No War Memorial. Still. 'Ye Dil Mangey More' - 2 Poem by Vinod Sharma

One more Kargil Vijay Diwas has passed us by. Another day to briefly remember India's forgotten soldiers and push them out of sight again. As they have been for the last 65 years. Hard to believe, but the bitter truth is that Independent India has yet not found an inch of land to honour those who have made the supreme sacrifice for their motherland, with a National War Memorial in Delhi.

What is being passed off as a memorial for them is actually a British War Memorial, now called India Gate, to honour every single Indian soldier - regimental no. and name engraved in stone - who died fighting for the Empire mainly during the First World War. All we have done for those who laid down their lives for us, is put a rifle upside down, helmet on top, under the arch of this massive Raj memorial, and light a small flame there. This is humiliation.

For years the military has been trying to convince babus and netas to allot land so that our martyrs too can be honoured and remembered in a dignified manner. Files have moved up and down, but the hearts and minds of the new rulers of India remain frozen.

On the day that commemorates the valour and sacrifice of India's young sons in Kargil, I express my angst in verse. (Two poems)