Umesh Gopinath Jadhav, a Bengaluru musician, has completed a 1.15 Lakh kilometer journey across the country, meeting the relatives of 144 martyrs. After learning about the Pulwama assault on February 14, 2019, the 40-year-old pharma professor and musician quit his job and proceeded to meet the families of martyrs and gather soil from surrounding their homes.
On April 9, 2019, he embarked on his crowd-funded expedition, leaving behind his two sons and wife. Jadhav said that he realised that even if one does not wear the uniform, one can contribute much to the country. When he travelled around India and met with the families and residents of the martyrs.
The Bengaluru resident not only visited the families of the 40 CRPF Pulwama martyrs, but also visited those martyrs who lost their lives in the first and second World Wars, the Uri attack, the Kargil war, the Pathankot attack, the Galwan clash, Operation Rakshak, and the recent Coonoor helicopter crash, which killed Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat.
On February 14, Jadhav was at the Jaipur airport when he learned of the Pulwama assault. After playing at a private function, he was returning to his hometown. He explained that he was taken aback. Then he made the decision to collect soil from all of the martyrs' homes. One memorial has already been erected with the earth of the Pulwama martyrs, and now the soil collected from the homes of the other martyrs would be given over to the defence forces for the construction of a second memorial in Delhi.
He recalls visiting family members of CRPF jawan H Guru at Mandya, Karnataka, where he began his trek. He admitted that meeting all of the martyrs' families was impossible, so he made an effort to meet at least two from each state. But when he arrived at Nasik, he was greeted by four different families, each of whom had blended the soil from their respective homes into one pot rather than four.
He stated that the moment was a tearjerker and he also expressed that no martyr family declined to meet with him, and several of them even welcomed him at their homes. He stated that he took topsoil from the homes of Field Marshals General KM Cariappa and General Sam Manekshaw, as well as 26/11 martyr Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan of the elite 51 Special Action Group. Jadhav and his pals have devised an initiative to develop a documentary including the interactions with the martyrs family and present it infront of the defence ministry.
