Fenix by Vivek Ahuja

nodded in response. He hadn’t see Kamidalla since they had all moved on from Vairengte to different wartime assignments handed to them individually. He hadn’t expected to see Kamidalla here. But it was a pleasant surprise. But the details would have to wait for now.
                  Pathanya took his seat on the side of the cabin alongside the other men and finally saw in the dim red lights of the cabin the ranks of those men. A couple of Captains, including Kamidalla, three lieutenants and the rest were senior non-coms. Pathanya huffed in amusement as he added up the symptoms to diagnose the disease. Ansari heard the suppressed huff. He sat down next to Pathanya just as the ramp was raised by the loadmaster. The noise of the rotating propellers was now audible inside.
                  “You approve, major?” Ansari removed his beret and ran his hand through the balding white hair, ruffling them.  
                  “Sir, I am not even sure what I would be approving!”
                  “But you approve?” Ansari pushed. Pathanya chuckled.
                  “Yes, sir.”
                  “Good.” Ansari said in conclusion.
                  Pathanya placed his rucksack on the floor between his feet. “I was told by my commanding officer to report for an immediate flight to Chandigarh and to report to you. They didn’t even tell me where I was supposed to find you in Chandigarh. I had all of three hours to prepare and have been traveling all day since.”
                  “Well,” Ansari replied, “Join the club, Pathanya. If you think you had a strange day, you should step into my boots for the past week. But to put your curiosity aside, I should mention that you weren’t just picked out of a hat. I am in charge of putting together a very delicate operation and I needed men well versed with the craft, especially in the high mountains. Your experience in Bhutan was mentioned to me by one of my senior officers. Incidentally, you have met the man. Anyway, he told me where you were, I called your CO and here you are.”
                  Ansari paused as the roar of the engines increased suddenly and they felt themselves accelerating down the runway. A few seconds later they were airborne and the vibrations of the undercarriage rolling into the fuselage confirmed the same.
                  “As you are now acutely aware,” Ansari continued, “we are gearing up for some major operations in response to the Pakistani strike on Mumbai. I say Pakistani instead of a terrorist strike because we know where the chain ends. Even so, New-Delhi feels that the appropriate response to such a devastating attack is to take out key terrorist targets inside Pakistan. The majority of these locations are inside occupied Kashmir. You buddies are gearing up for supporting the air-strikes should the need arise to send in ground troops to finish the task. But there won’t be a need and they aren’t going anywhere!”
                  Pathanya cocked an eyebrow: “Why is that, sir?”
                  “Because the camps and locations we will strike will be deserted of all targets long before we get there.” Ansari let that snippet sink in.
    “ What? ” Pathanya blurted out. “Then what’s the point of all this?”
    “Exactly.” Ansari had the air of a man who had realized this sad truth a long time ago. “We are doing this because we have to do something ! Else we invite more such strikes on us. At least that’s the working theory in New-Delhi.”
    “But we have a different plan?” Pathanya asked with all seriousness. Ansari turned to face Pathanya: “For the record, we don’t have a plan any different from the official plan is.”  
    “And off the record?” Pathanya queried.
    “How’s your Urdu?”
                 

 
     
     
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