One from the heart, fatherless kids donated piggy bank money to Kargil

Time of India

5 hours ago

Chandigarh: Two children, Srishti (8) and
Akshay
(5), in faraway Indore broke their piggy banks as the war raged on the Kargil heights. Missing their father terribly, who had passed away in a tragic accident in 1994, the children offered all they had in savings to the soldiers, each donation amounting to a Rs 2 currency note.
Hand-made cards by the two children for the soldiers were added to the offering that sought no reward or hankered for any recognition. Their young mother and an educationist, Namrata Ramkrishnan, added a small sum from her side and wrote a hand-written letter to then COAS Gen. VP Malik on July 27, 1999, as a homage to the soldiers. That reached the battling soldiers soon enough, striking at that time an emotional connect of the citizens of India with the guardians of its volatile frontiers.
It was their blood that draped the forbidding snows, there were many other children like them whose young fathers had fallen in battle.
That letter surfaced after 26 years when Malik, since retired and settled in Panchkula, pulled it out from his archival treasures and posted it on his social media handle. That post reignited memories, triggered a wave of nostalgia for an era gone by, and generated tremendous goodwill for the Indian Army fresh from its latest bouts during Op Sindoor.
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Malik also posted the official reply he had written to Ramkrishnan on Aug 4, 1999, as also the one penned by then GOC, 8 Mountain Division, Maj Gen Mohinder Puri, UYSM, to the Ramkrishnans on Aug 15, 1999.
Such was the overwhelming response created by the surfacing of the three Kargil letters that netizens immediately got down to the task, traced out the Ramkrishnans and secured their elated, grateful replies on Malik's post.
As an enraptured netizen commented: "Wow, it's almost like some stuff from Harry Potter. A magic circle is now closed."
The Ramakrishan children's innocent, thoughtful and generous gesture recalled the parable of the Buddha, who accepted the offering of half a mango from an old lady with both hands as she had given all she had and without expecting any reward, unlike the wealthy and the kings. "When the Kargil War broke out, I told stories to my children of the challenges that our soldiers faced battling at those daunting heights and weathering those icy climes.
I wanted to introduce the concept of the Indian Army to them in a positive manner. My children were very moved by the Kargil stories. At that time, there were a lot of donations and greetings being sent to the soldiers. My children asked me if they could contribute their piggy bank savings to the soldiers," Ramkrishnan, who is now settled in Bengaluru as an educational consultant with her daughter, Srishti, a corporate lawyer, told the TOI.
Her son, Akshay, is a mechanical engineer working with Apple Inc in the US.
In that letter, Ramakrishnan, who was bravely battling her ordeal as a young widow, wrote to the COAS on July 27, 1999: "My children are deeply moved by what our soldiers have done for our country. They have lost their father in an accident when they were very little and I am trying my best to inculcate good values in them. I am sure that you will understand and appreciate that they don't know the value of money as yet and hence the small amount is enclosed from their own piggy banks.
"
In response, Malik wrote back to Ramakrishnan on Aug 4, 1999, stating: "I am deeply touched by the sentiments ... Also moving is the gesture by your children of sending their piggy bank money ... I can only wish that every young mother in the country would bring up her children in the manner in which you are doing." A few days later, the young kids were thrilled that Puri replied to them from the smouldering battlefield, stating: "The contents of your letter and good wishes expressed by your children have been disseminated to our brave jawans who have successfully thwarted the attempts of intrusion by the Pak army in our territory.
We are all overwhelmed by the sentiments expressed by you and your children."
The posting of the Ramakrishan letter on social media by Malik evoked fond memories of that era when people would take pains and burn the midnight oil to draft hand-written missives, and preserve them, too, like Malik had. A postman's son and netizen, wrote on Malik's post: "As the son of a postman, I can understand what feeling used to be poured in letters during Kargil War."
Truly, these heartfelt letters to the battlefield carried the soul of the nation.
Recalling those eventful weeks of war, Puri, who retired as a Lt Gen and Deputy COAS at Army HQs, told the TOI: "I distinctly remember that letter and piggy bank money. People were sending us droves of letters, and thousands of 'raakhis' for our soldiers with silver threads. I remember that when our soldiers read those missives of love and goodwill, they were happy, proud and motivated, and it energised their morale.
They felt that the entire nation was emotionally connected with the war effort and had stood by them.
Kargil was a very evocative battle, fought in those beautiful snow-bound ridges and carrying novel battle site names like Tololing, Tiger Hill, Pari ka Talaab, Sando nallah, Batalik, Shangruti, Chorbatla, etc. All over Drass, bloomed those magical yellow roses. Media coverage had brought the battle to the living rooms creating that unforgettable connect, as were the solemn public funerals of fallen soldiers and officers.
Unlike the recent four-day war, which was waged as a non-contact battle and citizens did not get a glimpse."
Delving on her thoughts and feelings that drove that gesture nearly 26 years ago, Srishti wrote: "My brother and I, too young to truly grasp the value of what we were giving, emptied out our piggy bank - coins we'd been saving for months - wanting to help the soldiers we'd heard so much about. We added hand-drawn cards, our childish way of saying thank you to the brave souls defending the country. There's something incredibly moving about that - knowing that a small act from two children, guided by their mother's quiet patriotism, stayed with someone who led an army through a war.
Some letters stay alive, even decades later."