Chapter 2 — Values and Dispositions

Major Somnath Sharma (1923–1947) was the commander of D Company, 4th Battalion, Kumaon Regiment. He is remembered as India's first recipient of the Param Vir Chakra, awarded posthumously for his extraordinary bravery at the Battle of Badgam on 3 November 1947, where he led 90 soldiers against approximately 500 invaders to protect the Srinagar airfield. His name is engraved on the Honour Wall of the National War Memorial.

According to the text, when Brigade headquarters asked him to pull back as ammunition ran low, he replied: "The enemy is only 50 yards from us. We are heavily outnumbered. We are under devastating fire. I shall not withdraw an inch but will fight to the last man and the last round." He was killed by a mortar shell shortly afterwards.

Pakistan launched Operation Gulmarg in August 1947 to annex the Kashmir Valley, violating an existing agreement with Hari Singh, the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir. The Pakistani Army trained and equipped around 1,000 invaders to enter Kashmir and seize strategic locations including the Srinagar airport. The operation was launched on 22 October 1947, which led to the Princely State acceding to India on 26 October 1947 and Indian troops being airlifted to Srinagar from 27 October onwards.

D Company's resistance, even after Major Sharma was killed, held the enemy at bay for over six more hours before being overrun. This delay allowed reinforcements — including soldiers from the Punjab regiment flown into Srinagar — to arrive. The heroic stand caused more than 300 enemy casualties and injured the enemy leader, preventing the capture of the Srinagar airfield and the wider valley. The 4 KUMAON battalion was subsequently awarded the Battle Honour, Srinagar.

The Param Vir Chakra signifies the 'Wheel of the Ultimate Brave' and is awarded for exemplary bravery in the presence of the enemy. It was instituted as a gallantry medal with retrospective effect from 15 August 1947 by Dr. Rajendra Prasad, the then President of India. The medal, designed by Mrs. Savitri Khanolkar, is cast in bronze; its centre bears the State Emblem of India surrounded by four replicas of Indra's Vajra lined with lotus flowers. The design drew inspiration from Sage Dadhichi, a Vedic rishi.

"Somebody's Mother" by Mary Dow Brine tells of an elderly, frail woman — old, ragged, and grey — standing alone at a street crossing on a cold winter day, afraid to move because of carriage wheels and horses. A group of schoolboys passes without helping. One boy, described as the 'gayest laddie' of the group, stops and whispers, "I'll help you cross, if you wish to go." He guides her safely across, then returns to his friends, reflecting that she is somebody's mother and hoping someone would help his own mother if she were ever old and alone. That night, the old woman prays for the "noble boy" who helped her.

The text shows the boy acted out of empathy and compassion. After guiding the woman across the street, he explains his reasoning to his friends: "She's somebody's mother, boys, you know, / For all she's aged and poor and slow" and adds that he hopes someone will lend a hand to help his own mother if she is ever "poor and old and grey" when her own dear boy is far away. The poem presents his action as spontaneous kindness rooted in the ability to see the humanity in a stranger.

Dr. Verghese Kurien is the figure behind the White Revolution in India and is known as the 'Milkman of India'. In his 2005 letter to his grandson Siddharth, he explains that he chose to work with a small dairy cooperative in Anand, Gujarat — rather than pursue careers in metallurgy, the Indian Army, or as an NRI — because he believed he could make a more meaningful contribution there. He identifies integrity (being honest to yourself), service to the common good, using one's talents to the best of one's ability, and accepting responsibility for oneself as the core values that shaped his life.

Dr. Kurien writes: "failure is not about not succeeding. Rather, it is about not putting in your best effort and not contributing, however modestly, to the common good." He also writes that "there is little correlation between the circumstances of people's lives and how happy they are" and that comparing ourselves with others only shows us "images of perfection," rather than helping us cherish what we actually have.

Dr. Kurien recalls the ceremony in Delhi where the President awarded him the Padma Vibhushan in 1999. He describes his grandson Siddharth slipping the medal around his own neck in awe and asking to keep it. Kurien and his wife told Siddharth the medal was his as much as theirs, but that Siddharth should not be satisfied with merely keeping it — the real challenge was to earn his own reward for the work he did in his lifetime.

Dr. Kurien writes that his wife knew life in Anand could not offer even simple comforts in those early days, yet she "ardently supported" his choice to live and work there. He credits her decision to stand by him as giving him "an everlasting strength" that ensured he shouldered his responsibilities with poise. He emphasises that whenever he received recognition, it was also a recognition of the many people he was privileged to work with, including her.

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