An Open Letter to Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan’s Father from an indebted Indian

Dear
Mr. Unnikrishnan,

 

You
do not know me but I owe you a great debt. It sits on my shoulder like the body
of a much loved brother, it shrouds my heart and casts a pall on all that I
do….I know not how to repay you and that is my biggest agony. I see you as you
speak to the media without a quaver in your voice, I see your wife with a broken heart and I am
lashed with a pain that has no voice. Your son died
saving my son and it weighs me down…speak to me and ask for something in
return…I will give you my blood and the very marrow from my bone! Forgive me as
I am the cause of your brilliant son fading…I did not see the enemy neither did
I recognize it and when it attacked me with the ferocity of a thousand lions, I
could only run and try to hide. I left the battle to your son and he has gone
to the soldier’s paradise. He has done his duty and asked for nothing and I am
cursed.

 

 

I
am cursed as I lie at night wrestling with sleep as images of the dead and
dying call out to me. I am cursed when I see the beautiful face of your son. I
am cursed when I look at the face of grief that is your wife. I look at my
sleeping son lying safe in his bed and I am overwhelmed. I cannot begin to
imagine what courage it takes you to get up in the morning and face another
day.

 

 

If it gives you any small iota of relief, let me tell you that
it is the sacrifice of soldiers like your son which make me hold up my head
high. It ignites a feeling of great self esteem and it is what makes me
hopeful. If we have men like your son still left in India
, then we will come into our own. These men show me a bright, shining vision of
the future and make me a believer.
Our
fat, ugly, disillusioned sorry caricatures who are our politicians who suck out
hope and glory
and tarnish all that is good in our world fail in their task of destroying our
faith. Men like Major Sandeep who live by their
ideals unflinchingly are our saviours. We see them and recognize in them a pure
spirit burning bright. They are our beacons…they shine forth like our star of hope and we
can weather all storms.

Mr.
Unnikrishnan, you are the exceedingly brave father of a lion among men. In your
grief, know this that all Indians have seen him and his faith and his love for
our country…in his death he has become immortal.

 

 

Death
will come to us all. It will carry us away leaving only our loved ones
sorrowful…your son’s funeral has made a whole nation grief-stricken. It has
made all Indians say a prayer for him and his family. It has made us sit up and
has lit a fire under us. He singlehandedly silenced Mr. Raj Thackeray with his deed. This sorry
politician’s career is over before it began…the so-called leader of the Marathi
hides his face at home when a soldier rams home his point in so direct a
fashion. Raj Thackeray was cowering beneath his bed
when “his” Mumbai was burning and the men in uniform fought and gave
up their lives for an India
they unite and protect. No talk, no rhetoric just a heroic fight to the finish!

 

 

Mr.
Unnikrishnan, if we have more men like your son then India WILL become a superpower.

 

 

I
salute you and your family.

 

 

Godbless
you all.

 

 

An
indebted Indian. 

 

Responses