Its the 100th birthday of a respected and loved soldier. I wrote this a few days after he passed away. Am pasting it here, as is. With a salute.... Its just a couple of days that Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw passed away. Many of us who were in uniform when he was the Chief, and later, had occasion to be touched and influenced by him and his actions. These are two of them. He was the Reviewing Offr for our Passing Out Parade at the IMA, Dehradun on 15 Jun 69. In Aug he visited our armoured regiment in Ahmednagar - a new unit with troops brought in from Artillery, Engineers and the Infantry - Maratha, Ahir & Gujjar castes, from these arms, in the Armoured Corps, for the first time. He had just introduced name tabs for offrs & we were wearing them, ordered from Delhi. Lined up for the introduction, he came to me at the end of the line. The Commandant told him that I had just joined from IMA. He turned a stern face to me and asked Who commissioned YOU? I told him. He took a step forward & with a grin dealt a solid blow to my chest & said Even I make mistakes, dont I? I staggered four steps back & could only grin back. The name tab had snapped in two! (Am still wondering, though...). Then he walked around the garages where the men were busy maintaining the Vijayanta tanks - grease, oil, cleaning up etc. Not all spit & polish as seem to be the norm in most places. Men in dungarees, soiled hands. He walked up to one jawan & smiled Kahan se aya hai? The jawan, a sowar, replied Infantry se, Saab. Main bhi infantry ka hoon, haat milao!!! He warmly shook hands. This got repeated 10 or more times through that walk in the garages. His hands were soiled with grease etc but he did not look at them. When he was past all the tanks, he accepted the cloth which the Risaldar Major had been carrying for him to wipe his hands on & said Boy, you got a fine unit here! to the Commandant. He left shortly after but he left behind a Regiment whose troops morale had soared sky high! An object lesson for us. I have had the occasion to be addressed by him a No of times & each time have admired his presence and charisma. He did not build it - he was that way. People around him felt good & he made sure that his public image inspired confidence. Just before the 1971 operations, he visited all forward areas & spoke to the men and the offrs in large groups - depending on the possibilities, due to the deployment of troops. When he addressed the group I was in, near Muktsar, South of Ferozepur, in a large field, he spoke of many things. One of them I remember. I will be sending you into Pakistan. When you do, keep both your hands in your pockets. I have been around the world & assure you that Indian women are the best. So, keep those hands in your pockets and think of Sam, till you get back. I doubt that we will have a Chief of his stature again. He truly was a colossus. God rest his soul in peace. Brig (Retd) Prabir Goswami, 68 Armd Regt ‘Jheelam’, Old Dairy Farm Bairagarh, Bhopal 462030
Posted on: Thu, 03 Apr 2014 04:11:22 +0000
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