July 1999,the news of the first Kargil casualty among those we knew reached my ears.i hugged dad and cried for a really long time and then sat and prayed to God with all the faith of a nine-year old-please please pleeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaase don't send my daddy to Kargil!God was kind,he listened.Dad's regiment was apparently not full enough!Thank God for limited Kumaoni population!

The same overwhelming feeling got to me when i saw Maj. Sandeep's mother begging her husband to let her plant one last kiss on her dead son.her baby,her only child,her pride and joy now lying wrapped up in the Indian Flag.i don't remember the last time i cried so hard for another being.

In the India-Pakistan Friendship Community on Orkut,a furious blame game is going on.Indians blaming Pakis for obvious reasons and Pakistanis defending themselves by saying India should improve her security system as well.both are right and yet both are wrong.the irony is almost too much to bear.

It's a vicious circle that refuses to end.and i doubt if we have enough brave men to fight it out till the last.