Lieutenant Vikram Batra had to complete his mission successfully.
Pakistani invaders had taken positions in bunkers at a height of 17,000 feet on Peak 5140 in Jammu and Kashmir. Lieutenant Batra and Captain Sanjeev Jamwal -- both from the Kangra valley in Himachal Pradesh -- were ordered to recapture the peak on the night of June 19, 1999, about five weeks after the Kargil war began.
The operation was much too dangerous to be carried out during the day.
Aware of the enemy's vantage point, Lt Batra -- who was later promoted to captain on the battlefield -- decided to attack the enemy from the rear.
Peak 5140, the highest point on the Tololing Ridge, was one of the most arduous and crucial peaks in the Drass region. If it fell, it would clear the Pakistanis from that sector and pave the way for further victories.
He knew they had to win.
Captain Vikram Batra in the Drass sector
It was dark and cold. The men crawled, quietly. Batra, who had earned an instructor's grade as a commando, was determined not to lose any men.
He was deeply upset when a terrorist's bullet meant for him had struck his man behind him during his first posting in the terrorist-prone region of Sopore in Jammu and Kashmir.
'Didi, it was meant for me and I lost my man,' he had told his elder sister over the phone.
But tonight his guide was the framed motto of the Indian Military Academy, Dehra Dun, that he had brought home to Palampur, Himachal Pradesh, at the end of his training.
The safety, honor and welfare of your country come first always and everytime.
The honor, welfare and comfort of the men you command come next.
Your own ease, comfort and safety come last, always and everytime.
The motto had been molded into his heart as a Gentleman Cadet. There was no better time to live by it than now -- when India was at war and he, in his first major battle.
24-year-old Vikram and his men assaulted the enemy.
The camp was routed, many enemy soldiers killed and 13 J&K Rifles won a decisive victory.
All his men had made it alive.
Vikram was elated. 'Yeh Dil Maangey More' -- the Pepsi catchline those days -- he told his commander at base camp.
His words became the catchline for the Kargil war.
Vikram Batra had led a brilliant operation in one of India's toughest campaigns in mountain warfare. His men swore by him. General Ved Prakash Malik, then the Chief of the Army Staff, called to congratulate him. His triumph was being beamed from television screens across the country.
Photographs of him and his men striding the captured Pakistani gun at the base camp made it to every newspaper.
In a time of war, he became the face of the young Indian soldier who fought ferociously and died fearlessly.
His code name was Sher Shah.
The other soldier India knew with the same name had lived in the Middle Ages and was called 'The Lion King.' Sher Shah Suri was an accomplished commander who defeated the Mughal emperor Humayun and sat on the throne of Delhi for five years.
Vikram Batra was the hero of the nation. Two weeks after his conquest of 5140, people would remember him as the Lion of Kargil.
Daddy, I've captured.'
G L Batra can never forget that phone call that June morning. Vikram's voice was cracking through the satellite phone. He was talking too fast and wasn't clear at all.
For a moment, he thought his son was captured. But the school principal knew it was preposterous to think that he would be allowed to call his parents if he were a prisoner of war. Yet he was frightened and asked Vikram to speak clearly.
'Oh Daddy, I've captured the enemy's post. I'm OK, I'm OK.'
'Bete [son], I'm proud of you,' replied Mr Batra, 'may God bless you to carry on your task there.'
It was the happiest moment of his life. He had named his son 'Vikram' because the name spelled character and strength and he had lived up to it.
It was the morning of June 20, 1999. Through the previous night Vikram had commanded a daring operation and his father reveled in his accomplishment.
The capture of 5140 would finally lead to the decisive fall of Tiger Hill, and to India's eventual victory.
Nine days later, Vikram called from base camp. He was leaving for another crucial operation.
He never called again.
Vikram Batra would have joined the Merchant Navy. He was to join the ship in Hong Kong. His uniform had been stitched, his tickets booked.
But he changed his mind.
A decade later, his decision would become the opening line of an Indian Oil print campaign. The public sector company paid tribute to the Kargil hero and lauded him for rejecting a lucrative career for the service of the nation.
'Sometimes an ordinary Indian can make a Rs 120,000 crore company feel humble. For every step we take, there's an inspired Indian leading the way,' read the ad copy, alongside a black-and-white etching of Captain Batra.
