Express News Service
The instrumental version of the National Anthem, composed by AR Rahman which features Indian soldiers at Siachen Glacier, surely leaves the viewers with goosebumps.
But it is still a minute introduction to life at the highest battlefield of the world, where soldiers are stationed as high as 22,000ft.
Baptist Coelho’s ongoing exhibition in Sonipat, titled Body Automation, offers a comprehensive view of the living conditions in the difficult terrain.
With photographs, installations, videos and mixed media works, the show brings in first-hand accounts of soldiers and porters living in Siachen.
The artist performance brings us face-to-face with the experiences of Indian soldiers, on their food habits, sent to Europe during World War 1.
In Siachen, Captain Sachin Bali had lost a part of his fingers and toes to the frostbite during a 16-hour rescue operation. Coelho, who interviewed him for the research, says, “Sachin told me about his urge to see colours in the white stretch of land and how he used to look at the colourful packaging of any product to fulfil this urge.”