Author: Venky Vembu
Publication: Firstpost.com
Date: November 28, 2012
URL: http://www.firstpost.com/india/they-didnt-just-pluck-your-eyes-out-capt-saurabh-kalia-538436.html

They didn’t just pluck your eyes out, Capt Saurabh Kalia,
 They gouged out ours too.
 Or would we have been blind to your father’s agony,
 His cry for ‘justice’ for all these years?

They didn’t just pierce your eardrums, Capt Kalia,
 They poured hot oil in ours too.
 Or would we be deaf to your mother’s fitful sobs
 And her pitiful cry of anguish?

They didn’t just burn your chest, Capt Kalia,
 They carved out our bleeding hearts too.
 Or would we, as a nation, have been so heartless
 As to forget our Kargil war hero?

They didn’t just mangle your private parts, Capt Kalia,
 They castrated an entire nation.
 Or would we be so impotent that we yearn for aman
 While they plot yet more jihadi crimes?

When they ambushed you in the Kargil heights, Capt Kalia,
 They waylaid every one of us.
 But you died so that we may live
 Our shameless, ungrateful lives.

We sent you to war at age 22, Capt Kalia,
 Which is no viable diable age.
 And yet, we have failed to honour you
 The way your father sought.

Shame on us – and shame on you, Mother India,
 That you would send your son to war
 And yet not collect his martyred ashes