A Great Martyr ever Cherished – Kannada Summary

Introduction : (We often come to know from the newspaper accounts how our young soldiers aspire to live and die for our country. They are ready to sacrifice everything. Here is a profile of a young soldier who gave up his life at the age of 25. People live and die, but continue to live for ever in the hearts of patriots. Read on to know and cherish the memory of such great souls.)
ಪರಿಚಯ: (ನಮ್ಮ ಯುವ ಸೈನಿಕರು ನಮ್ಮ ದೇಶಕ್ಕಾಗಿ ಬದುಕಲು ಮತ್ತು ಸಾಯಲು ಸಹ ಹೇಗೆ ಬದ್ಧರಾಗಿರುತ್ತಾರೆ ಎಂಬುದನ್ನು ನಾವು ಆಗಾಗ್ಗೆ ವೃತ್ತಪತ್ರಿಕೆ ಪ್ರಕಟಣೆಗಳು/ಲೇಖನಗಳಿಂದ ತಿಳಿದುಕೊಳ್ಳುತ್ತೇವೆ. ಅವರು ಎಲ್ಲವನ್ನೂ ತ್ಯಾಗ ಮಾಡಲು ಸಿದ್ಧರಾಗಿರುತ್ತಾರೆ. 25 ನೇ ವಯಸ್ಸಿನಲ್ಲಿಯೇ ತನ್ನ ಪ್ರಾಣವನ್ನು ತ್ಯಜಿಸಿದ ಒಬ್ಬ ಯುವ ಸೈನಿಕನ ಒಂದು ವಿವರ ಇಲ್ಲಿದೆ. ಜನರು ಬದುಕುತ್ತಾರೆ ಮತ್ತು ಸಾಯುತ್ತಾರೆ, ಆದರೆ ದೇಶಭಕ್ತರ ಹೃದಯದಲ್ಲಿ ಅವರು ಎಂದೆಂದಿಗೂ ಅಮರರಾಗಿ ಇರುತ್ತಾರೆ. ಅಂತಹ ಮಹಾನ್ ಆತ್ಮಗಳ ಸ್ಮರಣೆಯನ್ನು ತಿಳಿದುಕೊಳ್ಳಲು ಮತ್ತು ಪಾಲಿಸಲು ಮುಂದೆ ಓದಿ.)

“The sand, like life, slipped away forever… as he continued to live on”.
“ಜೀವನದಂತೆಯೇ , ಮರಳು ನಿರಂತರವಾಗಿ ಜಾರಿ ಬೀಳುತ್ತಿತ್ತು… ಅವನು ಅಮರನಾಗಿ ಜೀವಿಸುತ್ತಲೇ ಇದ್ದನು”.

1. Enter the Haneef Uddin household and a warm smile will beckon you to step right in. But that’s all the smile can do as it beams from within the confines of a picture frame. A mere memory – painful and brave – the smile belongs to the twenty-five-year-old martyr lieutenant Haneef Uddin. As you take a deep breath and try to avert the pain that comes from knowing of a young life cut short, you will notice a large picture of snowcapped mountain peaks of the Turtuk sector in Kargil, now called Sub-sector Haneef in memory of Haneef Uddin’s bravery.
   ಹನೀಫ್ ಉದ್ದೀನ್ ರವರ ಮನೆಯನ್ನು ಪ್ರವೇಶಿಸುತ್ತಿದ್ದಂತೆ ಮುದಗೊಳಿಸುವ ನಗುವೊಂದು ಸೀದಾ ಮನೆಯೊಳಗೇ ಹೆಜ್ಜೆ ಹಾಕುವಂತೆ ನಿಮ್ಮನ್ನು ಸೆಳೆಯುತ್ತದೆ. ಆದರೆ ಒಂದು ಚಿತ್ರದ ಕಟ್ಟಿನ ಒಳಗಿಂದಷ್ಟೇ ಬರುತ್ತಿರುವ ಆ ನಗು ಅದಷ್ಟಕ್ಕೆ ಸೀಮಿತ. ಅದೊಂದು ನೆನಪಷ್ಟೇ – ನೋವಿನಿಂದ ಕೂಡಿದ ಹಾಗು ಶೌರ್ಯತೆಯ ನೆನಪು – ಆ ನಗು ಇಪ್ಪತ್ತೈದು ವರ್ಷದ ಹುತಾತ್ಮ ಲೆಫ್ಟಿನೆಂಟ್ ಹನೀಫ್ ಉದ್ದೀನ್ ನದು. ಆ ಯುವ ಜೀವನ ಅಷ್ಟಕ್ಕೇ ಮುಗಿದುಹೋದ ಅರಿವಿನಿಂದ ಉಂಟಾಗುವ ನೋವನ್ನು ತಪ್ಪಿಸಲು ನೀವು ಆಳವಾದ ಉಸಿರನ್ನು ತೆಗೆದುಕೊಂಡು ಪ್ರಯತ್ನಿಸುತ್ತಿರುವಾಗಲೇ, ಕಾರ್ಗಿಲ್‌ನ ತುರ್ತುಕ್ ಸೆಕ್ಟರ್‌ನ ಹಿಮಪಾತದ ಪರ್ವತ ಶಿಖರಗಳ ದೊಡ್ಡ ಚಿತ್ರವೊಂದನ್ನು ನೀವು ಗಮನಿಸಬಹುದು, ಅದನ್ನು ಈಗ ಹನೀಫ್ ಉದ್ದೀನ್ ಅವರ ಶೌರ್ಯದ ನೆನಪಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಹನೀಫ್ ಉಪ-ವಲಯ ಎಂದು ಕರೆಯಲಾಗುತ್ತದೆ .

