Bulandshahr — The Great City

LonesomeWanderer
Feb 6 · 3 min read

It was a pleasant morning at my place. The sun was just rising up, and you could already feel the warmth spreading across your verandah, seeping in through the foggy window-panes. For all they say about winter in UP, winter here, at Bulandshahr, is always pleasant. Raman was already up, performed his ablutions and was walking towards the market across the field. Little did he know that today was the day that’d change lives. All he knew for certain, that the cow had been murdered and dumped in my fields, its blood soaking the farmed, parched paddy field where his brother worked.

Yogendra Singh Yadav remembered me the night of 4th of July. There, standing under Tiger Hill he saw millions of bright ambassadors of morning and felt a familiar cold wintery chill which bore resemblance to wintery nights he had spent at his home. He was thousands of kilometers from me. He had volunteered to lead to take the peak, to take in whatever the enemy threw at him. The bunkers were situated at the top of the vertical 1000 foot high cliff face. My young and brave son climbed the cliff face and installed ropes, lifelines for his friends. Halfway up, the enemy bunker opened up machine gun and rocket fire and he was hit. Sixty feet to the top of the cliff bullets rained on him and his shoulder bled and his arms bled and hot lead ripped into his groin.

Things that a person would or wouldn’t do can seldom be divided by a line. And when its a mob, all you have is a muddy swamp of rights and wrongs and spilled vicious black words and throbbing veins. When Raman told people about what he saw in the field, tension ran high. Inspector Subodh was on his way to work like every morning when he saw the buzzing, yelling crowd. The roads which run like arteries through me was blocked. Blood had already clotted on the pavement. Little did Subodh know that today was the day that’d change lives. All he knew for certain, that these people were angry. Their collective violence ebbed and burned and their rage killed humanity left carcasses. Subodh, my young valiant lad, was hit by stones and bullets and kicked by righteousness in his groin.

Yadav climbed the remaining 60 feet and reached the top. My young son was severely injured yet he crawled to the first bunker and lobbed a grenade, killing four enemy soldiers and neutralizing enemy fire. This gave the rest of the platoon the opportunity to climb up the cliff face. Yadav then charged the second bunker along with two of his fellow soldiers and engaged in hand-to-hand combat, killing four Pakistani soldiers. Overall Yadav was hit by 14 bullets and played a major role in capture of Tiger hills. The platoon subsequently succeeded in capturing Tiger Hill.

A cellphone video from the spot shows Inspector Subodh Kumar Singh’s body falling off his police vehicle. His post-mortem report has confirmed a gunshot wound in addition to a head injury.
The Param Vir Chakra citation for Yogendra Singh Yadav reads as follows:
“Grenadier Yogender Singh Yadav was part of the leading team of a Ghatak Platoon tasked to capture Tiger Hill on the night of 3/4 July 1999. The approach to the top was steep, snowbound and rocky. Grenadier Yogender Singh Yadav, unmindful of the danger involved, volunteered to lead and fix the rope for his team to climb up. On seeing the team, the enemy opened intense automatic, grenade, rocket and artillery fire killing the Commander and two of his colleagues and the platoon was stalled. Realising the gravity of the situation, Grenadier Yogender Singh Yadav crawled up to the enemy position to silence it and in the process sustained multiple bullet injuries. Unmindful of his injuries and in the hail of enemy bullets, Grenadier Yogender Singh Yadav continued climbing towards the enemy positions, lobbed grenades, continued firing from his weapons and killed four enemy soldiers in close combat and silenced the automatic fire. Despite multiple bullet injuries, he refused to be evacuated and continued the charge. Inspired by his gallant act, the platoon charged on the other positions with renewed punch and captured Tiger Hill Top.

Grenadier Yogender Singh Yadav displayed the most conspicuous courage, indomitable gallantry, grit and determination under extreme adverse circumstances.”

The cow and Yogendra Singh Yadav and Subodh Kumar and The Mob, are Bulandshahr.