Weekend Drive by Hormazd Sorabjee: A journey and a tribute
17 Mahindra SUVs. 10,000 kms. On the 25th anniversary of the Kargil War, a convoy of vehicles paid tribute to the armed forces
After ages, I found myself driving in a convoy of SUVs on a long road trip and loving every minute of it. But this wasn’t just another convoy. It was an extraordinary journey to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Kargil Vijay Diwas, India’s victory in the 1999 Kargil War.
I joined 17 Mahindra SUVs in Delhi for the last leg of the Hearts to Bravehearts drive. The SUVs had driven from Tezpur in the east, Tanot in the West and Kochi in the South, and had converged for the final run to the Kargil War Memorial in Ladakh. They’d driven a cumulative distance of 10,000 kms. The mission of this drive was to collect messages of gratitude from ordinary citizens across the country and deliver them to the soldiers that keep our borders safe.
The most poignant part of the journey, were the stops at military garrisons and cantonments, to deliver these heartfelt messages. But what I did enjoy about the convoy was the banter on the radio that each car uses to communicate with each other. It takes the monotony out of the long, featureless drives like the one from Delhi to Jammu.
On this trip, I was in the company of some genuine war heroes. Each had a captivating story from the short but intense war that India decisively won against Pakistan. Joining me as co-passenger for one stint was Captain Utpal Datta, who flew his Cheetah helicopter on missions at 26,000 feet, well above the official altitude ceiling of 21,000 feet. What was it like? “At this altitude, the air is so thin, the chopper gets very sluggish,” he says. “It’s like a six-cylinder car running on three cylinders and with no power steering.” All that kept him flying was a bottle of oxygen and an angel on his shoulder.
Colonel Rajinder Kumar Sharma, who has been awarded the Kirti Chakra, Shaurya Chakra and Sena medal, is one of the most decorated soldiers along the journey. He showed me his shrapnel wounds from fighting the enemy at close range. “I still have some copper fragments in my body!” he says.
The mix of emotions on this drive is something I have never experienced. The joy of soaking in the beauty of Kashmir. The thrill of powering up the iconic Zoji La pass in my Mahindra XUV700 in the pelting rain. Experiencing the heart-wrenching ceremonies at the Kargil War Memorial on the 25th anniversary of #KargilVijayDiwas. Looking at Tiger Hill and Tololing, one of the flashpoints in the 1999 Kargil War, which the Indian Armed Forces took back in a pivotal battle, it’s hard to imagine what could have been if we lost. The Srinagar-Leh highway, the lifeline of Ladakh would have been cut off. In fact, Pakistan had shelled the very highway we were driving on!
The one thing I have learnt from this rally is never to take our armed forces for granted. Now every time I go to Ladakh, I will look up at the mountains and think of our brave soldiers patrolling these inhospitable heights just to keep us safe, so that we can enjoy this wonderful part of our country that is heaven for road trippers.
From HT Brunch, August 03, 2024
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