This is a story of friendship and courage of two friends, one a Major
in the Indian Army and the other, a Major in the Australian army who were
together for a short time during a course in India. But their friendship even
after years encourages one to help the other’s son, whose father was killed in
action in Jammu & Kashmir. The story tells us there are no boundaries in
love and friendship; it’s just the desire……
 |
| Major Mohit Whig & Major William Sowry |
This is a story of friendship
between two army men, Major Mohit Whig of the Indian army and a young Major
William Sowry in the Australian army deputed to spend a year at India’s
prestigious Defence Services Staff College in Wellington, India
In 1994 Sowry was posted to the
staff college to spend a year in the Nilgiri hills with his Indian army
counterparts. Major Whig was appointed as his ‘sponsor’ to help him ease into
the course. After which Sowry returned to Australia and Whig was on patrol when
a land mine blew up, killing him and his three accompanying soldiers. Whig left
behind his wife Tina and two young children, Zorawar and Fateh.
A couple of years ago, Sowry
discovered Whig’s once again. ‘We lost touch but through the magic of Facebook,
I was able to find her elder son Zorawar and made contact.’ It was then he
learnt about the younger son Fateh, who was barely a year old when his father
was killed. Fateh was born with spina sifida, a rare congenital spinal disorder
that has left him disabled since birth.
A few months ago, he heard about
the Whig family exploring a rehabilitative procedure that could help Fateh
regain some degree of normalcy. But the
costs were steep and they needed to raise $25,000 to travel to Australia for
the medical procedure. Now twenty years later, Sowry is a 52-year-old
Brigadier, posted as a defence attaché in the United Kingdom, who has set a
target of 14,600 pushups in 23 days to help raise funds for Whig’s disabled
son.
William Sowry built a fund
raising campaign he calls PUFF – Push Ups For Fateh, to help his old friend’s
younger son. In the 23 days that the Tour De France takes place, he started
doing 4 pushups for every kilometer he will do 14,642 pushups in 18 days. So
far Sowry has already raised $9,000.
While Sowry wrote to several
senior Indian Army officials and other government functionaries, he is yet to
hear from them. He even met the minister of state and former army chief,
General VK Singh, who promised to help him raise funds.
This is an inspiring story of
friendship going beyond boundaries, of a true desire to help a friend’s son
whose father is no longer alive. And an old friendship many years ago bonded
them.
..........................................................................................
Picture Post:
 |
| Panjim, the capital of Goa |
............................................................................................
For more interesting blogs by Aneela Nike
Log on to: www.aneelanike.blogspot.com
To promote – Products, Services, Books, Hotels, Resorts, Property,
etc
‘A good memoir – should have elegant prose peppered with a
little wit and humour. It should not be pompous, otherwise tends to get a bit
vulgar. Should be based on real life experiences and facts. Should be economic
in words and focus on the essentials for the benefit of young readers.’
Would you like to share your experiences, ups and down in
life, pains and gains, failures and success?
Do you wish to write a memoir, autobiography or biography?
For help in writing or editing just write to: akn929@yahoo.com
No comments:
Post a Comment