UNSUNG HEROES EPISODE V : THE SHIKARI EKKA

नहीं फूलते कुसुम मात्र राजाओं के उपवन में,

अमित बार खिलते वे पुर से दूर कुञ्ज-कानन में।

समझे कौन रहस्य ? प्रकृति का बड़ा अनोखा हाल,

गुदड़ी में रखती चुन-चुन कर बड़े कीमती लाल।

Bravery – a trait that is often associated with fearlessness, a person who is by choice not afraid to confront, this confrontation can be associated with pain, agony, danger, coercion, intimidation or uncertainty. You are brave by choice, which means that even a person who is timid and weak by nature can turn brave at any point in his life succumbing to the situation around. Bravery is also a relative concept for a person talking to my father and asking permission for a trip is an act of supreme bravery, for a solider even fighting in the battlefield may not be an act of bravery. I remember a statement by Captain Raghu Ram a veteran of the 99’ war in The Ranveer Show, when asked about how it feels to be a hero for the society he said, “ I don’t consider myself to be a hero, Infact anyone of us who returned are not heroes, real heroes slept in the battlefield they never came back.”

It's a podcast everyone should checkout, I’ll provide the link below-

The fact that a person chooses the path of valour and it’s a choice of his own, makes bravery a very distributed yet rare quality, you don’t usually find brave people in mass but you can find them anywhere among the masses, in the concrete jungles of the metropolitans or the deep forests of the east, anywhere. Today for the fifth episode of the Unsung Heroes series I bring one such story, the story of Lance Naik Albert Ekka.

'जय हो' जग में जले जहाँ भी, नमन पुनीत अनल को,

जिस नर में भी बसे, हमारा नमन तेज को, बल को।

किसी वृन्त पर खिले विपिन में, पर, नमस्य है फूल,

सुधी खोजते नहीं, गुणों का आदि, शक्ति का मूल।

Albert Ekka was born on 27 December 1942, in village Zari, Ranchi, Jharkhand. He was born into an Adivasi Tribe, his parents were Christian tribals hence he was born and brought around the forested regions of Ranchi district. Being a forest guy he was fond of hunting or Shikaar, a sport quite common among the Adivasis. Due to his inclination towards hunting he had turned himself into a fine marksman. Once while hunting he crossed paths with an army officer who looking at his fine aim suggested him to join the Army.

Ekka married a girl Balamdine from a nearby village, after his marriage he started looking for a stable job to manage his finances. And Army provided him the opportunity of earning his own bread with pride.

Ekka was enrolled in the Bihar regiment on 27th December 1962. He was later transferred to a new raising unit 14th Brigade of Guards in January 1968. Ekka’s first involvement with direct action was during the counter insurgency operation in the North-East. But it was during the 1971 war that the entire country came to know who Albert Ekka was.

The war broke out on 3rd December 1971. The 14 Guards was attached with the IV Corps. Target was to capture the Gangasagar Post. Lance Naik Ekka was on the left forward company that had planned the attack on Eastern Front. The company was met by heavy shelling and intense firing in the well-fortified enemy stronghold. But the company charged without thinking about their lives, they got involved in direct hand-to-hand combat. That’s the point where Lance Naik Albert Ekka noticed an enemy Light Machine Gun (LMG) on one of the fronts which was inflicting causalities to the platoon. Amidst the heavy firing and shelling Ekka decided that he will take control of the LMG, he charged the bunker and used the bayonet in his gun to neutralize the two soldiers who were using the gun. He was seriously injured in the process.

Ekka even after being seriously injured didn’t stop and charged with the remaining troops to complete the deep objective. When the company reached near the Northern Front they were met by the fire of a Medium Machine Gun (MMG) that was stationed atop a two storey fortified building. This time again Ekka disregarding his own safety crawled to reach the rear of the building and threw a grenade at the top that killed one enemy soldier and injured another. However this time Ekka himself got heavily injured in the process taking bullets all over his body. The MMG fire continued. Even with grave injuries Ekka scaled the side wall to reach the bunker and bayoneted the enemy soldier. After the MMG stopped the company took control of the Chowki and the objective was completed. However hero of this victory Lance Naik Albert Ekka later succumbed to his injuries and was martyred.

Lance-Naik Albert Ekka was posthumously awarded India's highest wartime gallantry award, the Param Vir Chakra. His citation read the following-

Government of India on 50th Republic Day issued a stamp in his name. The Firaylal Chowk in Ranchi was later named as the Albert Ekka Chowk in his honour. A block has also been created in his name. However recently, the news came up that his family was living in a bad state and had problems in making their basic ends meet. Well this is more or less the story of India, we claim to be a fairly patriotic nation and I agree Indians are patriotic, they are patriotic on 15th August and 26th January, and also when they hear Teri Mitti. Apart from these occasions a martyr’s family in our country dies of hunger and no one cares. I repeatedly stress on this fact that as long as we will keep looking for our heroes in Bollywood stars and their families we will never be able to value our real heroes. Those brave hearts who have given up their personal pleasures just so we can enjoy ours. I don’t have hopes of this situation changing anytime soon, but if it does trust me our India will become a better place to live.

हम एक उम्र इसी ग़म में मुब्तिला रहे थे

वो सानहे ही नहीं थे जो पेश आ रहे थे

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