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Journalism of Courage
The men in uniform are posted at the borders, far from their families and friends and the bustle of Diwali. What reaches them are messages of support and, in at least one big package, the taste of sweets from Pune.
A city-based organisation, Sainik Mitra Parivar, started their Diwali celebration a month before by collecting sweets from NGOs and individuals to be sent to jawans at the borders. “We appeal to schoolchildren to create messages for the soldiers that will inspire them. Our aim is to express gratitude to the soldiers during the festive season,” says Anand Saraf, a retired bank officer from the city and founder of Sainik Mitra Parivar.
This year, the organisation collected more than 1,200 kg of sweets. These were sent to soldiers stationed “from Kashmir to Kanyakumari, from Bhuj to Arunachal Pradesh”. “We make boxes of three kg each to be sent to the jawans,” says Saraf.
This Pune tradition, however, was born out of tragedy. In 1996, Major Jawed Swali Bakali, who belonged to Kedgaon village of Ahmednagar, was killed after fighting militants in the Kupwara district of Jammu and Kashmir. The Indian Army said that “he was a committed soldier and a brave officer who led from the front and laid down his life in the service of the nation”. Maj Bakali was honoured with the gallantry award, “Sena Medal” for his exceptional courage, fighting spirit, and supreme sacrifice.
Saraf was moved by the incident when he read about it in the newspaper, and his first response was something should be done “unka samman karne ke liye (to pay a tribute to them). A tribute event was held in Pune, with Major Bakali’s mother as an honoured guest.
In the months that followed, Saraf began to spread awareness about the sacrifices made by soldiers and a need for public appreciation. With like-minded individuals, he carried out a “Border and Battlefield Study Tour”, which was arranged by the Southern Command in 1997, to the Kashmir border. He gave almost 1,200 lectures to school and college students, senior citizens, mahila mandal and NGOs on “sainik ke liye hum kya karenge? (What can we do for soldiers?)”. “We discussed that, during festivals, we could merge our celebrations while remembering our soldiers,” he says.
The initiative has resulted in sending parcels of sweets and other mementos to the soldiers on Diwali, Raksh Bandhan and Sankranti. “We started the tradition in 1997 and haven’t missed a single year. What we have been told is that the soldiers deeply value the gifts that we send,” says Saraf.
