Major General Harsha Kakar, the name itself speaks a story. Major Harsha served in the Indian Army for thirty-six years. He got commissioned in the Indian Army in June 1979 and superannuated in March 2015.

For Major Harsha, it was as if he entered the army the very first day he was born as his father was in the army too. He was always destined to walk in his father’s footsteps. Reminiscing about his childhood days, Harsha recalls how he was cared for by the army families in Bangalore when his parents went to Mumbai for his mother’s cancer treatment.

During his service in the Army, Harsha missed most of the major occasions and events that he wished to celebrate with his family. He missed his mother’s funeral because he was 48 hours away from the airport in her last moments, and he barely made it when it was his father’s turn to say a goodbye. But even after everything he has missed, he has no regrets because he was doing his duties for the country and he is proud of it.

Harsha feels all that he has learned in his life in the army, all the experiences he has had and all the ups and downs he has encountered, are enough to fill a collection of books. Today, when he sits in the evenings and recollects all his memories, he feels they are substantial for today’s youth to learn and move ahead in their lives.

Talking about the lessons he learned during his tenure in the Army, he says the very first lesson is having trust, faith and belief in yourself. He finished schooling in Commerce, Accounting and Geography and decided to join NDA to follow in his father’s footsteps. Physics and Chemistry were his weak points. When he failed the first written examination, his father gave him a second and last chance to prove his worth. It took six months of hardwork and somehow, Harsha made it. It was his sheer will and determination that pushed him beyond his reach. When he failed, he had decided that this was the last time he would ever fail in life and no matter how adverse or tough a situation may get, he would overcome all his problems and never look back.

The second lesson he learned was that you’re never too big to learn. Harsha feels taking advice from someone is never a bad thing and it mostly comes from the most unexpected people in the most unexpected situations. Once, he was to engage with a group of terrorists who had their base on a mountain top. If he would have taken the route he had decided to take, there might have been casualties as the enemies had laid an ambush on that route. Thankfully, one of his juniors advised him to take another route and he is grateful he took his advice. His mission was a success and there were no casualties.

The third lesson is to respect each and every one. When he was first commissioned, he was told by one of his seniors that if a jawaan (soldier) can call you Saahab (sir), the very least you can do is to call them ‘aap’ instead of ‘tum’. That has always remained with Harsha as he thinks giving respect to someone helps in creating a good bond and breaking barriers. He feels when someone works in such a good environment, the output is far better. In the three and a half years that Harsha commanded his unit, there was never a single incident when someone did something wrong. All because of the trust and faith he created in his establishment.

The next lesson is to never display your weakness to anyone. He was once caught up in a situation where he had an immense responsibility to save everyone’s life, which Major Harsha successfully did. He says the fact that you can hide your fears and not let them overpower your confidence in yourself, can make you a fearless hero and that is the way one needs to represent themselves in the public.

The other lesson he learned was to be disciplined in life. He feels success comes when you follow a distinct path in life. When you know what to do and when to do it, that is what differentiates you from the others. Harsha himself follows the same amount of discipline he used to follow during his service and advises everyone to do the same.

Finally, the last advice is to never give up in life because of failure. Harsha feels life can never be a bed of roses and failures will always be there in everyone’s lives but one has to take them head-on and overcome them considering them as a challenge with strong will, determination and self-trust.

For Harsha, the pandemic changed his routine completely. He had to reshuffle everything. He started reading and writing more as he was locked inside. He decided he would learn something new and he started learning to play the saxophone.

Given a chance to go back in time, he would like to go back to his NDA days when he just started his career in the Army. He made friends who were like his brothers from another mother and he wants to relive all the moments he spent with them again.

Harsha believes that joining the Armed Forces is not a career or a choice. It is a calling from the heart and the mind. A soldier is expected to be positive and determined, and if you still want to serve with the men in uniform knowing the adversities you will have to face, then this is a career for you. He advises people to never be disappointed if they fail to join the Armed Forces as there may be some other calling for them, some other profession they are good at.

On a concluding note, Major Harsha says life is a struggle and it’s upon you, how you are going to take it. If you walk with a smile on your face, it would become an easy struggle but if you keep a sour face, you will remain with a sour face struggling to get through. The choice is yours, the path is not going to change.