Abhinaba Das | Winner Veer Gatha 5.0
Winner
From 3 AM Drafts to the Super 100: Winning Veer Gatha 5.0
Writing poetry when you’re a Class 12 student usually means choosing between solving complex calculus and hunting for the perfect metaphor at 3:00 AM. Spoiler alert: the late-night poetry sessions won out, and honestly, the sleep deprivation was totally worth it. I am beyond honored to share that my poetry has been recognized at the highest level, making me one of the Super 100 National Winners for Project Veer Gatha 5.0.
If you’re wondering what it feels like to have your midnight scribbles recognized by the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Education, it’s surreal. It’s like watching a complex full-stack web project deploy flawlessly on the very first try, but with a surge of national pride. You can check out the official list of winners in the Official Results PDF (SI. 43, Secondary Stage).
What is Project Veer Gatha?
Before I dive into the creative process and the felicitation, let’s talk about the sheer scale of this initiative. Project Veer Gatha isn't just a competition; it’s a massive cultural movement to keep the stories of our nation's gallantry awardees alive.
The Scale: This year, Veer Gatha 5.0 recorded a record-breaking participation of 1.92 crore students from over 1.90 lakh schools across the country.
The Global Reach: For the first time, the initiative went international, with 28,000 students from 91 CBSE-affiliated schools across 18 countries participating.
The Felicitation at DRDO Bhawan
The culmination of this journey was an unforgettable felicitation ceremony at the prestigious DRDO Bhawan in New Delhi. Standing there, surrounded by the greatest minds and leaders from our nation's defense and education sectors, was profoundly humbling.
I received a gold medal, a certificate, and a ₹10,000 check from both the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Defense. Being recognized by such distinguished leaders was a unforgettable moment for me. The awards were presented by:
Shri Jayant Chaudhary – Hon’ble Minister of State of Education and Minister of (IC) for Skill Development & Entrepreneurship
Shri Sanjay Seth – Hon’ble Rajya Raksha Mantri
General Upendra Dwivedi – Hon’ble Indian Army Chief
Admiral Dinesh Kumar Tripathi – Hon’ble Indian Navy Admiral
Air Chief Marshal Amar Preet Singh – Hon’ble Indian Air Force Marshal
Dr. Samir V. Kamat – Hon’ble Chairman of DRDO
Sukriti Likhi – Hon’ble Secretary of Department of Ex-servicemen Welfare (Ministry of Defense)
Raj Kumar Arora – Hon’ble Finance Advisor of the Ministry of Defense
To top it all off, being selected in the top 100 meant I was invited as a special guest at the Republic Day celebration 2026 at Kartavya Path. Watching the parade from that vantage point, knowing my words had played a small part in honoring those very forces, was an experience words can barely capture.
The Art of Honoring Valor
When writing about the ultimate sacrifices of our Armed Forces and historical warriors, you can’t just fill pages with words. It requires a serious, solemn tone. You must replace the typical poetic language of romance or nature with themes of grit, blood, and iron.
Writing this piece was a highly iterative process. I recall changing words repeatedly, editing lines multiple times—like consciously replacing "grace" with the expansive "sky" they fought beneath, to perfect the imagery. Each stanza needed to be as precise as a carefully optimized script. The tales of these courageous hearts are more than history; they form the core foundation of our nation's freedom.
Competing in the Secondary Stage (Class 12) category meant the competition was incredibly fierce. Juggling JEE prep and programming projects with deep, emotional writing requires serious context-switching. But poetry is my ultimate release valve. It’s completely free, powerful, and all you need is a blank page and a racing mind.
Looking Forward
To all the young writers and developers reading this: don't let anyone tell you that being tech-savvy and loving the arts are mutually exclusive. Start writing. There are amazing, entirely free text editors and writing communities to help get your drafts off the ground before you submit them to national stages.
Keep creating, keep pushing boundaries, and maybe stay up a little late tonight—you never know what masterpiece is waiting to be written.
