My Hero.

(7 Jan ’07)

I’ve said before that the tv press is frivolous. This explains why: Some days ago, the body of Major Manish Pitambare, who was shot dead at Anantnag, was cremated with full military honours. This man had killed a dreaded and rogue terrorist, Sohel Faisal, and died in the process. This made news on BBC. What news did the Indian channels have the night that this important event happened?

            'Sanjay Datt relieved by the court'. 'Sirf Munna Not a Bhai', '13 saal ka vanvaas khatam' 'although found guilty for possession of armoury, Sanjay can breathe a sigh of relief as all the TADA charges against him are withdrawn'. Many experts like Salman Khan said, 'He is a good person.’  Other channels showed how Parliament was mad at the Indian team for performing badly (governance plays no role here). One declared: Greg chapel said something ..... Another headline: Shah Rukh Khan replaces Big B in KBC and Sonia asked PM to consider reducing petroleum prices. But most of the emphasis was given on Sanjay Datt's "phoenix like" comeback from the ashes of terrorist charges.

Not a word about a man who’d given his life for his country, WILLINGLY, so that people like you and I would live safely.

           Our channels were telling us how Sanjubaba pleaded to the court saying 'I am the sole bread earner for my family' 'I have a daughter who is studying in US, who will look after her'. And then they showed how Sanjubaba was not wearing his lucky blue shirt while he was hearing the verdict. Also how he went to every temple and prayed for last some months.

 A suspect in Mumbai bomb blasts, convicted under the Armoury Act..... made into a hero.

          Back to Major Manish H Pitambare. He’d got information from his
sources about the terrorists' whereabouts. Wasting no time he attacked the camp, killed the Hisbul Mujahidin's supremo, which meant so much to India, and died himself from bullets fired from an AK47. He has a wife and a daughter (just like Sanjubaba), age .....18 months. Major Manish never said 'I have a daughter' ...before he took the decision to attack the terrorist hideout in the darkest of nights. He never thought about having a family and he being the bread earner.

No news channel covered this. They were too busy hyping a former drug addict, an actor in real and reel life, a suspect who's linked to bomb blasts which killed hundreds. Their aim was to show how he defied the TADA charges and they were so successful that his conviction in possession of armoury had no meaning. They also concluded that his parents in heaven must be happy and proud of him......

       Parents of Major Pitambare are still on this earth and they have to live rest of their lives without their beloved son. His daughter won't ever see her papa again.

      Sanjubaba always has a gun in every one of his movies. In real life if he has an AK47 what's the big deal? We are used to seeing him with some ammunition without it he's just a 49-year -old. Hero? Even if one of the bullets from one of such AK47's taken a Real Star's life? This column has been based on (and partly quoted from an email I received). I really want people to think about this. India’s MY country, am proud of being an Indian, and to me, there is no greater hero than one who laid his life for it.  I salute those like Major Pithambare. They’re the real Stars.

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