Param Vir Chakra

I recently read a book Param Vir by Major General Ian Cardozo. The book was about the Param Vir Chakra awardees of India. It was an excellent book and gave a hell lot of knowledge about the real heroes of our country. 

The PVC was designed by Savitri Khanolkar. 

So far 21 people have been awarded PVC and out of 21, 14 have been posthumous. The first person to receive it was Major Somnath Sharma in the 1947 war against Pakistani kabaylis. The last person in the list of the men of extraordinary courage and valour is Captain Vikram Batra who was awarded PVC in the Kargil War posthumously. 

Here's the link on Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Param_Vir_Chakra

The book is excellent as it as been written by someone belonging to army himself. The writer explains the techinicalities of war and ammunition used in the war. He talks straight like a soldier would and refrains from exaggeration that certainly would have been the case had it been written by some other author having the sole motive of increasing the number of copies sold.  

The heart goes out for the soldiers who did not care for their lives in the face of danger. The pride of their nation and their regiment was at stake and they did not let them down. These were the men of honour. I loved reading about Second Lieutenant Arun Khetarpal(1971 war against Pakistan) and Major Shaitan Singh(1962 war against China). 

Many years ago a serial was shown on tv titled, Param Vir Chakra. The serial was directed by Chetan Anand. I don't remember all the episodes but I do recall a few. Some eminent actors of the time payed their tributes to the soldiers by playing the characters. Below are the few names of the PVC awardees and actors I remember who appeared in the serial.

Major Somnath Sharma- Faroukh Sheikh

Naik Jadunath Singh- Puneet Issar

Lance Naik Karam Singh- Vijayendra Ghatge

Company Quartermaster Havildar Abdul Hameed- Naseeruddin Shah

Major Shaitan Singh- Pankaj Dheer

Lance Naik Albert Ekka- Anu Kapoor

Flying Officer Nirmaljit Singh Sekhon- Kawaljeet Singh

We forget our heroes very soon. I wonder if people even remember the names of Captain Vikram Batra, Sanjay Kumar, Manoj Pandey and Yogendra Singh Yadav, the men who won PVC in the Kargil war. A pension of only Rs 1500 per month is given by the central government to the widows of PVC awardees(as of March 1999). Is this the way we pay our homage and respect to the men who save our country??? Their contribution to the country cannot be measured in terms of the amount of money or the petrol pumps donated. But a lot more can and should be done for the men who display an act of courage and self service beyond the act of duty.

Probably there are a lot many who could have been awarded PVC or other medals  for bravery and courage in face of danger but probably nobody survived to narrate us the stories of these heroes. My salute to the unsung and true heroes of INDIA.