Had a communication class yesterday….told the class an inspiring story about an Army offr. Felt like it penning it down, so here goes. The facts of the story are more or less true, with minor modifications. As a backdrop, Siachen glacier is the world’s highest battlefield with temperatures ranging from -150C on a pleasant summer afternoon to -500C on a chilly winter evening. Soldiers get posted on a rotation basis for 3 months. The enemy there is no human, no country, but the inhospitable weather.
There is this Army officer, Capt Amit (name changed): 28yrs old, happily married, 3yr old son. He gets posted to glacier and the routine begins. In the first few weeks, no major incidences happen. One day while on a routine patrolling activity, his party gets stuck in a blizzard. On returning, they realise that the officer has a bad case of frostbite. The message for evacuation is sent immediately to base camp. Unfortunately, due to bad weather the helicopter evacuation party gets delayed by 4 days. The delay worsens the situation as the gangrene spreads further.
Two months down the line, the officer is lying on the bed, surrounded by his wife, son and others. Due to the severe infection and primarily because of delay in evacuation, he has lost his entire right leg, half his left leg and half his left hand. His commanding officer finally gets a chance to visit him and asks him how his morale was. The officer says (with a smile that makes everyone in the room so proud), “Sir, my morale is as high as that cloud I can see from the window. I’m alive…It could have been much worse…” With family support and his never-give-up attitude, Capt Amit goes on to recuperate fully, joins back and always maintains- “Don’t give up on life, and Life will never give up on you”.
The message being, life is very iffy….very uncertain….and as I keep saying (Tom Hank’s disclaimer)… "Shit happens"…and more importantly, "Life goes on.."
Ciao ppl !!
