With Independence Day weekend looming, I am reminded of the words of the parents of a Kargil hero who died in those snowy peaks, Capt Vikram Batra.

The heroes of today

With Independence Day weekend looming, I am reminded of the words of the parents of a Kargil hero who died in those snowy peaks, Capt Vikram Batra. Capt Batra's father G L Batra had said, "The history of such martyrs must be included in the school curriculum. After all, these are the heroes of modern India."

That is a significant statement. Today, when we think Independence, the older freedom fighters and political leaders come to mind ufffd Gandhiji, Bhagat Singh, Sarojini Naidu. And with no disrespect meant to them, one does not know how much of a chord they touch for younger people. It took a Munnabhai movie to revive Gandhigiri (it has become a fashion statement now) and these names have become chapters in history books.

The world we live in today and its concerns are of relevance to younger people. The Independence though seminal, was a time far removed for the younger set. Today, newspaper headlines scream Kashmir and separatism; Kargil captured the national imagination and encounters along the Line of Control, these are the wars that we fight today.

We need to be more familiar with the glory and the heroes that are part of the current wars. Including them in the school syllabi is one way of doing that. The postal department can think of using their faces on postage stamps, the new freedom series. What about the Black Cats and soldiers who were exceptionally gallant during the 26/11 attack? Who will write their story?

While the terror attack has spawned a couple of books, there is nothing really on the faujis that died or even fought what undoubtedly is the new avatar of war, a fight that we all are in. We now identify more with freedom from the terrorist, rather than freedom from the British. There have been attempts at glorifying these heroes but these have been sporadic and far between. An educational curriculum including these martyrs is a great idea; it should be factual unlike stories passed on verbally, much embellished and sometimes liberally laced with fiction.u00a0u00a0u00a0

Maybe, somebody from the defence forces (a retired officer) or even the parent of a fallen fauji needs to take the initiative and push it through the education department. Let this be a tribute to those for whom this Independence Day is not a day to munch wafers and lie on the couch watching the parade in Delhi on TV but battle bullets in Jammu & Kashmir.

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