I have lived in Bangalore since forever and I never had visited this patriotic land. But through Youth For Seva , I had an oppurtunity to be here on 28 November 2021.

This military park is located in the core of bangalore, adjacent to Indira Gandhi Musical Fountain and exactly opposite to Jawaharlal Nehru Planeterium. The memorial is situated in a lush green spacious park and is a constant reminder of all the brave soldiers who lost their lives for the country.

On 28th of Sunday morning we were asked to be present at the venue by 9:30. Members of Adrishya team hosted us and had planned the event extremely well.

A good introduction makes everything interesting further and Mr. Madhusudan gave us a brief information about the place and shared many untold war stories that ignited the patriotism inside us.

After a quick introduction and few warm up activities we were ready to explore the memorial park.

Firstly, we started at the flagpole. This memorial has the 10th tallest flagpole (approximately 213 feet in height) in India.

We were quizzed about our indian flag by Samskruthi. It was very informtive and fun at the same time.

Next, we did a short tour inside the underground museum. The large space has many artefacts, informative bulletin boards, models and aircrafts in display.

Statue of FIELD MARSHAL K M CARIAPPA

Wall of fame of our courageous PARAM VIR CHAKRA RECIPIENTS

The pictures that I have shared here are very limited. One has to visit this amazing place to witness all the models, flags ,badges etc. in detail. After spending some time in the museum we next went to see the giant “veeragallu”.

This enormous stone weighs around 450 tonne and is 75 feet tall. The names of 22,600 martyred soldiers will be etched on this stone in the coming days.

A detail description about VEERAGALLU was given by Veena

FACT: The installation of this monolith was very challenging. A 240 – wheeled trailer was used to transport this.

Basavakiran, who is a Former Cadet senior under officer of 3 Kar BN NCC shared in depth information about the army, the discipline that is followed and many more sacrificing stories about the armymen.

This park has tall granite walls with the names of more than 20,000 soldiers, who sacrificed their lives in various wars since Independence. The sight of new slabs that are readily waiting for the additional names will move you. We all wish for it to remain empty but we must accept the harsh truth and pray for all those who are fighting in the borders for us.

“DADDY’S POEM” – a poem written by a soldier’s child about her father is carved on the wall. The poem will touch your soul and is truly heartbreaking.

Lastly we saw the replicas of war aircrafts, missels, tanks , submarines and learned about their significances in warfield.

And then, we settled to watch an amazing dance performance, a soothing veena concert with speed painting. It was very fetching after a productive day tour . Thanks to our fellow volunteers from ADRISHYA for entertaining us.

I got real goosebumps when he narrated the story of SHAITAN SINGH!!

Words fall short to talk about the real heroes- the men in uniform. Their dedication, love for the nation, their sacrifices are exemplary. We are safe and secure only because of these warriors. We must pay respect to them in every possible way. And this park is a reminder for us to be grateful to all our legendary armymen.

I am extremely grateful for this opportunity . All my thanks to Adrishya team and Youth For Seva for organizing this event so beautifully. Thank you so much.

Volunteering in an NGO has always been my no.1 dream. I joined Youth For Seva a month ago and was eagerly waiting for an event to happen. When I received a message regarding Children’s Day Program, I happily registered to take part. The event was planned to celebrate at Prasanna Jyothi Orphanage and we were asked to take up responsibilities to entertain the students over there. I decided to join the quiz team and there was no much of preparations required so I was chilling till ‘THE DAY’ arrived.

On November 14, I reached the venue around 3:00 pm and was super nervous! This was totally new to me. I have never been to an orphanage before and socializing was also very challenging as I had not met any new faces from past 2 years due to lockdown, online classes and all. All these made me way more anxious.

As time passed, I felt I am at a right place and around right people. I never felt out of place or never felt I was a newbie. Every other volunteer was damn friendly and it was a warm kind of feeling. And talking about the orphanage … I would like to call it a home with a tight knitted family! My first ever visit to an orphanage and I am more than happy that it was Prasanna Jyothi. The students there are so loving and they are the best souls!

The day was well spent with the students . We played , laughed , shared our knowledge with one another. I have learnt many things from this event. Each and every minute spent in Prasanna Jyothi will be etched in my memory forever. I am seriously falling short of words to express my feelings. It was a blissful day indeed!

I am grateful to Bhuvana ma’am, our cluster head, for giving me this wonderful opportunity. I look forward to volunteer in many other events. And I won’t ever regret for choosing Youth For Seva.

Photo dump!!!