Chennai: The video of three Indian soldiers battling the brutal hell that’s life in Siachen, using a hammer to break frozen eggs and fruit juice, has gone viral with the social media post by the Indian Military Academy attracting over 1,11,000 views within a day. Many have saluted the jawans on twitter.
Siachen is among the toughest and coldest battlefields in the world at an altitude of about 20,000 feet and has temperatures dropping as low as minus-70. “The temperature plunges as low as minus 70 degrees. Life here is hell,” says one of the soldiers on the video that has attracted huge appreciation from all over not only in sympathy for the soldiers’ brutal living but also in praise of their cheerful demeanour even in such hostile conditions.
The three soldiers are seen enjoying themselves showing to the camera how they use hammers to break up their food before cooking it on gas - the eggs, fruit juice, potatoes, ginger and even tomatoes. Among the flood of salutations on twitter was one grateful Indian stating it sure would be a great ordeal even to prepare a simple meal of rice and dhal at such low temperatures. Another twitterati pointed out that the soldiers seemed having a ball, even laughing at their harsh predicament and they never seemed to lose their grit and balance. But what the video did not show is the other side of the frozen coin -the young soldiers suffering physical and mental ailments from their high-altitude postings.
“The High-Altitude Pulmonary Oedema is a serious issue, where even a young and robust soldier could succumb to what could be described in layman’s terms as drowning in his own fluid filling up the lungs. And there are issues such as mental depression affecting career and family life, frost bite that could lead to amputation, just to name a few”, said a medical specialist with experience at a high-altitude military hospital.
