Wow – where do I start? Perhaps at the Dining table with a cup of coffee. Why don’t you read up some of my posts while I finish writing about myself.
I was 16. My friend’s dad had just got a new air rifle. It was nice. Clean n Shiny. We did a few shots. It sounded nice.
It was ready for a mission.
At twenty hundred hours, we would sneak up to a enemy hideout – house of a bengali family, whose son was in our class. You can figure out – he and us didn’t quite get along.
The objective was the top window of the south wall. Our mission was to break the window. And we swore not to return even if we lose our lives.
As I crept up to the boundary wall, thick foliage behind me and the darkness echoing each step in the dry leaves. It was cold. But not that cold. Kind of cold that gets your heart beating just a little faster, but doesn’t exactly hurt.
I got a clear shot of the window. I raised weapon. I steadied my aim. And I gently squeezed the trigger. Almost instantly, I heard a light glass crack. And then a shutter of glass pieces as the broken piece fell to the concrete.
Mission Accomplished.
I make the first and only mistake of war. Don’t run with a gun when you’ve just finished a sniper mission. And definitely don’t run right below the street light. And most importantly – don’t have a silhouette that almost anyone can recognize.
Ok so I shot at a window. So what. What’s the big deal?
Let me assure you – I DID NOT know this. And if I did – I would have most DEFINITELY never volunteered to do it. Even though I will not lie – I might have agreed to participate in an already existing mission.
The enemy’s mother was standing below the window. Of course she was inside the house. But I did not know that. How could I? There was the south wall between us.
Anyways. She heard the bang. And she got scared. She was a heart patient. And she had a stroke and fainted. I was jubiliant. I ran through the jungle, across the road, right below the street light with my silhouette standing out, as the enemy, the loyal son of the mother who had just been wounded, saw this and clenched his teeth.
In coming weeks, my father had to apologize profusely to more than a dozen people. People ridiculed me, my family, and my upbringing.
They judged me without knowing me. Well … that’s how it is.
And that’s how I am. Your judgement of me should come once you know me. Give it a shot.
email me at – sameer [at] martecker [dot] com