Courage and Conviction

Normally i do not share posts
on any news item, except covid scenarios, but today i want to talk about Lt Nikita Kaul.

I am sure most of you must have seen or read a news about her yesterday that how she became a lieutenant .

Lieutenant Kaul, originally a resident of Kashmir, was married to Major Vibhuti Shankar Dhoundiyal for just nine months when the news of him making the supreme sacrifice for the nation during a gunfight with Jaish-e-Mohammad militants turned her world upsidedown. The Major was among five security forces personnel killed in the February 2019, Pulwama attack.

Army’s Northern Commander chief Lt. Gen. Y.K. Joshi himself pipped the stars on her shoulders at a simple ceremony held at the Officers Training Academy, Chennai, and wished her best of luck for future endeavours

Why i am sharing it here is because I don’t watch news but i had seen a  pic , long ago in a  newspaper after the Pulwama attack, of a young woman looking at the face of her husband in the coffin.

I don’t know why but that blank look and sad face  made me cry , for many days. I felt so much pain in her eyes and i felt that her world shattered,  a new bride losing her husband . (Or may be my defence background made me feel more for her)

Everytime i used to feel upset in my life over not so important issues, her face used to flash in front of my eyes and i used to think how she must be. 

I didn’t know her  name or even of her husband  (yeah that easily we forget people who sacrifice their lives for our safety)😔

Yesterday though one my journalist friend,  (whom i know since my college days and we both used to cover defence for our respective organisation), put up a whatsapp status mentioning that Nikita we are proud of you. 

I felt sudden restlessness and i googled who is this Nikita and damn she was the same girl,  who’s face i couldn’t forget for so many years.

I was so elated and surprised to see that she chose to walk the same path of her husband. 

After her husband’s death she left her job in an MNC , Delhi and started preparing for SSC exams and now after cracking all exams and one year of rigorous training she is a proud Army officer.

How happy her in laws and the soul of her departed husband must be feeling. 

Her words at the funeral of her husband were ” I am really proud of you. We all love you. The way you love everyone is entirely different because you sacrificed your life for the people who you may have never met, but still you decided to give your life for them,”

It is not easy…she was young, she could have easily chosen to move on in her life with a secure job and supporting family, but she chose the tough path. Because she LOVED.

She loved her husband,  his mission,  her country. And the result is now evident.  

Her strory made me realise that how courage gives conviction and conviction leads to goal.

She stood up for what she believed and she could do that due to her conviction . She gave up her comfort,  made  a goal and walked in that direction with single minded focus, external or material pursuits could not shake her faith in what she was going to pursue.

I wish we all could have this kind of faith and conviction..and work towards our goal.

Her journey inspired me.

Here is the pic

From that sad face to proud smile:

I am a cry baby, i cried then and i cried yesterday too..i can cry for people whom i have never met and  i can’t see them suffering much. I feel helpless. 

I cry when people are mistreated,  i cried my heart out  when arnav goswami got released from jail or when Irrfan khan died a week after his mother passed away….i simply cry…..i feel so much pain…

Have you experienced something similar or am i the exception types?

Thanks for reading.