Eager to rejoin mates at front
By Amarjit Thind
Tribune News Service

CHANDIMANDIR, Aug 6 — "Losing comrades in action is a heart-rending experience but giving medical attention, consoling him and firing at the same time is also a part of the soldier's duty on the battlefield."

"The only thing that matters there is not losing one's nerve in the face of heavy shelling and ducking from a murderous hail of bullets. In my case, I had pulled my injured colleague, who had been hit in the chest by shell splinters when I too was hurt by splinters. My consolation is that he survived and that he too would have done the same for me," says Grenadier Rajesh Kumar of 18 Grenadiers who was injured while capturing Tiger Hill (Dras sector). He is convalescing at Western Command Hospital.

A resident of Gohana, Haryana, the 25-year-old suffered multiple fractures to his jaw and also received splinter injuries on his left leg and thigh. He is likely to be discharged soon and is eager to rejoin his mates stationed on the front.

Recalling the events of July 3, he said their company, comprising 70 to 75 men, were ordered to start the ascent to the hill which was heavily fortified and of immense strategic value for the safety of the surrounding areas. The enemy could spot all their movements in Dras from the heights.

"At about 3.30 p.m. we were briefed about the assault, asked to start from the base camp and begin the ascent from the steep face of the hill. I was heading a section (10 men) which had been detailed to lead the entire company. The going in the dark was hard and arduous but the determination in the men was unflagging. The terrain was such that if at one stretch it was smooth going, we encountered stretches where even a mountain goat would be afraid to go.

"We were nearing the ridgeline and since the ascent had to be carried out during the night only, we halted the next day. As night fell, we covered the rest of the distance to the top and spotted five to six bunkers.

"The enemy had by this time spotted our movement but had not opened fire. My men and I were inching our way towards the bunkers, taking whatever cover was available when the infiltrators opened up with everything they had. I was hardly 200 yards from one of the bunkers. The time was 5. 30 a.m.

"A hail of fire from medium machine guns (MMGs) and other small arms stopped us in our tracks. All of us took cover and returned the fire, but two men were hit as they were caught in the open and could not find adequate cover. One of them received a burst on his forehead and died on the spot. The other was hit in his chest by a splinter from a rocket launcher.

"As we did not budge from our positions, the enemy artillery began pounding the area we were holding on to. It seemed that everything around us was exploding.

"Even as the shelling picked up intensity, I ran and pulled one of the injured men to the relative safety of a rock and was administering him first aid when a shell landed nearby, the splinters of which injured me. I was evacuated by the other men and brought to the base hospital from where I was shifted to Srinagar and then brought here for convalescence," he recalled.

Belonging to a family of farmers, he had been drawn to men in olive green since childhood as a large number of residents were in the Army. Father of a one-year-old daughter, he wants to be on the forefront if the hostilities flare up once again. "Anything for the motherland", he adds with pride.

Eclipse visibility to be in narrow range
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Aug 6 — The August 11 total eclipse of the sun would be visible from within a narrow corridor which passes through the eastern hemisphere.

The path of the totality begins when the moon's umbral shadow touches down on the earth at 09:30:57 in the North Atlantic Ocean, about 700 km east of New York city. Moon's shadow then sweeps across the Atlantic and reaches England's south-western coast, and quickly traverses the English Channel.

The umbral shadow then passes through the Normandy coast in France, the track running through the French countryside. The shadow swings across Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany. Residents of Stuttgart and Munich will enjoy the totality for over two minutes in the morning hours.

The umbral shadow later passes through Austria, Hungary, Yugoslavia and Romania. Bucharest stands squarely on the centre line.

The eclipse then reaches Turkey's northern coast and continues travelling south-east. afterwards, the eclipse track begins to narrow and the duration of the totality drops as the shadow's trajectory takes it through Iraq and Iran. By the time umbra enters southern Pakistan, totality at the centre line lasts less than 1.5 minutes. A rare opportunity for 5 million residents of Karachi comes who would experience a late afternoon total eclipse of one minute and 13 seconds.

The eclipse track then enters India, the last nation in its path, passes just south of Ahmedabad where a partial eclipse of magnitude of 0.997 occurs. The city of Vadodara lies just on the centre line and its residents would be able to observe the totality for about one minute. The umbral shadow then passes over the city of Akola in Maharashtra and then over Andhra Pradesh.

The shadow traverses through Indian sub-continent shortly before the sunset, the duration of the totality being below one minute. Sweeping over the Bay of Bengal, the umbra leaves the earth's surface at sunset and would not return until next millennium on June 21, 2001. Over the course of three hours and seven minutes, the moon's umbra travels along a path of approximately 14,000 kilometres.