I never could’ve imagined a night so long,
Such chaos of buzz and flash.
What deadly of a weapon a single bullet is.
I say this as I see the world around me crash.
To not see that my end is near would be foolish.
The longer I sit in this whirl of dust, the longer I feel my cold blood dripping across my uniform.
But as I hear the war cries of my men
I know that they will not fail my country’s trust.
If this diary survives to see the break of dawn,
Take this message to my Mother.
If there is a God, I grant Him my salute
To have gifted me you, who loves me like no other.
In my own small ways, I tried to become the perfect son.
I promise that I stood by what you taught me;
When the enemy stood in front, pointing at my Tricolor
I fought them back and did not run.
To my Dad, thank you is all I have to say.
Thank you for every time I was appreciated and every time I was slapped.
For every one of those prepared me to face tomorrow better than today.
As fate may have it, there are no more lessons left to learn.
As a boy I always found it difficult to say “I love you”;
But every vacation that I saw you, I wished my hero was proud of me too.
To my brother and sister send my blessings.
I am sorry I forced upon you my every order.
However, there are no two people I could be prouder of.
In my final moments, I find peace knowing that you stand guarding my country’s border.
Before reaching the end of the line
I pay my respects to my land, and the Tricolor- my country’s grace.
In a life so short I was unable to give back what I owed you,
But wish to get buried in your embrace.
For my Motherland I sacrifice all that I have.
For you, I have spilled my blood and that of the enemy.
Whenever someone tried to harm you, my brothers and I stood before them like a wall.
The only regret is that there was so much more to be done.
To be dying like a hero does not make sense to me.
But it is with pride I say that I have lived like one.
Today, I bid my final farewell praying with my last dying words to rise again in your arms.
Jai Hind.
Written by Tejas Mishra for MTTN
Pictures by Denisha Ved, Gaurangi Gupta