'By the time you get this letter, I'll be observing you all from the sky. I have no regrets, in fact even if I become a human again, I'll join the army and fight for my nation.' This was the last letter Captain Vijyant Thapar wrote to his family. He was twenty-two when he was martyred in the Kargil War, having fought bravely in the crucial battles of Tololing and Knoll. A fourth-generation army officer, Vijyant dreamt of serving his country even as a young boy. In this first-ever biography, we learn about his journey to join the Indian Military Academy and the experiences that shaped him into a fine officer. Told by his father and Neha Dwivedi, a martyr's daughter herself, the anecdotes from his family and close friends come alive, and we have a chance to know the exceptional young man that Vijyant was. His inspiring story provides a rare glimpse into the heart of a brave soldier. His legacy stays alive through these fond memories and his service to the country.

Why does a group of stranded paratroopers call for Bofors' fire upon its own position? Why is an old man in Palampur fighting for justice for his dead soldier son? What makes a martyr's father visit a young Kashmiri girl every year? Kargil takes you into the treacherous mountains where some of Indian Army's bloodiest battles were fought. Interviewing war survivors and martyrs' families, Rachna Bisht Rawat tells stories of extraordinary human courage, of not just men in uniform but also those who loved them the most. With its gritty stories of incomparable bravery, Kargil is a tribute to the 527 young braves who gave up their lives for us-and the many who were ready to do it too.

The Bangladesh Liberation War was nearing its bloody end when Colonel Ashok Tara, then a twenty-nine-year-old major, was assigned the task of rescuing Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's family which was being held hostage by the Pakistani Army. Ashok Tara, unarmed, entered the lion's den, and negotiated with the hostile soldiers for the release of Bangladesh's Father of the Nation and his family that included a young Sheikh Hasina. The Lone Wolf is Ashok Tara's story, charting the course of his celebrated yet quiet life as a member of the armed forces. Neha Dwivedi's writing expertly captures our hero's humble beginnings, his life-altering experiences, and offers a blow-by-blow account of a seminal event in South-east Asian history. As much as it is the story of Colonel Ashok Tara's bravery, it is also the story of a bleak-yet-victorious period of Bangladesh's quest for freedom.

In May 1999, India was invaded by Pakistan in Kargil, Ladakh, in a surprise attack. Diksha Dwivedi's father was one of the martyrs of that war. In this extremely moving book, she tells the story of the Kargil war through the letters and diaries of her father and other soldiers who fought there.

The definitive account of the 1999 Kargil war - the strategy, the effects, the heroism - from the man in charge. In February 1999, Pakistani Army personnel, disguised as jehadi militants, infiltrated into mountainous Kargil and occupied key vantage points. Their intrusion triggered off a limited war between the world's newest nuclear states. It was a bitter battle, and one that throws up important lessons for India's defence preparedness, as also its responses to flare-ups such as this. This book is also a reminder of the unparalleled heroism that was on display during those grim weeks, heroism that has become a benchmark for bravery.

In this unflinchingly candid memoir, Zareer Masani draws on the letters and diaries of his parents, charismatic politician Minoo Masani and his gifted wife Shakuntala, to paint an intimate portrait of two remarkable individuals and two families the Masanis, Bombay Parsis, and the Srivastavas, U.P. Kayasths united by marriage but divided by temperament, lifestyle and political affiliation. Minoo's father, Sir Rustom Masani, was an ascetic scholar who scorned wealth and all the comforts it could buy. Shakuntala's father, Sir J.P. Srivastava, arch-loyalist of the British Raj, made a fortune as a textile mill owner and brought up his daughter in the lap of hedonistic luxury. When the two fell in love and eloped, Minoo Masani was the twice-divorced leader of the left-wing Congress Socialist party. Later, he became a founder-member of the pro-free market Swatantra party, a man whom Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has described as his main ideological inspiration. The author writes of his upbringing in these two milieus, torn between the rival influences and attractions of his Parsi and Hindu grandparents; of the anguish and isolation of coming to terms with his homosexuality in 60s India; and of the breakdown of his parents marriage, which was closely interwoven with the political drama of Indira Gandhi's rise to power and her imposition of the Emergency.

Unforgettable Tales Of The Kargil War The Kargil War In The Summer Of 1999 Was A Tale Of Brutality And Courage. Here Was War In Its Essence: Barren, Icy Peaks Held By A Strongly Entrenched Enemy, And The Only Way To Dislodge The Intruders Was To Climb Up In The Face Of Overwhelming Fire. By The End Of The War Many More Heroes Were Added To The List Of The Nation S Brave: Saurav Kalia, Vijayant Thapar, Yogendra Singh Yadav, Mariappan Sarvanan And Vikram Batra, To Name Only A Few. Their Exploits In This Harrowing Battle Read Like The Stuff Of Legend. In Despatches From Kargil, Srinjoy Chowdhury, Who Covered The War For The Statesman, Recounts What It Was Like For Journalists To Battle Against Deadlines, Shellfire-And Particularly Vicious Bedbugs-To Transmit Their Reports. He Draws Graphic Pictures Of The Major Assaults, Such As In Drass And Batalik, Relying Heavily On The First-Hand Accounts Of Those Who Took Part In The Action. There Are Memorable Portrayals Of The Soldiers And Officers Too-Sometimes Of The Other Side As Well. This Is War Reportage At Its Best: Observant, Objective, And Ultimately, For All The Wry Understatement, Extremely Moving. If I Don T Inform The Platoon Commander (About The Presence Of The Enemy), He Will Be Overrun, I Thought. And All Because Of Me. I Was Wounded. I Couldn T Walk. I Must Have Been Hit About Fifteen Times, In The Leg, The Chest, The Groin And Arm& I Began Crawling Down& -Param Vir Chakra, Grenadier Yogendra Singh Yadav