Everyone, right from the political parties to the fashion world, from the big corporate houses to dubious little firms and associations in small cities, has been piggybacking the soldier. It was a cause the animals also joined.

Chandigarh witnessed a rally by dogs in the hey-days of ``Kargil squeezing''. Each dog (pedigreed only, mind you) was to be registered for Rs 500 and the total amount was to be sent to the Kargil Fund. Besides, each dog later on roamed around with a collection box hanging from its belt. Reading the report in the next day's dailies, my fauji-husband fumed, ``For God's sake, don't make us beggars.''

Quite true! It was an overdose of this ``fund-raising'' in thecity, as must have been everywhere. But there was something unpardonable. Many press notes that flooded the office would have unheard-of names. Like the ``contribution'' to the Western Command Welfare Fund as a press release said, since Chandigarh houses the headquarters of the Western Command.

Interestingly, there is no such fund. But it was the recent ``fund-raising'' event, a live show by Daler pra Mika organised by the Chandigarh Models Association that really made one sit up and think. For the advertisement said ``a contribution to the administration for Kargil jawans''. Which had the DC fuming that the ad was misleading. Nevertheless, when he asked them to deposit the money, they refused, saying that they could give only one lakh out of the expected Rs 10.5 lakh. Of course, the Mika nite proved a non-starter. And when the presspersons asked the models how much could they muster up from their donor passes, the president retorted: ``People are not willing to pay for Kargil.'' She sure does not read thenewspapers.

Well, their successful counterparts from the glamour world indeed did the baring act in support of the daring soldiers. I had the opportunity to cover one such event wherein the top models sashayed their assets for the sake of Kargil. But more than Kargil, it was the voyeuristic pleasure of the audience exhibited through their cat-whistles (or wolf-whistles, as per the voyeur's temperature) that ruled the roost. So what if Rehman's Maa Tujhe Salaam played in the background? And so what if the Tricolour was fluttering? For it came unfolding on the models' sensuous bodies.

Not to be left behind was the art realm; but what the two lalit kala academies of Chandigarh and Punjab did was not at all in tune with the so-called sensitivity of artists. The city academy organised, with much hype, a ``tribute to Kargil heroes'' and put up a show which, except for two new canvases on the theme, consisted of unsold works by city veterans which had been dug up from their attics and dusted up. In theevent two were sold.

But the worst was a collection of photographs that was on display at a studio. It was titled ``Kargil Tigers'' and obviously I expected it to be a collection of photographs showing our valiant heroes in action on the peaks in Kargil. But, shock of shocks! What I saw was a few pictures of tigers in different poses. They could have been clicked in the nearby Chhatbir Zoo. My blood really boiled. There is a saying in Malayalam: ``The daughter is in labour pain and the mother prefers to play veena.''

This is exactly what has been happening of late: the dangerous tendency to encash on a national crisis. And the political parties have gotten into the act of encashment too with remarkable gusto. What a contrast with those immortal soldiers, in whose name these mortals thrive now! Canonise them, for they are a rare breed in this land of no heroes!