Voice of the Silent Ranks – Part 1

Most of you must be knowing , what the Silent Rank means. For the ones who don’t , here is the definition. These are those breed of brave women who marry men in uniform. They silently wear the invisible badges and perform the duties of a mother , spouse , father , daughter in law as well as the son in law , single handedly. So here my friends , this write up is dedicated to my beautiful mother.I clearly remember that year , when my dad ( A retired colonel from the Indian Army ) was posted in Avantipur , which is part of the scenic Jammu & Kashmir. Me , my mother & my two young sisters stayed in Jalandhar during his field tenure. As far as communication is concerned , we were not as privileged as we are today . Receiving a phone call from my dad was a lengthy affair due to security challenges. Every Thursday around 6 pm he would call from a satellite phone at the Army Officer’s Mess in our unit . Words would fail to explain the restlessness my family would undergo every day till this special day of the week , when we made this contact with him . At the same time , we would hear of soldiers brought dead to their families every now & then , from the terrorist inflicted parts of Jammu & Kashmir . Bodies of these soldiers would shout out the kind of torture they underwent before they were killed. Few would have their ears missing & others would have their hands. The list was endless. My mother along with other ladies would accompany these bereaved families & support them through various programmes initiated by AWWA ( Army Wives Welfare Association) . My mother used to put up a very strong face infront of her 3 little girls and would happily go on through life. I always knew in my heart that she portrayed this strength only for us . She was our hero.Then one Thursday , while we all were anxiously waiting for that one call from my dad , time just clicked away. It was 2 hours since we had been waiting. The call never came that day. None of us slept that night and I heard my mother weeping silently in her bedroom. I still get goosebumps thinking about it. After 6 long days of no word from my dad , we got that one call from his commanding officer stating that a group of terrorists had destroyed all communication lines , hence they were not able to contact anyone outside. He assured that everything was fine. We still were restless , since we had not heard my dad’s voice. Finally on the 10th day we got a call from him & I still remember that we all broke down over the call .

This is an account of one of the stories from my life. I salute the strength , spirit and perseverance of these Silent Ranks .