In a market flooded with military accounts and memoirs, Neha Dwivedi’s The Lone Wolf: The Untold Story of the Rescue of Sheikh Hasina carries a strong voice of conviction, relaying a saga of grit, valour and tenacity from the Indian Army. Dwivedi retells the incident of the rescue mission led by Colonel Ashok Tara, the Vir Chakra winner who, as part of the Indian army operations during the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971, was entrusted with the rescue of Sheikh Hasina (who later became Prime Minister of Bangladesh) and her family from the hands of Pakistani soldiers holding them captive. The author backs the story with exhaustive research and readings that add to the veracity of the detailed account.
Operating alone
Dwivedi sustains the momentum of the story without resorting to the additional thrills of hyper-nationalism. She etches out details of the operation and the background text with an empathy and understanding that is mandated by such a body of work. Operating in treacherous territory, relying mostly on one’s own resources and wits, requires no only years of training but also something more – an innate confidence and reliance on one’s self. Dwivedi draws out vivid details as she profiles Tara’s exploits at the time of Bangladesh’s quest for freedom.
Then 29, Tara was assigned the task of rescuing Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s family, several of whose members were being held hostage by the Pakistani Army at the time the Bangladesh Liberation War was nearing its end. Tara entered the lion’s den unarmed and negotiated with the hostile soldiers for the release of the family, which included a young Sheikh Hasina.
Neha Dwivedi, whose father was an Indian army office killed in the Kargil war, is no stranger to sacrifices made in the line of duty. This has possibly contributed to the sensitive humanistic portrayal of the operation and of the protagonist. She captures Tara’s humble beginnings, his life-altering experiences, and offers a blow-by-blow account of a seminal event in south Asian history.
In charting the course of the bravery displayed by Tara and other soldiers, Dwivedi shines a light on some of the minute aspects of the war. The “lone wolf” analogy is befitting here, describing as it does the life of an officer who had to operate alone during a key mission. Tara is shown in a realistic light rather than being presented as a larger than life figure. The absence of exaggerated eulogy actually sustains the reader’s interest till the end.
Fear and courage
In sketching details of the operation, there is a strong focus on Tara’s clarity and mental strength, which he used not only to save the lives of the members of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s family, but also cemented the relationship between India and the newly-formed Bangladesh. “The book highlights the issues of ‘fear’ and ‘courage’, which are two sides of the same coin,” writes Dwivedi.
This work is a telling example of truth surfacing in the end as the history and stories lay buried in the annals of military records before a keen writer’s eye. It provides due recognition of Tara’s quiet courage and valour, an acknowledgement of his hard work, and most offers an evocative description of his personality. We also get to see what happens before, during, and after a heroic act.
The author traces Tara’s valour to childhood experiences such as walking through a forested area and coming face to face with a snarling wolf. Inspired by his grandfather, a hunter, he stood his ground till the wolf backed off. His father’s opinion that “fear is a state of the mind” shaped the soldier son’s understanding of the world and the battlefield. “This experience, at a young age, stood him in good stead many years later, during the 1971 war, when he came face to face with a group of trigger-happy Pakistani soldiers, holed up in a house along with the family of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman,” writes Dwivedi.
I can already imagine this biography shape-shifting into a graphic novel as well as a riveting film.
The Lone Wolf: The Untold Story of the Rescue of Sheikh Hasina, Neha Dwivedi, Penguin India.