A framed picture of the text hangs in the petrol pump awarded in his honour to his parents. The advertising agency also sent the etching, which Mr Batra has kept carefully.
On the wall on the other side is a photo-copy of a magazine feature commemorating 'The Lives and Good Times of a Country.' Vikram heads the list of heroes.
In one entrance test for the Indian Administrative Service, says Mrs Batra, one of the questions was -- 'Name the peaks captured by Captain Vikram Batra?'
"It is very rare and our good fortune that we were given a son like him who put the country first."
Click for bigger image
A fortnight after he became the face of the Indian soldier in the Kargil war, Vikram Batra died.
He was mortally wounded on the morning of July 8 after fighting through the night while recapturing Peak 4875. He was ill but had insisted that he was fit for the mission and completed it in a manner that put him alongside some of India's greatest military heroes.
Vikram with his men had begun a tortuous climb to strengthen the flanks of the Indian troops fighting the invaders at 16,000 feet.
The conditions were extremely tough. At a gradient of 80 degrees, the thick fog made the advance even more precarious.
The enemy got wind of Batra's arrival. They knew who Sher Shah was, by now his military prowess had become the stuff of legend.
Vikram with another young officer, Anuj Nayyar, fought the enemy's counter-attack ferociously.
They cleared enemy bunkers, egged their men forward, engaged in a hand-to-hand combat and forced the Pakistani retreat.
The mission was almost over when Vikram ran out of the bunker to rescue another junior officer who had injured his legs in an explosion.
"His subedar begged him not to go and said he would go instead," says his father, "but Vikram told him: 'Tu baal-bacchedar hain, hat ja peeche. [You have children, step aside]"
He lunged forward to save the young lieutenant, when a bullet pierced through his chest.
By the morning India won back Peak 4875 but lost Vikram Batra.
For his sustained display of the most conspicuous personal bravery and leadership of the highest order in the face of the enemy, he was awarded India's highest decoration in battle -- the Param Vir Chakra, posthumously
His comrade in battle, Anuj Nayyar, also died while clearing his fourth enemy bunker.
He was awarded the Maha Vir Chakra -- the nation's second highest honour.
From Nigeria, Lagos
27Pakistani invaders had taken positions in bunkers at a height of 17,000 feet on Peak 5140 in Jammu and Kashmir. Lieutenant Batra and Captain Sanjeev Jamwal -- both from the Kangra valley in Himachal Pradesh -- were ordered to recapture the peak on the night of June 19, 1999, about five weeks after the Kargil war began.
The operation was much too dangerous to be carried out during the day.
Aware of the enemy's vantage point, Lt Batra -- who was later promoted to captain on the battlefield -- decided to attack the enemy from the rear.
Peak 5140, the highest point on the Tololing Ridge, was one of the most arduous and crucial peaks in the Drass region. If it fell, it would clear the Pakistanis from that sector and pave the way for further victories.
He knew they had to win.
Captain Vikram Batra in the Drass sector
It was dark and cold. The men crawled, quietly. Batra, who had earned an instructor's grade as a commando, was determined not to lose any men.
He was deeply upset when a terrorist's bullet meant for him had struck his man behind him during his first posting in the terrorist-prone region of Sopore in Jammu and Kashmir.
'Didi, it was meant for me and I lost my man,' he had told his elder sister over the phone.
But tonight his guide was the framed motto of the Indian Military Academy, Dehra Dun, that he had brought home to Palampur, Himachal Pradesh, at the end of his training.
The safety, honor and welfare of your country come first always and everytime.
The honor, welfare and comfort of the men you command come next.
Your own ease, comfort and safety come last, always and everytime.
The motto had been molded into his heart as a Gentleman Cadet. There was no better time to live by it than now -- when India was at war and he, in his first major battle.
24-year-old Vikram and his men assaulted the enemy.
The camp was routed, many enemy soldiers killed and 13 J&K Rifles won a decisive victory.
All his men had made it alive.
Vikram was elated. 'Yeh Dil Maangey More' -- the Pepsi catchline those days -- he told his commander at base camp.
His words became the catchline for the Kargil war.
Vikram Batra had led a brilliant operation in one of India's toughest campaigns in mountain warfare. His men swore by him. General Ved Prakash Malik, then the Chief of the Army Staff, called to congratulate him. His triumph was being beamed from television screens across the country.
