Hearts of Steel: Love's Labour Lost

While war raged with full fury on the peaks, the personal lives of soldiers were undergoing a sea change. The soldiers climbing the peaks preferred not to think about their families, which they at times thought could weaken their resolve to “do or die” in the mission. But they were human beings fighting a war. Living with them and wading through the ocean of camouflage fatigues, I realized they were not just figures—six soldiers in a patrol missing... 36 soldiers of a Platoon dead or injured... 820 soldiers of a Battalion inducted ... These were men, with hearts that beat and emotions that churned inside their camouflage jackets. But stern faces and the steely look of determination in their eyes never let those feelings show.

The nation did not know that while Major Joy Dasgupta of the 18 Grenadiers led the assault on Drass heights, his heart was fluttering with happiness. He was to get engaged soon. In fact, his Commanding Officer, Colonel Khushal Thakur, an officer who always led from the front himself, had promised young Dasgupta special leave to go home and get engaged if he recaptured the Hump beyond Tololing in Drass. It was an operation that seemed next to impossible, given the strong defences of the Pakistani troops on the treacherous mountains. In fact, even before Dasgupta went for the assault, he lost half his troops to enemy artillery attack. His orders were to abort the mission and return. But to obey would have meant fresh preparations and further delay.

Dasgupta pressed on and led the assault. He hid behind boulders, climbed when the enemy attention was diverted by his troops giving covering fire from behind another feature. Dasgupta reached the Hump and took the enemy by surprise. He lobbed grenades inside their bunker and shot them dead as they scrambled out. His troops took over and destroyed other bunkers and the Hump was captured.

Colonel Thakur was honour-bound to speak to the 8 Mountain Division Commander, Major General Mahinder Puri. The Major General too was impressed by the youngster’s bravery and sanctioned special leave. Dasgupta reached home. But what happened back home in Hyderabad shocked him.

“In Hyderabad, the girl I was supposed to get engaged to, said that she did not want to get married to a coffin. She had heard that 18 Grenadiers were in active battle in Tololing and Tiger Hill and turned down the marriage proposal,” said the dejected Major. His comrades-in-arms tried to console him saying that if a girl could not accept him it was her loss. She lost out on a war hero. Dasgupta would smile, but just about. He had not stopped carrying her photograph even though his friends tried to hide it from him.

Sitting in their camp at the Huliyal village on the way to Mushkoh Valley, officers of the 18 Grenadiers would tell Dasgupta to find a beautiful hill girl and get married. In the cold nights, as everybody sat tucked inside sleeping bags with a hide kerosene lamp burning, brother officers would draft newspaper advertisements for the ‘Wanted Bride’ column. Wanted a bride for a war hero (could end up in a coffin). “Tall and dark (not really) but handsome (certainly) and very daring. Contact Major Dasgupta, 18 Grenadiers, C/O 56 APO.”

Laughing till their sides hurt, the officers would dodge Dasgupta’s kicks. “Hey Sawant, you are a newspaper man. Have this advertisement published free, okay,” officers would tease and Dasgupta sheepishly murmured his no-nos. “All is fair in love and war,” is all he would say.

The army too was trying its best to accommodate the lovers. Calls coming for soldiers on dominating heights were actually put through to them. One of the lucky receivers was Captain Vishal Thapa of 16 Grenadiers. The Shola, as he is called, met his girlfriend through All India Radio’s (AIR) Forces Request programme. “At 16,000 feet, there is not much to do at times. So we tune into the radio. Here this girl was sending messages for us, fighting in Kargil. So when I spoke home, I asked my cousin to send in a request to befriend her on my behalf, giving my name and address. And she responded. Then I would send in a letter and gradually we even got talking,” the officer said.

He gave her his Drass phone number and she began calling. And then he succeeded in receiving calls from his “girlfriend” in Pune at his post above 16,000 feet, courtesy the army, of course. “She would call the military exchange in Drass and ask for him. The call would then be transferred to the internal line which links the headquarters to the top by a landline,” he said. What Thapa did not tell but his friends “ratted on him” was the fact that each time she called, he would request the intelligence unit officer on duty to either shut his ears or keep the headphones away and not listen to their conversation.

The scene was different for a friend and senior, Major Ajit Singh. The intense 31-year-old was not so lucky in love. A favourite with his troops and popular with senior officers, Singh, however, was too involved with the army or so the lady supposed to be waiting back home, thought. Same was the case with Captain Arun Singh in the war zone. Though engaged, his wedding date was put off indefinitely. “The girl in question was candid. She said that though she loved me, she did not want to marry a body bag or a cripple. So here I am”, he said, smiling cynically. This, of course, has had one positive effect. “All the anger and frustration is coming out on the Pakistani soldiers who flee seeing young, angry army men advancing,” joked the commanding officer of one of the units. The boys laughed but the pain was evident in their eyes.

And it poured out after a drink or two when the biting cold and the gushing winds would no longer hit us when we stepped out of the wind-proof tents. And then the sessions would begin. Even the HEER round, the entire flight trajectory of which was visible like a rocket flying in through the air, looked romantic to the lovesick Romeos. “Go HEER go. Kill the enemy so I can return home to my love,” a young Captain whispered at night as the Bofors shell plastered some Pakistani gun position miles away.

From Dateline Kargil: A correspondent’s nine-week account from the battlefront by Gaurav C. Sawant (Natraj Publishers, www.natrajbooks.in). Edited excerpt reproduced with permissions.