Partners In Pain

Overcoming her personal loss, Subhashini Vasanth has created a support system for the martyrs' families

- Prathima Nandakumar

Subhashini Vasanth was rehearsing for a play when she got the news that her husband had been killed in the line of duty. It was too much of a coincidence. Playing the protagonist in The Silent Front, which paid tribute to the soldier’s wife, Subhashini realised that she was no longer enacting just a script.

On July 31, 2007, Col Vasanth Venugopal, commanding officer of 9 Maratha Light Infantry, died battling insurgents in Uri sector of Jammu and Kashmir. Six weeks later, Subhashini travelled to Delhi to stage the play penned by her. “Vasanth used to tell me that as a trained bharatnatyam dancer, I should use my perceptions and insights into life for the larger good,” says Subhashini. “And, The Silent Front was born. But he was not there to watch it. When the organisers called me, I sought some time. Vasanth’s loss had left a void in my life. In September 2007, we staged the play in Delhi and a few months later in Bengaluru.”

The play, directed by National School of Drama alumnus Seema Azmi, explores the mind of three generations of Army wives. If the pre-independence generation of women had taken part in the freedom movement and shown pride in their husbands joining the Army, the next generation supported their husbands and travelled with them on their postings. But today, when many women are aspiring to be in the Army, very few wives are comfortable with their husbands being sent to the front, says Subhashini.