Photographs of him and his men striding the captured Pakistani gun at the base camp made it to every newspaper.
In a time of war, he became the face of the young Indian soldier who fought ferociously and died fearlessly.
His code name was Sher Shah.
The other soldier India knew with the same name had lived in the Middle Ages and was called 'The Lion King.' Sher Shah Suri was an accomplished commander who defeated the Mughal emperor Humayun and sat on the throne of Delhi for five years.
Vikram Batra was the hero of the nation. Two weeks after his conquest of 5140, people would remember him as the Lion of Kargil.
Daddy, I've captured.'
G L Batra can never forget that phone call that June morning. Vikram's voice was cracking through the satellite phone. He was talking too fast and wasn't clear at all.
For a moment, he thought his son was captured. But the school principal knew it was preposterous to think that he would be allowed to call his parents if he were a prisoner of war. Yet he was frightened and asked Vikram to speak clearly.
'Oh Daddy, I've captured the enemy's post. I'm OK, I'm OK.'
'Bete [son], I'm proud of you,' replied Mr Batra, 'may God bless you to carry on your task there.'
It was the happiest moment of his life. He had named his son 'Vikram' because the name spelled character and strength and he had lived up to it.
It was the morning of June 20, 1999. Through the previous night Vikram had commanded a daring operation and his father reveled in his accomplishment.
The capture of 5140 would finally lead to the decisive fall of Tiger Hill, and to India's eventual victory.
Nine days later, Vikram called from base camp. He was leaving for another crucial operation.
He never called again.
Vikram Batra would have joined the Merchant Navy. He was to join the ship in Hong Kong. His uniform had been stitched, his tickets booked.
But he changed his mind.
A decade later, his decision would become the opening line of an Indian Oil print campaign. The public sector company paid tribute to the Kargil hero and lauded him for rejecting a lucrative career for the service of the nation.
'Sometimes an ordinary Indian can make a Rs 120,000 crore company feel humble. For every step we take, there's an inspired Indian leading the way,' read the ad copy, alongside a black-and-white etching of Captain Batra.
A framed picture of the text hangs in the petrol pump awarded in his honour to his parents. The advertising agency also sent the etching, which Mr Batra has kept carefully.
On the wall on the other side is a photo-copy of a magazine feature commemorating 'The Lives and Good Times of a Country.' Vikram heads the list of heroes.
In one entrance test for the Indian Administrative Service, says Mrs Batra, one of the questions was -- 'Name the peaks captured by Captain Vikram Batra?'
"It is very rare and our good fortune that we were given a son like him who put the country first."
Click for bigger image
A fortnight after he became the face of the Indian soldier in the Kargil war, Vikram Batra died.
He was mortally wounded on the morning of July 8 after fighting through the night while recapturing Peak 4875. He was ill but had insisted that he was fit for the mission and completed it in a manner that put him alongside some of India's greatest military heroes.
Vikram with his men had begun a tortuous climb to strengthen the flanks of the Indian troops fighting the invaders at 16,000 feet.
The conditions were extremely tough. At a gradient of 80 degrees, the thick fog made the advance even more precarious.
The enemy got wind of Batra's arrival. They knew who Sher Shah was, by now his military prowess had become the stuff of legend.
Vikram with another young officer, Anuj Nayyar, fought the enemy's counter-attack ferociously.
They cleared enemy bunkers, egged their men forward, engaged in a hand-to-hand combat and forced the Pakistani retreat.
The mission was almost over when Vikram ran out of the bunker to rescue another junior officer who had injured his legs in an explosion.
"His subedar begged him not to go and said he would go instead," says his father, "but Vikram told him: 'Tu baal-bacchedar hain, hat ja peeche. [You have children, step aside]"
He lunged forward to save the young lieutenant, when a bullet pierced through his chest.
By the morning India won back Peak 4875 but lost Vikram Batra.
For his sustained display of the most conspicuous personal bravery and leadership of the highest order in the face of the enemy, he was awarded India's highest decoration in battle -- the Param Vir Chakra, posthumously
His comrade in battle, Anuj Nayyar, also died while clearing his fourth enemy bunker.
He was awarded the Maha Vir Chakra -- the nation's second highest honour.
From Nigeria, Lagos
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