Hitting the right notes for a soldier: Author Bhaavna Arora

Sometimes the simplest thing can give us great joy. And Bhaavna Arora, author of books like The Deliberate Sinner and The Mistress of Honour, discovered that all it takes to get a soldier to smile is listening to his favorite song. What transpired was the following.

Arora was interviewing one such soldier as part of research for her book The Mistress of Honour. The soldier, who incidently doesn't want to be named, requested her to play ' I Wanna Know' by Alesso before he would answer her queries. “He asked me if I had wifi or internet and if I can play this song so he could hear it once after a long time. He promised me that he would answer my questions after I play the song for him and so I did. Post that we would have a formal interview session, but in the seven days that I talked to him about his life he would request me to play the song numerous number of times,” said Bhaavna about her telephonic chats with the soldier.

Bringing a smile to a soldier: Author Bhaavna Arora

Being the daughter of an army officer herself, Arora could empathise with the soldier's plight. While wifi access is something we take for granted, for army soldiers posted in remote areas, listening to music on phone networks is a luxury. So Bhaavna had an idea. She made 'I Wanna Know' her callertune. So the next time the man in uniform called her, he could listen to snatches of it. No doubt this made his day. “He was so happy that one night after I finished my interview with him, he called me 10 times only to listen to the song. He messaged my saying that he just wants to listen to the song so I shouldn't pick up,” says Bhaavna.

So even as her converstions with the soldier were useful for her book, which was released last year in June, for which a new cover is in progress, her callertune brought him a sliver of joy. “I feel like these men are doing a great job by putting their lives in danger and that they are so humble that most of the times they don’t even realise that what they are doing is such a tough job. These small things make them feel better and connected to the outside world,” says Bhaavna, signing off. We agree!