Dhairya Toggoli

We parked our bikes in front of the house painted in pista. There were some cars parked around. But still it seemed to be very calm and quiet. That was one among the very few houses in ISRO Layout, Yelahanka, Bangalore. We Five got down from our vehicles and walked towards the gate. The video clippings that appeared in the news channels flashed in my mind. We opened the gate, kept our foot wears near the steps and rang the doorbell. A middle aged man wearing traditional dress opened the door for us.

"Namste. We are coming from Marathahalli..." I spoke. He invited us to the drawing room. There we saw few people sitting on chairs and the person who opened the door whispered "That is his father..." Again the news clippings came to my mind, I tried to compare the man sitting in front of me with the one I had seen in Television. He looked very different. He was calm, cool and tried to smile. Against our expectations he wore a Tshirt and trousers and had a shaven face. "Please sit down..." He spoke in a deep hard voice. We had planned to stand outside and express our support, if we were not let inside.

He was watching some English news channel waiting for an interview of DG, NSG.
"We are all software engineers. I am the only Keralite among us." I started.
"No matter whether you are Keralite or Kannadiga, you have travelled all the way to see us. I am sure that none of you belong to any charity organisation neither do anyone know Sandeep. This is the kind of Moral support we need now." Sri Unnikrishnan spoke his heart.
We all presented him a smile covered with grief.

"Are your family members in Bangalore?"
"I settled here 40 years before. We are seven. Most of them are in Calicut. I am the eldest among all. "
"He is my younger brother ... " He pointed to the man who opened the doors for us.

I saw a small teapoy kept in one corner of the room near the door to a bed room. A photo of Maj.Sandeep was kept over it. In front of the photo was kept a small pot covered with white cloth. Might be the holy ashes of that great warrior. The flags of Indian Armed forces were kept crossed near that.

"It is a personal loss, what ever you say" He broke the silence. "But I won't tell that he has done the greatest sacrifice. There are people who have done sacrifices of the highest order, but we don't know them. There was a person who joined NDA for Officer training. Before completion of the training the Kargil war broke out. He volunteered to go to the battle front and captured 7 enemy tanks. They adorn our Army offices now. He became a martyr in the war. A ground in NDA was named after him. My son had undergone enough training from NDA, then the commando training, and what all he needed. Where does his sacrifice stand in front of others? Being my son I should praise him and I am really proud of him, but we don't know the sacrifices done by many..." These words of a courageous and humble father who has lost his son for the cause of the society delighted all of us. Our hearts filled with pride and the mantra of "Bharat Mata Ki Jai".

"Neither me nor my son want to be branded as a Keralite or Kannadigs, we are Indians..!"

Each one of us remained dumb. I had heard the most touching words in my life. The brave father of a brave son.

"When we lost him, the CM of Karnataka came here. He just patted on my shoulder and told "Dhairya Toggoli" (Have courage). That was enough than a big official condolence message or any other offers. I am totally against the ideology of his party, but he came here and told that much inspite of me being a Keralite."

He expressed regret for what ever happened with Kerala CM, who visited the house on the day he had cremated his son....!!

We could hear his mother sobbing from the room near by.

"What ever be done, this fanaticism should end. We should not tolerate any kind of fanaticism, even if it is LTTE or any anti National forces." Words of nationalism from a person who was ready to sacrifice his dear one, still concerned about the Nation and the society.

He talked more about the ugly politics going on in the country, and Kerala especially. He even being the son of a hardcore Communist, condemned the killing of a teacher in front of his students. He couldn't accept man killing man in the name of politics.

Almost an hour had passed. We thought of returning. I asked him whether we can see the mother. He lead us into the room near by. Near the door was kept the holy ashes. We all remained there for a moment in prayer for that noble soul. We entered the room. On the bed sat the veer Matha of the 'abhinava Abhimanyu'. Her eyes were dry. Around her sat some ladies consoling her. We bowed her telling "Namste". She also replied the same. Our faces were speaking our heart. We came out of the room. Once again bowing in front of his holy ashes we were about to leave.
"Are all the rituals over ?"
"My relatives has taken a part of his ashes to native to perform the rituals. We haven't decided what to do with the rest. The Ministry of Defence will have a decision on that…"

He thanked us for visiting...
We walked out with our souls blessed.

Police jeeps came and stopped in front of the gate signaling the arrival of some VIP. We started back on our vehicles...