Nawang Melody

                                                                        By Rajeev Choudhary

On Independence Day I wanted to share this piece of music. I call it Nawang. It is in memory of Lt. Nawang Kapadia of the Gurkha regiment who died in Kashmir 20 years ago while trying to save his colleague who was injured by a terrorist bullet.

Listen to Nawang Melody	View the Nawang Melody Video

Nawang’s mother is my mom’s childhood friend. We grew up together, meeting every year when we visited Mumbai, going for various holidays and treks together. He was a wonderful human-being, I remember his smile even now.
The first composition of Nawang’s Melody was done 20 year ago when I heard of his passing. For the last 20 years, I have been revisiting this melody, working on it and trying to complete it. For the past 20 years I have been promising his parents I will send them the composition. It has never felt complete. Maybe completing this melody meant finally saying goodbye to Nawang.

This year is his 20th death anniversary and to complete the piece I finally decided to leave the original melody alone and only take pieces of it to put in this tribute to him. I still cannot imagine the pain that his parents suffer each day.

My heart goes out on this Independence Day to them and to parents, siblings, wives and children who have lost someone in the service of this nation. I hope we never forget the magnitude of this sacrifice. I hope we remember them in our prayers at all time. I hope we remain grateful.