Turning Adversity Into Advantage-2

Shikha Saxena, the author of Nation First

Smruti Deshpande

Listening to Shikha Saxena, the author of Nation First, is like experiencing life in the armed forces, learning military values that civilians can emulate, and enduring an emotional roller coaster that only defence forces personnel and their families undergo. One may think her passion for all things military is the result of life as an army wife. But the opposite is true. It is what she experienced just three months after her wedding with Capt. Akhilesh Saxena.

They got married in February 1999, three months before the Kargil war broke out in May. Even as the book gives a peak into Shikha and Capt. Saxena’s lives before the war, the real story begins with the events leading up to the war. The narration weaves a detailed picture of the deadly events that unfolded on the border and the deep impressions the war left on individuals while it was ongoing as well as after it had ended.

As the war progressed and the adversary’s artillery shelling got formidable, the Indian Army realised it had to involve its own artillery to support the infantry battalion, the 18 Grenadiers, who despite several attempts had failed to capture Tololing peak. With the command of the Drass sector going to the 8 Mountain Division during the war on June 1, the 1889 Light Regiment was deployed near Draupadi Kund. Alongside 2 Rajputana Rifles, tasked to capture the Tololing ridge, the artillery was asked to lend support. Here begins the story of Capt. Saxena, an artillery officer who led 2 Rajputana Rifles to the Tololing peak. As soon as he volunteered to join 2 Rajputana Rifles in Drass, he was told to join the unit at Matayen, where they were prepping for the attack. In order to prepare an artillery fire plan, Capt. Saxena set out to see Tololing. This was when he had the first brush with the adversary at close range.

As he embarked on the mission to capture the Tololing Peak, the Hump and the Three Pimples Area, his left palm was severed in enemy shelling. The injury changed the lives of the young couple. The left palm had to be recrafted. During his time in the hospital, repeated operations were carried out to reset the hand, including the bones, tissues and nerves. Capt. Saxena remained in the hospital for a year. Even after he was discharged, his physiotherapy sessions continued for a long period. While the palm was restored to a large extent, he was unable to hold a weapon in his hand. This meant his chances of being posted in frontline areas were almost nil.

The army offered him peace postings as the injury had rendered him incapable of fighting on the frontlines. But with a heavy heart, he decided to hang up his boots and a career in uniform and decided to start a new chapter in the corporate sector. The decision was not easy as the young army officer had to restart studies while Shikha, an IT professional, who was carrying the couple’s first child at the time, decided to set up a multimedia company to resume her own career while also taking care of her husband, who needed constant care and attention.

Although the Tata Group offered Capt. Saxena a job, he