On October 4, we all were decorating our house to celebrate the most long-awaited festival, Diwali. My heart was filled with excitement to meet my father after a long gap of six years. But a call from the army headquarters left us stunned. It was my father over the phone who said that he would not be returning to us this Diwali because of some emergency on the borders. He sounded much tensed and hurriedly left the phone connected. I continued to ask him what was wrong and kept pleading him to try to come back to us soon but we got no reply from the other side. All I could hear was firing, bombing and people shouting. My heart started beating faster and I couldn’t decide what I would say to mom and my younger sister, Yamini. I rushed to my mother and as tears rolled down my eyes I tried to explain to her all that happened over the phone. Yamini was at the neighbour's place playing with other children and we decided not to tell her anything. I switched on the TV and turned to a news channel to find that there was a mob attack at the Army Headquarters and all the reporters said was they could hear constant firing and bombing with no clue of what was happening inside. I could see the expression on my mother’s face intensifying. She couldn't hold back her tears anymore. I decided that I couldn't be weak and cry at this moment because I was the only one who had to console mother and give her strength. I told her that father is a hero and he will come back safe. In this tough situation sitting back at home, all we could do was pray to God. We did the Diwali puja and prayed to God to keep my father and all other members of their team safe. I remembered my grandmother telling me stories of war, of lives sacrificed and families torn apart because of war, of children unable to feel the warmth of the love of a father who had to be on duty, to fight for freedom and the nation’s independence. All those stories and the emotions evoked and came back to me today. Little do people realise the sacrifice of soldiers who give their entire life to their nation. Today we feel safe in our homes only because of the constant dedication of these heroes. We somehow spent a few hours praying to god. Finally, the news channel confirmed the news that no loss of life was reported and all the attackers were killed. We took a sigh of relief. Sometime later we got a call from dad and he said that he was fine and admitted to the hospital due to some injuries.