To you a lot we owe

For you my audacious Indian soldiers

I write this ode:

Here we are in the serenity of life

There you are protecting us day and night

Brave as tigers keen as hawks

Guarding our motherland from between cliffs and rocks

In the arid terrain

In the capricious weather

Strutting boldly

You fight relentlessly

Ardent for nothing but victory

Like a mosaic you yoke together

Of caste and creed you don’t bother

In the pernicious times

Solace to us you give

Considering your opponents as trivial

You turn them into rubble

You are invincible and bold

A lot of adulation for you we hold

You have made the tricolour shimmer throughout the globe.

Taking your onus with pride

May you always have victory at your side.

This feature was published on August 7, 2004