MARKING THE SPOT
kshay was the ultimate jack of all trades — a good painter, tennis and basketball player, singer, dancer, writer, poet and cook! Family time was very important to him. He used to drag us out for coffee after dinner, for heartfelt conversations.”
Major Akshay Girish Kumar died in the line of duty in November 2016, aged 31, fighting terrorists at Nagrota in Jammu & Kashmir. His life, his lovely nature and his sacrifice have been immortalised on a new website called Honourpoint.in.
The note above was contributed by his mother, Meghna Girish, 57.
Honourpoint is an online memorial that features names, bios and brief notes on Indian armed forces personnel who have died on duty. The eventual aim is to document every such death since August 15, 1947. It has put together 12,628 profiles so far, including those in a section for ex-servicemen who died after retirement.
“Honourpoint is a personalised shrine for every military family who has lost a loved one. Here, they can contribute, express themselves, share stories and preserve memories and anecdotes to inspire current and future generations,” says Wing Commander (Retd) MA Afraz, who co-founded the website nine months ago.
Three former wing commanders — Afraz, Rajendra Prasad and LK Chaubey — started working on the website in 2015, when they realised there was no one place where every martyred member of the armed forces was remembered.
“I had a friend, Squadron Leader Ajay Ahuja, who lost his life during the Kargil War in 1999. I have often thought of him and our friendship and wanted to write a tribute. I went online and found there was very little information on him. So when Wing Commander Afraz came up with the
A WEBSITE BY THREE EXARMY MEN LISTS, REMEMBERS SOLDIERS WHO DIED ON DUTY
idea, I, along with LK Chaubey, joined him to create this website,” says Prasad, 52.
With an 11-member research team, they spent two-and-a-half years collecting the information available in the public domain. Their primary resources were the websites of the Indian Army, Navy and Air Force, newspapers, books and journals.
“It was difficult to contact soldiers’ families, since they are scattered all over the world,” says Afraz. “But after we launched our website and Facebook page, people began to come forward and contribute to the archive.”
It was through Facebook that Meghna Girish realised her son had been immortalised online. “A friend sent me the link and I was touched by the effort,” she says. “I saw that my son’s profile was sketchy. I wanted people who came to this website to know what an amazing person he had been.”
So she contacted Afraz. They suggested she contribute to the profile, and she now monitors the comments on it too.
Jasleen Sarna, wife of Col Gurbir Singh Sarna KC, who died in December 2006, aged 40, also recently shared details about her husband — who continued to lead his men in a gunfight against militants despite having been shot six times in the stomach. “He taught me courage in everyday life,” she says.
In all, over 400 families have contributed. The website is a bootstrapped effort that they fund themselves, says Afraz. But in association with local NGOs, Honourpoint is also raising funds for the families of martyrs. “Our first event was in Bangalore in September. We gave 35 families blankets and other gifts in collaboration with Vasantharatna Foundation for Arts,” says Afraz.
There have also been events in Mumbai and Surat, in collaboration with Ample Mission and the Maruti Veer Jawan Trust. In Surat, 18 martyrs’ families received Rs 2.5 lakh each.
Subedar (Retd) Satbir Singh Yadav was among those felicitated in Surat, on behalf of his son, Flight Lieutenant Akash Yadav, who died in November 2010, aged 24.
“We are from Kosli village in Rajasthan where almost every family has served, so I felt really proud when I found my son’s profile on the website,” says Satbir, 60.
Families moved by the effort are now collaborating with others. “I found out about the website when they contacted me for felicitation on behalf of my daughter,” says Vijender Shekhawat, 57, a former Navy Honorary Sub Lieutenant who lives in Delhi. Shekhawat’s daughter was in the Navy too. Lt Kiran Shekhawat died in March 2015, aged 26.
“I have asked for a list of martyrs from the Navy. I will help them get data about those who were from the Delhi area.”
The idea for such a website was long overdue, says Navy Commodore (Retd) C Uday Bhaskar, now director of the Delhibased thinktank, Society for Policy Studies. “The people behind Honourpoint could consider translating the site into other languages too. The website also needs to be more interactive, and include video clips.”
In a task that often feels heartbreaking, it is the emotional response that makes it all “totally worth the effort”, says Afraz.
He cites the example of Flying Officer Farokh Dara Bunsha, who died in 1965, during the Indo-Pak war. “A woman named Dolly Kanwal Jit mailed us in 2017, thanking us for our tribute. She was engaged to him 52 years ago,” Afraz says.
“Farokh Bunsha was my fiancé. We got engaged in August ’65. He was a Parsi and I, a Hindu. Needless to say there was family opposition...” she said. “He loved flying, he loved his Hunter, he loved his mother and he loved me…” For more on India’s martyrs via Honourpoint, go to hindustantimes. com / india