Q&A Slumdog millionaire blog #9 A Soldier's Tale

     In the chapter A Soldier's Tale, Ram tells Smita that he met this man who was apart of the Indian army that tells him a story about his war experiences in the past. Balwant Singh Damle, the old man tells his story about his past war experience and makes a statement that what's happening now isn't a real war compared to the past wars. He says the last war that happened was on December third 1971 and that he was happy to be blessed with his wife's luck before he fought in the war. Balwant found a Pakistan soldier begging for mercy but then Balwant asks him "what would you have done if you were in the same position?" and the Pakistan soldier said he'd kill him. So, Balwant pulled the trigger, shooting through his heart and afterwards he cremated the dead soldier. Then he continues on with his story about him losing his left leg because a hail of bullets shot it. Although he still manages to survive and raise a tricolored flag on the Mandiala Bridge. Colonels came to visit and talk about how good the Prime Minister and all the donations are going for the army. But soon, one Colonel finds out that Balwant is just a deserter who left Chhamb sector on the first sight of trouble and all the stories he told were just a lie and his leg was blown off by Pakistani Air Force bombing. The Colonel became really frustrated so he hung Balwant in his room and left. Smita then turns on the TV and Prem Kumar asks Ram the eighth question which was "Which is the highest award for gallantry given to the Indian armed forces? Is it a) Maha Vir Chakra, b) Param Vir Chakra, c) Shaurya Chakra or d) Ashok Chakra?" Ram answerd B and won five hundred thousand rupees.