SILIGURI, JULY 13: More than 7,000 km away from Kargil, a long convoy of more than 100 vehicles on national highway 37 transporting an entire brigade out of Manipur had been brought to a halt due to an overturned oil tanker blocking the traffic.The soldiers were restless. ``Why are we waiting?'' shouted one of the jawans after almost an hour-long wait on the road. Their collective apprehension was about not being able to reach the battlefront on time.The convoy included some civilian trucks carrying arms, ammunitions, rations, utensils and administrative infrastructure. Even the unit's temple was on the move, the idols kept in two jongas and four jawans holding on to the deities.No one was sure where exactly they were heading but each hoped that they were moving towards the battlefront.``This is an opportunity of a life time,'' Sepoy Amrinder Singh said grinning.Their immediate destination was Rangia in Assam, the headquarters of the 21 Mountain Division. ``We only know that we are boarding train in Rangia to go outside,'' said Jaisevak Rana brushing aside a mild reprimand from a fellow soldier.Impatiently pacing up and down for the road to clear, they give vent to their anxiety. ``Many of our colleagues retired without ever going to war. This is a grand opportunity. We have donned the uniform for this and we are dying to go there to do something for our motherland,'' said Jiwan Ram, another jawan.``Let's pray we are going to Kargil. Pakistan has to be taught a final lesson,'' said Binen Basumatary sitting on top of a truck and tightly holding on to his weapon, an SLR. On the way, he will be passing by his home but was not planning to drop in. ``Let's reach Kargil first. Then, dekha jayega''.They managed to curb their enthusiasm and fell silent as some of the officers approached.The superiors were cautious about revealing the exact nature of the troop movement against the backdrop of reports about militant organisations like the ULFA monitoring troop movements and relaying the information to the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) of Pakistan.
