Kargil
by Ankush Banerjee
(after Sudeep Sen’s “Kargil”)
The War works with unparalleled diligence,
Yet no one gives it
a word of praise
—Dunya Mikhail
Praise the war that cannot
change course of rivers in this valley
of omens and bomb-wounds.
Dear son, last evening, it took us forty-five minutes
to defrost a tomato in water
heated from Kerosene brought here last October.
Praise the war that could not
puncture peaks—4590, 5140, Tololing;
adorning them instead with ghosts
of new martyrs and old narrative.
We don’t bathe from October to March.
The truancy of hope keeps Chillblains away.
Praise the war that cannot
melt ice, grow a tree, father fruits—
in this valley of ‘whispers and small town clamour’
Ponies the size of logs
carry 25 litre barrels
in minus three degree. I accompanied a
sprightly pony
called Tillu. During our climb,
Naik Birju Ram
got frostbite. The pony was okay.
Praise the war that cannot
not end; rising like a threnody from mountains,
always approaching, but never quite there,
until we find it like a stray bullet and silence
We take blood thinners. We melt ice water for
drinking. Canned food slowly grows
on you. Birju's ankle was amputated. The pony is okay.
Praise the war that gives us
memorials, stories, films, novels, museums,
advertising jingles, a reason, perhaps
The last blizzard blocked the TV antenna.
I need to put out this Kerosene lamp.
Moon shines on snow. I miss birdsong.
I miss that pony called Tillu.
“I remember reading Sudeep Sen’s poem ‘Kargil’ had made me very uneasy. My unease expanded manifold, and in different directions, when, in March 2022, I visited this border town, which had been one of the epicenters of the 1999 India-Pakistan conflict. This poem is an attempt to articulate that unease, and fashion a certain kind of narrative, that from a combatant’s perspective, which is otherwise often misrepresented, or exaggerated, (or completely left out) in cultural representations.” —Ankush Banerjee
Ankush Banerjee (he/his), poet, Culture Studies PhD research scholar and serving Naval Officer, is the author of An Essence of Eternity (2016). He has been recipient of the 2019 All India Poetry Prize, as well as the United Services Institution of India Gold Medals in 2013, 2017, and 2022, for his essays on Military Ethics and Leadership. His poetry, reviews and essays appear in Eclectica, Cha, The Bombay Literary Magazine, The Tupelo Quarterly, Kitaab and The Indian Express, among others. His work has also appeared in the anthologies Yearbook of Indian Poetry 2020 and 2021, Best of Asian Poetry 2021, and Converse: Contemporary English Poetry by Indians. He is currently stationed at New Delhi.