Sumeet can feel the cold in his bones. The winter air reminds him of his village in the mountains of Himachal Pradesh. Posted at a mountainous forward post on the Line of Control, the soldier is on a hawk-like vigil. Nothing can be left to chance in an area prone to infiltration by Pakistan-propped militants. A few metres ahead flows a mountain brook that marks the Line of Control—the de facto border between India and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
To the untrained eye, Sumeet’s guardhouse might look the same as before. But, in the past two years or so, a lot has changed. Giving Sumeet company is his trusty INSAS rifle, a 5.56mm x 45mm weapon, leaning nonchalantly on the stone wall. But in the barracks behind, there are several ‘sector-specific’ weapons like the American Sig Sauer rifle, the Israeli Tavor assault rifle and the good-old AK-47 to choose from.
There is a mounted telescopic sight just next to Sumeet, a four-screened CCTV set on a table and a hotline, although mobile signals have improved considerably in the last year or so. On the roof of the guardhouse is a solar panel for uninterrupted power.
Sumeet’s body armour is made of fibre, unlike the iron plates of old, which has cut down the weight by a third, to under 20kg.
A little distance behind Sumeet, in another outpost, two soldiers amble into a futuristic, US-made Polaris ATV (all-terrain vehicle)—a far cry from the once ubiquitous Maruti Gypsy—to go on reconnaissance patrol. This particular unit is equipped with quadcopters, Finland-made Sako sniper rifles, Israeli Negev LMGs (light machine gun), handheld thermal imagers fitted with rangefinders for surveillance....
Denne historien er fra January 22, 2023-utgaven av THE WEEK India.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent ? Logg på
Denne historien er fra January 22, 2023-utgaven av THE WEEK India.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
William Dalrymple goes further back
Indian readers have long known William Dalrymple as the chronicler nonpareil of India in the early years of the British raj. His latest book, The Golden Road, is a striking departure, since it takes him to a period from about the third century BC to the 12th-13th centuries CE.
The bleat from the street
What with all the apps delivering straight to one’s doorstep, the supermarkets, the food halls and even the occasional (super-expensive) pop-up thela (cart) offering the woke from field-to-fork option, the good old veggie-market/mandi has fallen off my regular beat.
Courage and conviction
Justice A.M. Ahmadi's biography by his granddaughter brings out behind-the-scenes tension in the Supreme Court as it dealt with the Babri Masjid demolition case
EPIC ENTERPRISE
Gowri Ramnarayan's translation of Ponniyin Selvan brings a fresh perspective to her grandfather's magnum opus
Upgrade your jeans
If you don’t live in the top four-five northern states of India, winter means little else than a pair of jeans. I live in Mumbai, where only mad people wear jeans throughout the year. High temperatures and extreme levels of humidity ensure we go to work in mulmul salwars, cotton pants, or, if you are lucky like me, wear shorts every day.
Garden by the sea
When Kozhikode beach became a fertile ground for ideas with Manorama Hortus
RECRUITERS SPEAK
Industry requirements and selection criteria of management graduates
MORAL COMPASS
The need to infuse ethics into India's MBA landscape
B-SCHOOLS SHOULD UNDERSTAND THAT INDIAN ECONOMY IS GOING TO WITNESS A TREMENDOUS GROWTH
INTERVIEW - Prof DEBASHIS CHATTERJEE, director, Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode
COURSE CORRECTION
India's best b-schools are navigating tumultuous times. Hurdles include lower salaries offered to their graduates and students misusing AI