HT Correspondent

chandigarh@hindustantimes.com

Chandigarh : On Day 2 of the third Military Literature Festival being held at the Lake Club, when a Class 9 student Mansha got emotional as she watched a presentation showing pictures of martyred soldiers. Beaming with pride, the teary-eyed 14-year-old said, “My father, Lieutenant Colonel Manish Sharma, had fought the Kargil war in 1999.”

It was at the clarion theatre that author Rachna Bisht Rawat showed the presentation displaying rare images of martyred Indian soldiers who lost their lives during the India-Pakistan war in 1999.

Rawat, a journalist with more than 20 years of experience, has authored five books based on the Indian Army to date.

During the course of the presentation, 23-year-old Jasdeep Singh, a college student, read out the last letter written by martyr Jayant Thapar to his family –“These are the real heroes. It takes a lot of courage to write a letter to one’s family knowing that it is the last one he ever would. It is these heroes who motivate me to join the Indian Army,” Singh said.

Meanwhile, 20-year-old Rohit Singh said he was moved by the presentation.

Divyam Sharma, 23, and Rachit Gupta, 22, who also watched the archival display, said, “The presentation fuelled our passion about joining the Indian Army. We want to fight alongside our soldiers at the borders.”