In the killing silence of the Rann of Kutch,

In the killing silence of the Rann of Kutch, India’s most powerful weapon once wasn’t a drone, a satellite, or a radar screen. It was a barefoot camel herder. His name was Ranchhodas Pagi. Locals called him Pagi, the man who could read footprints like a living map. During the 1965 war, when the Indian Army lost track of Pakistani troops after the capture of the Vidhkot post, Pagi studied camel tracks in the sand and quietly told the officers something unbelievable; the camels were carrying supplies, not riders, and the enemy strength was close to 1,200. He was right. From that day on, the Army began to rely on him as its eyes in the desert. But his most extraordinary moment came in 1971. India planned a surprise push towards Nagarparkar through terrain filled with landmines. At nearly 70 years of age, Pagi walked ahead of an entire armoured convoy, reading faint disturbances in the sand to detect buried mines. For 12 hours, in darkness, he guided Indian tanks safely through a death trap. At dawn, the armour appeared where Pakistan never expected it. The post fell with barely a fight. Later, Sam Manekshaw personally embraced him and flew him over the battlefield, an honour almost no civilian has ever received. Pagi passed away in 2013, at the age of 112. Today, borders are watched by satellites and sensors. But once, when technology was not that advanced, a quiet old man reading footprints in sand became India’s greatest surveillance system. Salute to Ranchhodas Pagi. He showed a nation the path to victory — one footprint at a time.