Maj. Gautam Vijay is a Doctor in the Indian Army. In this article, he has recalled what prompted him to serve the Army.
Remember those mandatory “How was your Summer Vacation?” essays we had to write at the start of each new school year?
Maj. Gautam Vijay says he wrote much the same essay, every year in school, with a few minor changes from the same essay book. But he still remembers the summer of 1998 and says it was different. Something sparked inside Maj. Gautam Vijay, and he wanted to write about it. However, he avoided it for fear of appearing too philosophical for a 13-year-old.
How the fire to serve the Army got sparked in Maj. Gautam Vijay
His mother took Maj. Gautam Vijay to the local park for slides on a typical “summer holiday” evening. For some reason, Maj. Gautam Vijay’s mother began telling him about her entire family. She then told Maj. Gautam Vijay something about his maternal grandpa, Capt. Hanuman Prakash Gupta. But he didn’t pay attention until his mother said, “He was a Doctor in the Indian Army.”Maj. Gautam Vijay spent the rest of his vacation inquiring about his maternal grandpa every day: who he was, what he was like, what he studied, how he got into the Army…
His mother gently answered to the best of her memory and knowledge of Maj. Gautam Vijay’s maternal uncle. But, little did she realize, what Maj. Gautam Vijay’s heart had suddenly begun to yearn for!
The fire eventually got sparked in Maj. Gautam Vijay at the age of 13 when he saw a photo of Late Capt. Hanuman Prakash Gupta in Army uniform.
Maj. Gautam Vijay recalls what he learned about Capt. Hanuman Prakash Gupta
Maj. Gautam Vijay says Capt. Hanuman Prakash Gupta married Smt. Sharda Gupta when he was 22 years old. He was commissioned as a Captain in the Medical Battalion, Army Medical Corps on July 24, 1966,
Capt. Hanuman Prakash Gupta was initially stationed somewhere in Kashmir’s field area. On March 16, 1968, he was on his way to assist a fellow officer when a mine exploded and killed him. His body was discovered a few days later. Capt. Hanuman Prakash Gupta did leave a legacy, unaware that he would inspire someone 30 years later to continue in his footsteps. That someone is Maj. Gautam Vijay.
Today, when the younger generation comes up to Maj. Gautam Vijay asks him the same questions he once asked, it makes him happy.
All Maj. Gautam Vijay tells them is, “Yes.” The love of uniform and respect, the allure of being referred to as an “Army officer,” are all extremely appealing, but they are not the entire picture.”
What inspired Maj. Gautam Vijay is that Capt. Hanuman Prakash Gupta was someone who believed in unselfish service to his nation and to humanity in general; a simple, peaceful, and helpful human being, like everyone, remembers him to this day, and that is what I aspired to be.
Maj. Gautam Vijay finally says, “Inspiration strikes when you least expect it, in the most mundane of circumstances, but it is difficult to grasp. It makes you examine your beliefs, challenge your limits, and kick open the closed doors to discover your own hidden sanctuary behind them. People were often asking me why and how I joined the military. I could never touch this particular memory as if it were buried deep within me.”
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