BENGALURU: “Ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country’. These words of former US President JF Kennedy cited by Pulwama martyr Mohanlal’s daughter who is preparing to join the Army reverberate in my ears even today,” said Umesh Gopinath Jadhav on arriving in Bengaluru after completing his journey of 1.15 lakh kilometres by road and meeting families of 144 martyrs.
“Even without wearing the uniform, one can do a lot for the country. This is what I realised when I travelled across the country and interacted with the martyrs’ families and citizens,” says the 40-year-old pharmacy professor and musician.
He left his job and decided to meet the families of martyrs and collect the soil from outside their homes after he learnt of the Pulwama attack on February 14, 2019. He started his crowd-funded journey on April 9, 2019, leaving behind his two sons and wife.
He not just met the families of the 40 CRPF Pulwama martyrs, but also family members of those who died in first and second World Wars, Kargil war, Uri attack, Pathankot attack, Operation Rakshak, Galwan clash and recent Coonoor helicopter crash in which Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat died.
The Bengalurean was at Jaipur airport on February 14 when he got to know of the Pulwama attack. He was returning to Bengaluru after performing at a private event. “It shook me. I then decided to collect the soil from the homes of all the martyrs. Already one memorial has been built with the soil of Pulwama martyrs, now the soil collected from the homes of the other martyrs will also be handed over to the defence forces to make another memorial in Delhi,” he said.
He recollects having started his journey with meeting family members of CRPF jawan H Guru in Mandya. He said it is not possible to meet all the martyrs’ families, so he tried to meet at least two from each state. But in Nasik, four different families came to meet him and all had combined the soil from their respective homes in one kalash, instead of four. “This one was very emotional. No martyr family refused to meet me. Many hosted me at their homes. The lockdown slowed down my travel,” he says.
He collected soil from the homes of the two Field Marshals General KM Cariappa and General Sam Manekshaw, 26/11 martyr Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan from the elite 51 Special Action Group.Jadhav and his friends are planning to make a documentary from his interactions with the martyrs’ families and give it to the Defence Ministry.