Dear Soldiers,

Writing this letter to you on behalf of the millions of youth from our country. Independence day would be the best time to talk what I have always felt deep down in my heart.

You fight there against enemies of humanity; stand there tall on the top of the mountains, in bone-dry deserts, you fight without fearing bullets, you fight, leaving behind your own family. I can’t even think of all the sacrifices you make for our country, for all of us.

Riots in the country, we call you..

Terrorists in the country, we call you..

Floods in the country, we call you..
We call you always, always when we are in trouble. When we think we can’t handle it. When we are afraid to death, when we think the task is huge.. You, my mighty soldiers take things under your control and then we take a breath of relief, because we know once issues are handed over to you, no matter how complex and difficult they are, they will be handled properly.

It often hurts, looking at the fact that we don’t remember you when we are happy, when we celebrate, when we enjoy festivals.  We want you to take away our troubles but we don’t share our joy with you.

(We are selfish, aren’t we?)

My brave soldiers, you fight on the land, you are skilled like an eagle to fly and conquer the sky, and you are maintaining peace where ocean tides roar. You not only fight with the enemies of our nation. You stand and survive in living circumstances we wouldn’t even think of. May it be Ice cold mountains, Hot and cold deserts or deep down oceans. Your watch is everywhere.

Our patriotism is no match to the courage and conviction you have. Our patriotism is temporary, it erupts only twice in a year.  We update Facebook/Twitter statuses, buy flags, stick them on our clothes, get some temporary tattoos on skin, a couple of martyr hailing songs and max watch a patriotic movie (not to mention we have fun utilizing the holiday). This is hardly any patriotism; more show off than the real feeling.  From very next day, we are back to old routine, patriotic songs can rest till next year.

I am writing this open letter to you, to humbly say.. “SORRY”.. for everything, for ignorance to what you have always done for our nation. My dear friends, I want to let you know that we respect what you all do for us, what you sacrifice, we are proud of you, your uniform, we are proud of your mighty chests carrying scars of your bravery and we are proud that no enemy ever sees my soldier’s back.

All I can do is , I can hail you, I can salute you for everything, I can give u my humble apology for getting too busy to express my gratitude to you, by writing and sharing this open letter, I can try to add some more sensitivity into myself and my friends.

Pen is mightier than sword, only when sword protects the pen.

My mighty soldiers,  THANK YOU !!!!!!!
Happy Independence day.

– Gaurav Pande