that some people would volunteer to risk their lives for greater good. The concept of bravery is alien to them. And through this ignorance, they deny our soldiers the very thing they seek.
Growing up, I wanted nothing more than serving the motherland in that uniform. But a few attempts later, I realised I was not going to make the cut. And since then, I haven’t really felt much dismay on missing out, I did end up flying anyway. But, there are occasions, when I’m hit with ‘what ifs’. This is one of those scenarios. These are the times which anyone joins the forces for.
Don’t pity the brave. Pity the cowards who can’t even honour Balidaan with a straight spine. Be the citizen worth fighting for.
Think It Yourself 