Nothing has changed.
On December 1, 2003, when Sgt Uday Singh died during fierce firefighting at Habbaniyah, Iraq, he was 21 years old. A part of the US Army, his posting to Iraq was part of Operation Iraqi Freedom. For me, he was Uday, not Sergeant Uday. Having studied together, I was incredibly fond of him; added to the fact that he was very lovable that made him all the more endearing.
A cherubic youngster, not even ‘bad’ enough to be called a bully, I was surprised when he decided to join the US Army, and shocked when he went to Iraq. He did not belong there, I thought. Was he actually so brave? And then, the horrible news came in – at 21, he had died fighting a battle for a foreign country in unknown lands.
Now, six years down the line, I don’t know if his death will ever be ‘worth’ the pain it caused to his family and friends. It was supposed to mean something, something noble and ethereal. But with young soldiers continuing to lay down their lives in distant countries – not only geographically, but also ideologically – for causes they might not even believe in, I’m afraid many more Udays would fall at the altar of indecisive leaderships.
What are we heading towards?
