Until the morning of 26 January the name of Chasen Lowang was little known outside the village of Khondse in…
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Until the morning of 26 January the name of Chasen Lowang was little known outside the village of Khondse in Arunachal Pradesh. Sadly, few will remember her even after she impressed the gathering at Rajpath when she displayed dignity, courage and grace as she received from the President the Ashoka Chakra — the highest gallantry award won “not in the face of the enemy” — posthumously conferred on her husband Havildar Hangpan Dada last May.
A soldier to the core, the man from the Assam Regiment had volunteered to serve the Rashtriya Rifles, deployed to counter militancy in the Naugam sector of Jammu and Kashmir. He had led his squad against four militants, personally “neutralising” three of them before being hit by gunfire that proved lethal. Chasen’s story does not end there: she has confessed to having shared a dream with her husband — that their son Sewang follow his father into a life of “olive green”.
Yet with a difference, they had dreamt of Sewang, now seven years of age, qualifying and securing a place in the officer cadres: not just another case of emulating the “old man”. It is true that by the time Sewang grows up and is ready to choose a profession, other career options may present themselves, but it is incumbent upon the nation at large, the Army and the Assam Regiment in particular, to facilitate the lad being educated and qualifying for the National Defence Academy and then the Indian Military Academy.
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On test in coming years will be the strength of the bond of the ‘paltan’, so romantically eulogised by Kipling in “Kim”. It will require a determined and special effort for the lad from a remote village in the North-east to secure the education and materials required to have a “shot” at Khadakvasla and Dehradun, the Assam Regiment is duty-bound to provide him what he needs.
Not just the Regiment, Army Headquarters and Rashtrapati Bhawan must join hands to nurture the dream of Havildar Hangpan Dada. And should a day dawn when Chasen Lowang “pips” her son, it will confirm that the Ashoka Chakra is more than a “gong”.
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