Vantage Point (PART 1) : THE CAPTAIN

War is something that just causes destruction and violence. War changes lives forever, things never come back to normal after war. Well the war against terrorism is no different. Precious human life is lost in the name of jihad, liberalisation and basically to prove a point. These were the last words that ran in captain krishnan's mind as he shot down a militant.

The militant was hurling a grenade at him when he shot him square on the shoulder, the grenade slipped from his hand and went into a nearby market stall and blew up with a huge bang. Captain krishnan was rattled a bit but he immediately regained his composure and ran over to see his opponent and could see the fear in his eyes and could relate to the fear in his own eyes when he was posted to the drass sector.

Captain Vijay krishnan hailed from a small village near madurai coming from a family of farmers all he wanted to be was join the army from childhood. All his dreams and hard work paid when he got into the National Defence Academy. It was his first day on the job, earlier on that D day he got orders saying they had intelligence of Militants infiltrating in a village in Drass sector. He had to take a small outfit and scout the place to get to know the positions of the Militants. Little did he know that a simple combing operation would end up being a disaster earlier that morning.

It was a cold afternoon when Captain Krishnan and 5 other jawans took out off on the jeep towards the village. It was a easily a 3 hour trip thanks to the snow infested roads and slippery roads. They parked the jeep a distance from the village and hiked to the village where disaster was awaiting them. It was a short hike to the village, all the men were exhausted by the time they reached the village. At the beginning the village seemed to be totally empty and there was an air of silence throughout the place which was eerie and sent a chill down Captain krishnan's spine. He had a gut feeling something was wrong and that came true to his horror when a shot rang out of nowhere as blood sprayed all over his face from the jawan walking in front of him. The shot came from one of the windows in the village and they had no sign of warning.

The other jawans and krishnan took cover near by as more shots rang out and bullets hurled out everywhere. Captain Krishnan was facing his first real life threatening situation and he had to get is act right to get the people who just killed on of his men who was under his command. There were 3 positions from where bullets were being fired in the village and decided they would split up in groups of 2's and get the 3 targets separately. Within no time the 2 of the targets were eliminated with utmost expertise. The 3rd target he saw trying to make an escape into the village, so the Captain took off after him shouting orders on his way to maintain a perimeter and watchout for more militants.

As he sprinted after the other militant he caught the gaze of a young woman, she was young but yet had a mature air around her. She could have been a mother of one or may be two kids. He passed her as she came out of a market stall. The sight of the Militant and the Captain after him scared her to death and she raced back inside into the stall she came out from. All this happened in a fraction of a second and while this was happening the militant turned and he had a grenade in his hand without the pin and he was just about to hurl it at Captain Krishnan and he acted accordingly and fired at him. The Bullet pierced the Militant on his shoulders and the grenade went right into the market as Captain Krishnan ducked for cover and the grenade exploded with a huge bang. As the dust cleared Captain Krishnan got up and walked to the militant as he was taking his last breath. The shot was lethal and had hit the shoulder right near the heart and he died almost instantly.

But the death of the Militant dint ease away the pain in his heart as he turned and saw the market stall into which the lady had run into. It was the same stall into which the grenade had landed. It was reduced to rubble and all he could see was rubble and dust all over the place. He cursed himself for what he had done, he could not save an innocent life. He despised himself and shouted in despair.

"Forgive me. God please forgive me."