Almost everyone in the border areas has a story to tell about the bullets. These, they say, can come at the most unexpected moment, even when one has gone to water the crops. For the past fortnight, some tube-wells close to the border have not been switched off as villagers could not go to them for fear of being attacked. ``We cannot afford to go close as Pakistani bursts can come any time,'' says Girdhari Lal, namberdar of Korotona Khurd village, which is 200 m from the zero line.

Nearly 60 years old, Lal says that the situation has been bad for the past two years. ``The Kargil developments have made the situation all the more tense. Now people do notventure too far from their houses. Even children go via the slushy path to school,'' he says. Almost every house in this small village has a bullet mark to show and two residents have been wounded by bullets.

Children in Gulabgarh basti of Suchetgarh have kept the bullets as souvenirs. A motor has not been installed in a tubewell close to the border for almost three months as Pakistani troops would not allow it.

``Our agricultural work depends on the Pakistani troops. If they want to, they can stop us from working,'' says Sarwan Kumar, namberdar of the village. A little worried over the incessant firing in the past week, he wants an end to all this. ``Sometimes we feel it is better to get killed than to face the daily uncertainty,'' he says.

Most residents of Kapoorpur have not gone to their fields for months. For the past week, they move about in the village with caution.