"Soorma" in Real Life

“Soorma” in Real Life - Praveen Kumar Teotia

Part 1

Have you ever imagine that how life turns to 360 degree all of sudden in a moment? Within a moment life changes its color. You have all your future plans in your mind and all of sudden as sand slips from closed hand, you see your designed future collapse in front of your eyes and it is so quick that you even cannot realized what is happening around you.

He had lost his consciousness by the time he was taken to the hospital in ambulance. Hot blood trickle down his neck, the cloth on stretcher was socked in the stream of blood flowed down from his badly injured body. He kept in ICU for nineteen days, just 23 years old Indian Navy marine commando suffered several serious injuries in the combat including his left ear being blown off by AK 47 bullet and his right lung being ruptured from another shot.

This is not a story but real life incidents happened in someone’s life. The Ex-Marine Commando Force (MARCOS) who injured this much was none another then India’s Ironman Pravin Kumar Teotia. During the harrowing 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, Teotia was appointed point man in second team of commandos.

A point man is the first person of the troop who either fires the first shot or takes the first bullet. In the firing that took place, he took four bullets. One went right through his chest breaking four ribs of his right lung. Another went through his bulletproof collar, one bullet cut through his bulletproof plate and the other ricocheted off a wall onto his heart. In spite of immense pain, Teotia was successful in keeping the terrorists engaged as his team rescued 150 people from the adjoining hall.

However, Teotia’s real battle had just started. He is the only lung damage survivor in the world and his survival is considered as miracle for medical science. In his own words, “I stayed in ICU for 19 days but nobody came to meet me. I had to seek financial aid and help from the Taj Welfare Trust which is very embarrassing for any defence personnel. My promotions were stopped, my payment witnessed a downfall and I was no longer considered credible or useful.”

Time passes and in March 2009, he rejoined his duty in Navy but due to impairment he was forced to take a desk job. There was nothing good about that. He was asked to do menial jobs. His colleagues also made fun at times of his hearing impairment, some even called him deaf. The ex-commando felt unwelcomed in the Navy, for a person, who was the ‘pointman’ of his troop, a desk job is like another extreme.

Teotia said in his one of interviews that in defence there is a saying that, “you are one time used. And I had already been used one time.” However, he was missing his old days, especially his life when his routine was like jumping from here and there while going through drill, eat a hearty meal, don the uniform, fire some rounds and play football in the evening. Now the situation is completely different where he cannot climb few steps of stairs or walk even 30 m. As he is lung damage survivor, doctors told him not to do any physical work in which he can face breathing trouble. After multiple surgeries he was not the same Praveen Teotia who was before 26/11.

Gradually he had put on weight, slowly he had lost his abilities to do certain activities which he liked the most before. He liked swimming but he cannot swim now, he was a state level football player once but now he is not being selected even for defence tournament matches. Once upon a time he was considered as an example for the fittest commando but now the situation is totally different, now he cannot even breathe easily.

Meanwhile, once he went to somewhere with his colleagues for some routine training and his fallow colleagues were enjoying swimming in leisure time. Teotia was sitting on the edge and looking at them, one of his colleagues called him and told him to jump into water. He thought for a while and denied as it can be dangerous for him after all the surgeries. That moment passed but the feeling of helplessness, the feeling of not being able to do anything which he loved to do earlier was burning him inside. That day he became so restless and on the next morning when they all went for swimming at the same place, he just jumped into the water without think twice.

to be continued...
PC - The Bridge

- Sneha Jani