‘Operation
Khukri’ is a documentation of a peacemaking mission in Sierra Leone. More than
that, it portrayed the life of a soldier,
how this mission emerged, how his family effected by this twist, full of longing
and sorrows, and while the mission progressed, how 233 Indian soldiers faced
death without food for close to three months and finally chose to die fighting
than hunger.
According
to Punia, forces of 17 countries took part in this mission. Among them, only
Indian army decided to stay and fight against Revolutionary United Front (RUF)
rebels of Sierra Leone, for around 80 days.
Readers
get chance to absorb this book through the perspective of Major General Punia
and his daughter Damini, who co-authored this book as well. Father-Daughter duo
dedicated this courageous book to Havildar Krishan Kumar, who is the only soldier,
Indian army lost during mission.
In
an introductory part, Damini provides some insights about bravery and heroic
tale of soldier’s life. She stated "It is truly unfortunate that people
are not aware of an operation that transpired a year after the Kargil War, an
operation where soldiers chose death over cowardice, dignity over two meals and
honor over freedom"
Although,
Sierra Leone is the wealthiest place in the world, with an abundance of the
best grade diamonds, Sierra Leone lacked basic amenities like electricity and
tap water, even in the national capital, Freetown. Nearly 30 per cent of its
population was amputees because of the civil war that had gripped the county
for over a decade.
In
2000, UN took a step and initiated a peace-making mission; the two agencies of
Indian Army were deployed in Kailahun. But this intervention couldn’t come out
as they planned; somehow it turned into warfare between Indian Army and RUF
Rebels.
‘Every
RUF soldier in the DDR camp had faced such terrible experiences as part of the
RUF that merely hearing about those incidents was enough to send shivers down
our spine. One face among hundreds that stood out was of a young boy named
Moomba, who was barely fifteen years of age. He had been forcefully picked up
by the RUF from his home in Pendembu almost five years back, and as a part of
the ‘Uniform Presentation’ drill, he was forced to shoot a man at the tender
age of ten.’
‘Operation
Khukri’ is about the story of survival among odds, gritty tale of those superheroes
who dedicated their lives to motherland. One can even fall in love with their determinant
journey. Apart of telling valiant facts about mission, Punia painted a world of
a normal family life, he wrote a touching scene where he has been leaving his
family behind “I could see the eyes of my better half well up. She held back
her tears, and her silent serenity was loud enough to shake my soul to its
core.”
Amid
of that, he ponders over the behavior of his kiddo, who is trying to act like
an adult as he was going to become the only man of his house for three years, that
too out of choice. Those little nuances of normal life, really added vivid colors
to this book.
The
only thing I felt needed an improvement was on editing front. This book could
have done wonder if it were more crisp and focused. All in all, what not to love about patriotic
stories, hmm? This book will definitely leave an impact on the life of Indian readers.
Operation
Khukri is published by Penguin India and You can buy this book via Amazon
(Link).
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