Either I will come back after hoisting the Tricolor, or I will come back wrapped in it, but I will be back for sure.
Capt. Vikram Batra, PVC (posthumous)
“Veer nari” (or woman of courage)—that’s what a military widow is called in official parlance. A veer nari is defined as the widow of an armed forces member who has laid down his life for the nation, whether in war or in a military operation. Putting forth a poem by Ms Lakshmi Mini.
She believed his words,
Lakshmi Mini
“I’ll soon return”,
He wasn’t a liar,
For he did return.
But this time, wrapped in tricolour,
He glorified his absence ahead!
Veernari they call her,
A martyr’s wife she is.
Who resumes a battle,
Her beloved leaves behind!
Do you hear her plea?
See the uncertainty of her future?
Brimming in those helpless eyes!
Responsibilities crawl up,
They are now stacked on her shoulders,
She never crumbles or tumbles,
Faces the nation that once cried with her,
With undying memories,
She makes her tears invisible,
She chooses to move on,
She fights the battle all alone,
With no stars, stripes, uniform, boots,
Veernari’s determination and courage is worth a salute!
But even as we praise the valour of our martyred soldiers, we are blind to the profound grief of the war widows. Yes, these brave women are proud of the sacrifice of their husbands, but they are also staggering under a colossal loss and some are struggling for succour because of illiteracy and lack of awareness. As a society, we have to take care of these families because we owe the safety of our nation to them.
Jai Hind!
Lakshmi Mini, is a Senior Research Associate of DRaS and a Global Shaper from Coimbatore hub, an initiative of World Economic Forum. She is currently the leader-partnership and initiatives with Gohuddle. She is an alumnus of Karpagam College of Engineering,Coimbatore (2007-2011). She is a passionate writer and start-up mentor who had worked for corporates like Infosys, SocialPulsar, Hashtag Inc, Sourcegain, Altaire innovations and has mentored many startups. She has been an active mentor for Google techstars start up weekend at NIT Trichy (2019) and was the mentor of the winning teams then. She is an active volunteer who focusses on women empowerment, Skill up India, Education of underprivileged, farmer welfare, Go Green initiatives, Animal welfare etc. Her creative writing works were published at Australian times and other platforms. She is a certified Cybercrime Intervention Officer under ISAC (Information Sharing and Analysis Centre) and an Advocate of workplace ethics offered by Clean Exit in collaboration with AICTE . She is also into scriptwriting, ideation, lyrics writing for movies. She is currently associated with various NGOs/NPOs.
