Am I Worth Dying For???

Am I Worth Dying For???

       I was so happy. I was going home after eight long months. I was so excited as it was the first time I was going home after getting posted and after having the first taste of the practical policing. Moreover, the reason for excitement was, 7 days leave, which was granted quite unexpectedly.
        It was about two hours since I started the journey and I hadnot left the district yet. I hadnot finished with the planning about what to do on which day. I was still busy, soaking in the pleasure derived out of the pre-imagined feeling of being home. It was then that my phone beeped and the message flashed on screen "come back on 10th night". I was asked to return 2 days earlier. I felt like wishing myself "welcome to police service". I could clearly see the Border movie scene running through my mind, where the soldiers are called back on the pretext of war being opened. Every movie with the military theme invariably contains atleast one such scene. I really wondered why the Police theme movies donot contain any such scenes, as I myself had seen, in my brief two month tenure, the leaves of police persons of my district being cancelled thrice. I wondered, sadly, about the usual undermining and secondary status of sacrifices made by police personnel.
          I reached home. Bathed in the love and appreciation, in pride and affection. After auspicious diwali bath, i was wishing happy diwali to close ones. It was then that my phone rang and the news I heard shocked me to the depth of my senses. My colleague Police Officer PSI Chhatrapati Chide was martyred while performing his duty. Alcohol barons riding high on huge money and illicit support dared to run over the Braveheart Chide who, as usual, was performing his duty with the utmost honesty and diligence.
         Just a few days before I saw him accepting,proudly, the "Best Police Officer Award"and In the last month he helped me nab a Alcohol carrying vehicle by providing valuable information. These were the only direct encounters with him but I heard people speaking highly of him on many occasions. The news of his departure from the earth brought such a feeling of sadness and helplessness to me. Not long ago, on Police Commemoration Day I read out the names of Police personnel martyed or died on duty. The idea that I have to read the name of a close colleague next year brought tears in my eyes. Neither was I able think nor was I able to feel anything. The only thing that kept peeping through my mind was the hoarding I saw at the entrance of Army Cantonment Area on the Amaravati-Wardha road.
          The hoarding read, "If you want to do something for your soldiers, then be an Indian worth dying for." The question, of who all are responsible for the unfortunate and untimely exit of Chide Mama, will have no simple answers. But the memory of Chide Mama made me ask myself a question- "Am I an Indian, worth Dying For?" "Am I a Policeman, a colleague, worth Dying For??"
      -Amol Mandave(Prob.DYSP)