Every time I think of elite warriors risking their lives for someone’s country – images of the American Navy Seals or the SAS/ Mossad conjure in my head. The moment I try to think of an Indian super soldier, sadly, most of the images that crop up comprise of fat old men in khadi suits, or pompous generals squabbling about their age of retirement and stealing away land, or of under-nourished and ill-equipped soldiers.

I’m not trying to say that the Indian special forces are any of the above. However, I’m also not trying to say that they may not be so as well. All I’m trying to put forth, here, is the fact that I don’t know. Even though I spend atleast a couple of hours on the internet and an hour watching the news everyday, I am at best, just remotely aware of the existence of the Indian Special Forces.

One could easily argue on the fact that this is exactly the point. A Special Forces unit wouldn’t be really effective and worth its salt if general population such as me would know details about them and their operations. I would say that they would be quite right.

One could also debate on the point of debating this at all. Why do we need to have an Indian Soldier-hero anyways? Hollywood serves us just fine! I would say “Why not?”. We are the second largest population in the world. We are proud of what we are achieving in various fields and now we don’t have to look outside to find idols in business, art, sports, etc. Why not have someone to obsess over in the field of combat/ covert ops? There is nothing in this world that generates a stronger feeling of patriotism than stories of a man/ team risking their lives for the safety of billions. Surely, we hear about the param-vir-chakra and medal winners. But sadly, thanks to the minuscule attention given to them by the media, they become a part of the noise which passes us by everyday – only to be remembered on designated days.

What I’m really trying to get at is this – and I’d like to put it in the words of Bethune who described the situation best – “Too long we have looked to the west for heroes (purely the military kind). Too long have we had to make do with the James Bonds’ and the Seal Teams to give us inspiration and spark that patriotic torch within us. We are anyways racing ahead in everything else, it is our time to shine in this as well.”

Someone needs to glorify our heroes!