Upholding the Price of Valour ...for a Lifetime

Phanidhar Sonowal who served in the Indian Army as part of The Brigade of The Guards regiment in the late 1960s and early 1970s lives a quiet and unassuming life in a remote village of the Tinsukia district of Assam today.

When THE SENTINEL contacted his son in law Bijit Saikia it was learnt that Phanidhar Sonowal who born in 1938 suffered a grievous injury in the war of 1971 that resulted in an amputation of the toe and fingers on his right leg. His hearing powers too have completely vanished. So how did this happen? "My father in law who was then a young strapping man was trundling through thick snow in the Kargil region. He along with his comrades were on the trail of the enemy. It was December and hence one can easily imagine the ferocity of the blizzards and the sheer depth of the snow on ground. In times of war one has to travel by foot on treacherous terrain for countless hours and in this particular case the scenario was no different, recounts Bijit Saikia.

Finally a physically weary but mentally unfatigued Sonowal found his leg trapped in snow states Saikia. "All attempts by his comrades (through sheer might and the ammunition they had at their disposal)

to free him from the trap went in vain for the initial hours. The cold was so excruciating infact that his feet numbed. Finally he was freed from his trap but alas unable to move, " shares Saikia and adds, "Eventually when first aid and a medical team arrived to his camp they ascertained that although the leg would resume its mobility soon the fingers and toes of the right leg (that had been stuck in snow ) had to be amputated.

This was not all. While the war was going on there were numerous defeaning sounds (essentially caused by gunshots and intermittent bombings). "I presume that when my father in law was lying motionless in the camp after the snow accident his blood pressure must have shot up. Anyway whatever the reasons might have been the defeaning sounds around him cause a rupture in his blood vessels and resulted in permanent deafness, " Saikia rues.

As he finished narrating the account one could sense the pall of gloom that must have descended on Phanidhar Sonowal and his family. So did he stop working completely after incurring his disability ?

" Well he did work in the oil sector at Lakhipathar for three four years but could not continue thereafter as it was physically taxing for him," was the answer. Ever since then Sonowal has survived on Disability Pension. He often frequents the Sainik Board in Dibrugarh that often dolls out facilities. "He sometimes travels to the Guwahati Sainik Board where there is a union that addresses anamolies (if and when they occur) relating to the disbursement and quantity of pensions etc.

The members of the Union are from his fraternity and he draws strength from them today when his wife Bhodeshwari Sonowal is no more and all his five daughters are married, informs Bijit Saikia who is married to the youngest daughter. The war veteran has a son too .

As we all know the Union Defence Minister had recently facilitated the war veterans of 1971 War. "Unfortunately my father in law could not participate in it because he did not have the requisite documents validating his service in the war," shares Saikia and adds that now he has undertaken the responsibility of securing and sorting this much needed paperwork." In those days there was not too much stress and emphasis on paperwork as it is today. Also most things are happening digitally. While this is a good thing for the younger generations it can sometimes be cumbersome for the old generations who were not initiated to technology anytime before they acquired the senior citizen status," observes Saikia.

War veteran Phanidhar Sonowal had studied in Dangori Higher Secondary School. "I remember telling me that he had trained at Ladakh. In those days when soldiers underwent training they had to do odd jobs like working on the cultivation fields etc. (Especially when the immediate surroundings and terrain demanded self sufficiency). Apparently such activities were cherished and my father in law often recounts the joys of farming," he concludes .

Today Phanidhar Sonowal is old and infirm and can hardly walk. However he is a resilient, happy and satisfied man. "My love for gardening and cultivation has remained till date and it has given me a very profound perspective to life and that is that not every seed that is sown and nurtured with labour and love gives rise to a plant or tree quickly. Some seeds take a very long time to manifest into fruits and flowers. Lives of war martyrs and those like me who have incurred lifelong injuries are no different. We know we have laid seeds somewhere back in time and are confident that one day these seeds will manifest into much cherished plants and trees -plants and trees that anchor the Indian soil in unity . Plants have trees that are the veritable harbingers of a new dynamic and progressive India," this is what he has told his son-in-law and the man narrates this to us. Inspiring indeed are some living legends like war veteran Phanidhar Sonowal.