2. Perhaps Haneef Uddin, or ‘Khalifa’ as his friends called him, knew what he would be able to give to the nation. Which probably explains why Haneef Uddin, who hailed from a family of musicians, chose to join the army. Perhaps Haneef Uddin also knew that life for him was short and so needed to repeatedly remind himself of his mission. One can only surmise from a flash card, found amongst his belongings, which simply said, “We change lives”.
   ಬಹುಶಃ ಹನೀಫ್ ಉದ್ದೀನ್, ಅಥವಾ ಅವನ ಸ್ನೇಹಿತರು ಅವನನ್ನು ಕರೆಯುವಂತೆ ‘ಖಲೀಫಾ’, ತಾನು ಈ ದೇಶಕ್ಕೆ ಏನನ್ನು ಕೊಡಬಲ್ಲೆನೆಂದು ಮೊದಲೇ ತಿಳಿದಿದ್ದರಬಹುದು. ಸಂಗೀತಗಾರರ ಕುಟುಂಬದಿಂದ ಬಂದ ಹನೀಫ್ ಉದ್ದೀನ್ ಸೈನ್ಯಕ್ಕೆ ಸೇರವುದನ್ನೇ ಏಕೆ ಆರಿಸಿಕೊಂಡರು ಎಂಬುದನ್ನು ಇದು ವಿವರಿಸುತ್ತದೆ. ಬಹುಶಃ ಹನೀಫ್ ಉದ್ದೀನ್ ಅವರಿಗೆ ತಮ್ಮ ಜೀವನವು ತುಂಬಾ ಚಿಕ್ಕದಾಗಿದೆ ಎಂಬುದರ ಅರಿವು ತನ್ನ ಗುರಿಯನ್ನು (ಉದ್ದೇಶ) ಪದೇ ಪದೇ ನೆನಪಿಸಿಕೊಳ್ಳುವ ಅಗತ್ಯವನ್ನು ಉಂಟುಮಾಡಿರಬಹುದು. ಅವರ ವಸ್ತುಗಳ ನಡುವೆ ಸಿಕ್ಕಿದ “ನಾವು ಜೀವನವನ್ನು ಬದಲಾಯಿಸುತ್ತೇವೆ” ಎಂದಷ್ಟೇ ಹೇಳುವ ಒಂದು ಸಣ್ಣ ಕಾರ್ಡ್ ನಿಂದ ಯಾರಾದರೂ ಇದನ್ನೇ ತರ್ಕಿಸಬಹುದು.
   
3. Fate had ensured that Haneef Uddin would battle with hardships from a tender age.When he was just eight years old, Haneef lost his father who had been an artist associated with the National School of Drama. Left to take care of three young boys, Haneef’s mother Hema Aziz, a vocal artiste, would often have to leave Haneef and his brothers alone, as she travelled with the performance wing of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry. Recalls Hema Aziz, “I had a touring job and was out very often, and the kids became very responsible, getting up and getting ready for school without my having to tell them… I didn’t have to tell them in so many words but my going to work without excuses gave them the message that one’s duty is the most important thing in life.”
   
4. While Haneef’s elder brother Nafisuddin went on to become a teacher and was at the JD Tyler School, New Delhi at the time of the tragedy, his younger brother took to composing music on his Casio. Haneef would often team up with him on the drums.
   
5. An introvert, Haneef began to make friends only by the time he was 14 years of age. He would often go out of his way to help people because that gave him a certain kind of joy. “In fact, this was the quality his seniors recounted when they came to meet me after his death,” explains his mother.
   
6. And he was able to reach out to all. Hema mentions that a 77 year-old gentleman, who paid a condolence visit to Haneefuddin’s house, recalled how Haneef had approached him with some queries related to Sufism.
   
7. Haneef was a student of Kerala School in New Delhi and had applied to the army when he was graduating from Shivaji College, New Delhi. Yet, Haneef, didn’t know much about the army. “The only exposure my sons had was through me, as I had often gone to the forward areas on performances for the Armed Forces Entertainment Wing.”
   
8. However, six months into the Indian Military Academy (IMA) training, the gentle Haneef was a changed man. “During those days he used to write to me about how tough the training was. I particularly remember him telling me that they had to take a ‘Mussourie bath’ at midnight. I suppose it was some kind of cold water bath at midnight,” remembers Hema. Post-training, Haneef joined the 11 Rajputana Rifles and was posted at Jaipur and then at Siachen, just prior to the Kargil war of 1999.
   
9. Yet, life for Haneef was always ‘ekdam bindas’: He dabbled in art, sketched very well, made beautiful cards out of waste material, read a great deal and lovedplaying the drums. Which is why the officers at the Raj Rifs (as the army terms the 11 Rajputana Rifles) made him get all his instruments from Delhi and form the music group, now called ‘Haneef’.
   
10. While there was not enough time to rise up the ranks as he had dreamed, another of Haneef’s wishes did come true when the sub-sector was named after him. As a young officer, Haneef had once told his mother how a post – the Nanasing Post – had been named after a brave soldier.
    
11. So his bravery does live on in the air of the cold mountains and on the plains. A scholarship now exists in his name and his family has started a school in Kullu under the Haneef Foundation.
    
12. Despite the pain and loss, Haneef has earned his family a glory that will see them through the years. It is this pride that has made Hema Aziz politely decline the Indian army’s compensation offer of a petrol pump.

“There are some families whose sole bread earner is gone. They need it more,” says this mother of a martyr.