Nationalism breathes easy in this village of soldiers in Gurgaon district

There are 2,300 odd voters in the village, of which 80 per cent are Yadav, rest all other castes

Memorial of Captain Umrao Singh, who fought in the World War-II in 1944 and got the Victoria Cross award in 2005 (the year he died), is a landmark near the entry gate of Palra, a village in the Gurgaon district of Haryana. Some 21 young men from the village had joined Indian Army in 2005 to honour Singh, and Palra had shot to instant fame.

Since then, village elders say at least three to four men get selected in the Army every year. Palra has the rare distinction of having at least one army personnel or former service man in every