Insomnia by Rachna Bisht Rawat

Author:Rachna Bisht Rawat [Rawat, Rachna Bisht]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9789353059729
Publisher: Penguin Random House India Private Limited
Published: 2020-10-05T00:00:00+00:00

The Siachen Rescue

On the Siachen glacier—named after the pink sia blossoms that bloom across Ladakh in the summer months—another long winter had fallen. Movement between the Siachen base camp and Point 4212 had ceased and would resume only when the summer sun melted the snow next year.

No flowers bloomed in Siachen. A perpetual blanket of thick snow ensured that all life lay smothered. At this time of the year, the blanket got thicker, hiding the mouths of crevasses and obscuring the edges of precipices to the extent that it became impossible to tell where a man could step safely and where the snow would give way under his feet, sending him hurtling down to a painful death.

Point 4212 was a winter-cutoff post, which meant that it got snowed up during winter, and even helicopters could not fly there to drop rations and medical supplies. Every September, food and kerosene were stocked up at the post, emergency medicines distributed and emotional hugs exchanged between the soldiers stationed at the air-maintained base camp and those who were to man Point 4212. A team of seven would then begin its long journey across the icy terrain, walking for nearly six hours, to reach the small fibre-glass hut that was going to be their home through the rest of winter. For these soldiers, it would be the longest six months of their lives. The falling snow would completely cut them off from the rest of the world. Only when the snow melted in March, and a new lot was here to replace them, would they trek back to the base camp and eventually head home.

During these lonely months spent in subzero temperatures, the soldiers derived warmth from two sources: a kerosene bukhari that burnt inside their fibre-glass hut 24/7; and Madhuri Dixit in a yellow sari, smiling at them from a poster on the wall. The vagaries of the weather had caused the sari to fade in places, but the magic of her smile was intact and it still possessed the power to take the chill off frozen hearts.

The only visitors to Point 4212 during this lonely stretch were Pista and Pisti, two large and friendly Gaddi strays, who lived in the base camp, camping near its cookhouse most of the time, drawn by the aroma of fresh rotis being tossed on the heavy iron griddle and cauldrons of meat simmering in the langar. Over the years, they had been trained to carry letters to Point 4212 for a reward of fish and meat. Having completely adapted to the hostile weather, they were light-footed despite their size and experts at navigating surface ice that could easily crack under a man’s weight.

Every week, when a friendly Cheetah helicopter dropped down parcels of letters meant for the soldiers, along with gunnysacks of food and medicine at the base camp, the mail for Peak 4212 would be carefully sifted out and tied around the dogs’ necks. The two would immediately head for the post, knowing that tinned meat and a warm welcome awaited them there.

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