It has been decades, and yet, Dr Ranjana Malik clearly remembers soldiers arriving at field hospitals from Kargil, injured and in a state of shock. “Many of us went around from person to person, speaking to them, and allaying their fears and anxieties. We were keen that they connect with their families, and began to reach out to civilians to visit hospitals with their phones, so that they could facilitate this,” she recalls, of her time as the former president of the Army Wives Welfare Association (AWWA).
Twenty-fve years on, Chennai played host to the commemoration of the Kargil War and its many stories of courage, valour, sacrifice and comradeship at the Radiant Wellness conclave, which brought together a host of speakers who reflected on the war and its aftermath. Speaking about the role of women in the Kargil war, Dr Ranjana was joined by Captain Yashika Hatwal Tyagi (retd) and Anitha Ravindranath in a fireside chat hosted by Dr Renuka David, founder, Radiant Wellness.
“I still have wives of these soldiers and veer naris (war widows) come up to me and speak about the work AWWA did during the war on the sidelines. When the bodies of soldiers started coming into the special airport in New Delhi, AWWA members stood by and supported many women who had lost their husbands and had no family there to rely on,” Dr Ranjana said. Recalling how they used to send cards to soldiers on the frontlines, she also said that they decided to send sweets to them, and many of the AWWA members and even sweet shops across the country received letters from the soldiers, thanking them.
Harkening back to a time when communicating with soldiers on the field meant letters and rare phone calls, Anitha Ravindranath, a special educator and an army wife, recalled how it was nearly impossible to keep up regular communication with her husband when tensions were high during the Kargil war. “We would write letters, which took ages to reach and then receive a reply for,” she recalled.
“The uncertainties might be a lot, but the warmth, friendship, support, and everything else that you get as a part of this organisation is way beyond everything else. As an army wife, patience is something I feel all of us should have,” she said.
Against a backdrop of a photo of her in uniform with her young son in Leh, Capt Yashika, who was the first woman Army officer to be posted at the highest battlefield on earth, the Siachen glacier, spoke about how she was pregnant while on duty during Operation Vijay. “The war started suddenly, and I could not send my older child back home as well. We did not have time for that and the only request I made to my commanding officer was to keep him with me when I was in office. The thought of leaving that area never even occurred to me, I was committed to my duty,” she said.
Reflecting on how many things have changed for women, for the good, since the Kargil War, Capt Yashika said that she is happy now to see women commanding their own units. “I am proud to be part of an organisation that teaches you that a bullet will not differentiate between a man and a woman. Your gender does not matter, what matters is your competence,” she added, to applause from the audience.
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