THE STRONG AND MIGHTY BOW HERE BEFORE THEIR TRYST WITH THE GLACIER proclaims the a big red hoarding at the shrine of O P Baba at the base camp of Siachen Glacier, well known as the world’s highest battle field. This shrine to O P Baba and the story behind it is one of the many inspiring military tales that bolster our soldiers’ morale and are perhaps the evidence of a benign soul somewhere that watches over our bravehearts as they face untold hardship to protect our icy northern most frontiers.
The legend of OP Baba
The Indian Army’s Siachen base camp is where soldiers receive training for three months. Long stints in forward areas with treacherous snow bound crags, deadly crevasses, potentially fatal altitudes and hostile temperatures that go down to minus 60 degrees. It is also the world’s highest altitude military academy with a strategic location. Soldiers learn survival techniques and ice craft here.
During the 1980s, when Siachen first came to assume its position of strategic importance for the Indian Army, a soldier called Om Prakash (now known as O P Baba) went missing near the Bilafond La pass area on the Saltoro mountain range that flanks the glacier. Legend has it that Om Prakash singlehandedly held of an enemy attack at the Malaun post in the late 1980s. No one knows what happened to this fiercely brave soldier and his body was never found so this story remains a mystery till date.
O P Baba the protector
It is now believed that O P Baba is a protector of all Indian soldiers in Siachen. It is believed that he protects not only from enemy attacks by appearing in a forewarning dream, but also against the real enemy: nature with its utterly inhospitable terrain, low oxygen levels, and dangerously low temperatures. A small sarwadharm (multi religious) shrine has come up at Kargil base camp where every soldier bows his head to seek protection of Siachen’s guardian angel before proceeding to the forward post. So strong is the faith soldiers have in O P Baba that formal reports of missions and new inductions of soldier parties are placed before the protector of the mountains.
Author – Reena Daruwalla
