Almost 50 years after his death, a soldier continues to serve the Indian Army!!! Yes... It's TRUE.
Barely 25 kms from Jalandhar (an hour ride by motorcycle), in the neighbouring district of Kapurthala lies a village named "Kuka". It's no ordinary village, as it plays host to probably one of the greatest real life stories the country has to offer.
At the village, finding Baba's house is very easy. Everyone seems to know where he lives. The house lay on a narrow earthen street off the main village road, made of brick and concrete surrounded by high walls. Visitors, internationally known media people always drop by unannounced at any time of the day, "especially when he is there on leave". In his room, lies a photograph of Baba at one corner, broad shoulders in his olive green Army uniform. With barely the trace of a beard, he looks younger than you would expect. On the bed, a new uniform is laid out. His shoes and slippers lay at the foot of the bed, along with a pair of snowshoes (which get changed every year).
Every time he comes home, a berth on a train is reserved in Baba's name and two soldiers accompany him on the journey back from the Sikkim border. They travel with him to Jalandhar, where an Army vehicle waits for his arrival. It's adorned with four nishan sahibs, the flag that marks any Sikh religious shrine.
He arrives on 16th September, every year from New Jalpaiguri, and stays at the Army gurudwara with his regiment that happens to be posted at the Jalandhar Cantonment. The next day, he is driven home. Mid November, the same vehicle takes him back to join duty in the distant mountains.
We are speaking of a man who had been dead for nearly 50 years. Baba joined the Punjab Regiment on 9th Feb 1966 & became a part of the 23 Punjab Regiment when it was raised in October the same year. Its first field posting was in the mountains on the Sikkim border with China. On 4th Oct 1968, while escorting a mule column, he slipped and fell into a glacier near Nathula Pass. He was the first casualty of the regiment.
Shortly after his death, Sepoy Harbhajan Singh appeared to a colleague in a dream & asked that a samadhi be constructed in his memory. Soldiers who patrolled the mountainous border with its icy crevasses & sudden avalanches started seeing him in their dreams. His prediction of the dangers that awaited them, or so the story goes, as well as his warnings 3 days earlier about Chinese intrusions in the area proved correct over and over again.
The belief grew that the spirit of Baba Harbhajan, as he was now being called, was still patrolling the border. The Army started treating him as he were alive. It helped morale in an area where troops had to patrol the snowbound borders at heights above 4,000 meters. Over the years, like any serving soldier, he was assigned living quarters, clothing, given annual leave and awarded promotions.
His samadhi today is a shrine which attracts devotees from Sikkim & Bengal. In 1987, a memorial was constructed in his name, and a Baba Harbhajan Singh mandir followed soon after.
The most extreme stretch of the Indo-Chinese border is given to him to patrol on his own. It is usually the most difficult part of the terrain which usually is not accessible even to Army troops & in the dreams Baba has always promised that the troops will have a 72-hour warning before any untoward happening. Army records also show that, when he goes on leave, additional troops have to be deployed and pulled back when he returns in November. During the flag meetings between the two nations at Nathula, the Chinese even set aside a chair aside for the Sepoy, who now is officially set to retire as a Major. The office of Baba's regiment, The 23 Punjab Regiment confirms the story. The regiment also credits their victory in the battle of Longewala, portrayed in the Hindi film BORDER, to their greatest Soldier of all time i.e. Baba Major Harbhajan Singh.
#Incredible INDIA...
Wiki Reference Link :-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baba_Harbhajan_Singh
No comments:
Post a Comment