JAMMU/ MAMUN: Sitting atop a T-72 battle tank at her father's armoured regiment in a tiny cantonment in north India, Sana Dua exercises caution as she ensconces herself on the left side of the turret. As she turns on the vehicle radio and rotates the 125-mm gun, there is thunderous applause."Encore!" scream, aviator-sporting captains and Lt Colonels in uniform as they fix their gaze on her. The 24-year-old beauty is after all the Miss India runner-up.And, there couldn't have been a better homecoming than at the lawns where she grew up seeing projectiles, propellants, guns and yokes with her father, Col (retd) Amrik Singh Dua.But Sana is quick with a word of caution, "Peace in my state first. It's time my triumph changed the face of the state". In fact, as the regiment brigade joined her at a felicitation lunch, she made it a point to spell out her secular beliefs."I have a Muslim name Sana. And at the pageant , when my friends and colleagues would ask me what religion I was, I said I am a pa'aji," she laughed. "Pa'aji because I am born to Sikh parents. But, after knowing my name's meaning and origin, my friends began to address me as bhaijaan. Yet, I felt proud that the modern India is secular," she said. Sana's elder brother Varun Dua, a software engineer with Infosys in Chandigarh, said, "All thanks to our father who served the Indian Army. We are proud of him. Both of us siblings worshipped Sikh gurus at home, went to Vaishno Devi temple in Jammu, and wish each other on Eid. We may be from a strife-torn area which has a religious divide but for us a secular India comes first."According to Sana, her graduation in law was an eye opener. It made her explore and understand the extent of crime against women as also about labour laws."When I took up law course at Panjab University in Chandigarh, the desire was to be aware of my rights. But soon, I felt that I could change the life with the laws that women of this country not know of," she said.Though she changed her course only after 2015, she insists it was only because like every man, a woman has a right to pursue her childhood dreams.

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