There are jawans who carry on the tradition after their fathers have retired from the army, like the young Gorkha sepoy whose father was a drill instructor and gave march-past training to the athletes in the 1982 Delhi Asian Games and was called 'Jhandey Saheb.'The officers are expected to know their men by name, even by their number; also know their families and solve their problems -- human factors that go on to build lasting trust.
Far from the comfort and security of our homes, these men live by a separate creed. Where a decision gone wrong can mean death, where trust has no frivolous interpretation; it can simply mean 'I will die for you.'
This corridor between these two famous rivers is very important from the military point of view since King Porus' time. It has seen every war with Pakistan," says Colonel Kulvir Singh, who has been twice awarded the Sena Medal for gallantry.The colonel commands a bird's eye view of a beautiful landscape that goes into Pakistan. Through binoculars, the enemy posts are visible and in the distance are poles that flash when the current is switched on."500 metres beyond those flashes lies Pakistan and this side is us. We have to dominate these heights," says Colonel Singh as he explains the strategic points on the LoC.
The men manning the border say the winter has largely been incident free.But peace lies behind a thin veil on the Line of Control, something that can be shattered any time. Down the road traversed by soldiers, two IED blasts have taken place in the last two years. In 2001, five soldiers going home on leave were killed in an explosion.
Guarding a hostile border is a tough task, more so with the shortage of officers and men in the Indian Army. An infantry battalion in a field area is authorised 22 officers including a doctor, but due to the shortfall, battalions carry on their duties with fewer officers.
Across lies an old adversary, as old as the Indian nation, whose mind can't be judged. "He can open fire anytime. Hell breaks lose when things start," says an officer, "Though it looks very calm, it can explode any time and the soldier has to be ready for that."