Best homecoming for BSF jawan Purnam Shaw in 17 yrs of service
Rishra: Homecoming for Border Security Force (BSF) jawan Purnam Shaw has never been this sweet. Literally so. Sweets have been pouring in from all quarters. His mother ensured her son's favourite rasgullas were there before he arrived in Rishra on Friday.
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His sisters, who stay in Kharagpur and Durgapur and came to meet him, also brought packets of sweets. Several other relatives and even neighbours have dropped by to greet the man who acquired national fame after being held captive in Pakistan for a fortnight.
Purnam strayed across the international border with Pakistan at Ferozepur on April 23 and remained in the custody of Pakistan Rangers until May 14, when he was repatriated to India.
'During the captivity, there were times when I doubted if I would ever be able to see my parents, wife, and son again. It was a fortnight, but to me, it seemed an eternity. Being a soldier, I will be back on duty as soon as I am summoned. But the experience of being behind enemy lines when the two countries were at war is something I will never forget," he told TOI after finishing lunch late on Saturday afternoon.
Purnam returned to duty at Ferozepur barely two months ago and would have returned in Aug during the holy month of Sawan and the Rakhi festival had he not ventured into Pakistan last month.
"When I was posted in Kashmir, we had to be very careful because crossing the line of control could mean being fired at. That is not so in Ferozepur. Here, there are posts at intervals to demarcate the international border. I was somewhere between two posts and still don't know how I managed to cross the line or what was going on in my mind that I did not realise I was trespassing," he said.
But he is glad the nightmare is over and that he is now safely back home.
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The welcome he has received has been overwhelming. "I have done duty at many challenging places in the past 17 years since I joined the BSF, including Guwahati, Tripura, Nagaland, and Manipur in the north-east, Malda in West Bengal, and Kashmir on the western front, and now Punjab. But this homecoming has been unlike any one I have had before," Purnam told TOI.
Though it has been over 24 hours since he returned home, the constant stream of visitors and well-wishers has meant that he is yet to get time alone with his parents, wife, and son. But he does not mind the adulation, as he says it was everyone's prayers that enabled him to return home. When the excitement dies down and the spotlight shifts, Purnam wants to thank his wife Rajani for being so courageous during his ordeal and travelling to Pherozepur to meet his commanding officer and press for his release from Pakistan.
"She is pregnant and has been advised rest. But she set out for a strange land in my search. I never knew she was this brave," remarked Purnam.
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