Maj Gaurav Arya
The Shadow of Our Silence
As a nation, we choose silence. And it is in the shadow of our silence that treason spawns its many sons. Its primary weapons are intellectual elitism and social…
A Matter of Honour
Major AVD Pillay was a soldier’s soldier. His father had served in the army. And he expected his son, Divakaran, to be no less. His family had a cherished tradition…
The Edge of The Sword
Regard your soldiers as your children, and they will follow you into the deepest valleys; look upon them as your own beloved sons, and they will stand by you even…
The Green Crescent
When did it exactly start? No one knows. But it can be said with a degree of certainty that in the early nineties when the Pakistanis decided that JKLF or…
A Stone with My Name
Some soldier with a funny bone at 102 Infantry Brigade (Base Camp) will tell you that Siachen means ‘Rose Garden’. Its true. Maybe its funny, in a self-deprecating sort of…
The Ripple Effect
In the last 48 hours, the Indian Army has lost 7 brave hearts at Nagrota. It is with deep grief, immense helplessness and cold anger that I tell you today;…
Taming the Dragon
All warfare is based on deception – Sun Tzu, The Art of War The Middle Kingdom has many achievements to its name, paper and gunpowder the most well known. It has…
The Bravest of The Brave
The annals of the Indian Army are replete with stories of bravery and uncommon valor. And then there are stories of courage so overwhelming that it is almost impossible for…
Genuinely Fake
Mahender Mishar (Mishra) of Behar (Bihar) was a short, dark man who, had you met him in a dark alley, would have probably greeted you with a polite “namaste” and…
The Secularism of Olive Green
Secularism is the separation of religion and state. Simply put, religion has nothing to do with how a country is ruled. The state itself, at least structurally, is atheist. No…
Of Hawks and Doves
All soldiers want peace, and this is an undisputable fact. They want peace because they are the ones who die in war. I get messages from doves that accuse me…
A Tale of Two Cities
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief,…
Retribution
Yesterday, eighteen of my brothers were martyred in a terror attack in Uri Sector. Eighteen homes were shattered. Children were orphaned. Their fathers will come home in a coffin,…
Cold Start
It was an unusually warm afternoon in the autumn of 1935. Adolf Hitler sat under a tent, faithful Guderian seated next to him, reviewing maneuvers of tanks and armored vehicles,…
Serve with Honour
Dear Officers, On 10 September this year, 249 of you (217 Gentlemen Cadets and 32 Lady Cadets) stepped over the “Antim Pag”, slow marching to the soulful Auld Lang Syne. At…
