New Delhi, Jan. 2 -- His gaze moved in circles as he watched the frenzied whirl of leaves beneath the goji tree outside his window. The wind made the leaves dance and they danced. Suri was not a leaf but he had danced, leaf-like, to the fanciful notion of being a hero. It was his only reason for enlisting in the military through the emergency short-service commission. He married a comely girl and departed two rapturous weeks later with the patriotic words of his impoverished family and his village ringing his farewell.

Suri proved his worth in physical stamina and mental agility; he aced it in gun-craft and hand-to-hand combat. Every time he wore his tough greens, belted up, worked his feet into the heavy boots and fed cartridges into th...