Amar Jawan Jyoti

Written on February 10, 2008 – 10:22 am | by Lt Col (Retd.) A.K Sam Sharma |

His General Officer Commanding (GOC, Maj Gen I K Verma, 9 G R) was only grievously wounded by the militants in J&K, but Jagwant was killed. Remember him tearing down the Rajapath in his open jeep on Republic Day ’80. Ramrod straight in his starched and stiff trousers, wouldn’t sit down on the co-driver’s seat lest they crease for the PM’s homage to the Unknown Soldier, at the Amar Jawan Jyoti, under the India Gate! Regular Second Third breed, well known for their immaculate turn out over the decades. Rose from the ranks to do Staff College, commanded the Battalion, was nominated for Higher Command course, after completing which he went and got himself shot, just like that, chasing militants in the Valley. Jayant was also one of the same. More on him later.

That Republic Day, I was on duty at the India Gate checkpoint. It was bright, crisp and sunny, also rather nippy whenever the North-wind in whispery gusts, chilling the bones, under the Ceremonial SD & Sam Browne, some what. The sun still got in the way despite the, repeatedly adjustment of the cockiness of the Regimental Gorkha Hat. The Regimental Burhos, who had come all the way from the remote fastness of Nepal’s high altitude interiors like Char Hajar Parbat, Gulmi & Pokhra.. etc, were eagerly awaiting the mechanized columns to come rolling by. Many of the still keen-kumar-types, were in their perches since 5 AM! Cuckoo, Manju & the rest of the 2/3rd families were sitting quite comfy in the special enclosure right at the foot of one for the President. They, indeed had the grand stand view!

The parade was about to start, when there was a radio message for me. The CO had gone down with chicken pox: I had to hold the (RED !! -) fort till he was up and about and out of quarantine in the army hospital! I merely, “wilco-ed” out ( will comply with the orders) as I couldn’t do any thing more till the parade and floats had gone past. At his age, would the Old Man now get measles on 15 August, I mused?

After a while, young Nanda joined me at the round about. Was glad to have him for company because having seen many rehearsals of the parade, I was already tiring of the real thing when it came by. But, he deserted me as soon as the tableau from his native Coorg came floating by, and, instead, instantly got into an animated conversation with a pretty participating dancer. She was equally excited by the prospects of a handsome young army officer all decked out in full medals and gorkha hat accosting her out of the very blue, like this and chatting her up! I had to chase her away very quickly; however, as the parade had almost ground to halt in this little tete a tete. Even the right royal and regal ghost of King Emperor George V had had got cheesed off and; had indeed, started to look askance at the light heartedness opposite his magnificent but, alas, vacant canopy or chhatri in the Jaipur red sand stone!

The radio crackled again. This time Shukla, for a change, gave me good news. The President had just been pleased to award Jayant Thapa a Shaurya Chakra! I was thrilled. Jayant was on duty further down the line at Connaught Place. I raised him. He was delighted, but like a true Gurkha soldier just “roger-ed” me out ( your message understood) and said nothing else. He had got the gallantry decoration for personally evacuating a wounded comrade, on his shoulders, from a minefield along the LAC in The Poonch Sector in J&K, the previous year. He thought nothing of it. Just like a regular Second Third guy, and he was of the 5th generation in the VC (Victoria Cross) paltan. His father; Lt Col Hariome Singh served with 4 Garh Rif, 2 Dogras & 1/3rd (1943-73) ; Jayant commanded 2/3rd!

There is a 6th generation genealogy to the remarkable clan of the Thapas of Almora, that started with Sub Jai Singh, 1/3rd; then known as the “Kumaon Battalion” ( circa 1815-1850)! Sub Jiwan Singh of 1/3rd ( 1855-1890) fought for the British during the siege of Delhi in the Indian Sepoy Mutiny of 1857! Lt Col Bhim Singh Thapa won the IOM ( as good as the Victoria Cross) & also the MC!! This branches out into the; unbelievably; Armoured Corps, with Brig CS Thapa! A son of Lt Col Puran Singh Thapa MC, of the Jaipur Infantry (1933-1957), he was commissioned into the 70 Armoured Regiment ( Missiles) in 1972; served with the 84th as well. His son who joined the 48th in Dec 2002, is presently on cross attachment with the 2/3rd, the alma mater!! In between one of the 5th generation served with the Engineers, and one of the sixth with the Army Education Corps too!!

Therefore, it was not for nothing that the BURHOS had legged it for days, from far & remote corners of Nepal to be in free India’s capital, New Delhi, and try and get the current incumbent sahibs & sardar bahadurs to accept a few of their progenies in their rank & file, in the true tradition of the son following the father into service with then lahures ( that is, those enrolled for service in the armies of Eighteenth/Nineteenth Century India, first started by the One-eyed Sikh warrior-king, Maharaja Ranjit Singh, in the rajdhani of his Empire: LAHORE. The English Governor General Warren Hastings, took it up, only from him.)

The Beating Retreat Ceremony in Vijay Chowk marks the end of the official state functions of the RD. That year, one of my old COs from 4/3 GR; Kachari; an old timer who was commissioned into the 2/3rd, and one who joined the VC Paltan soon after their epic 1974/48 J&K Operations, Battle of PIRKNTHI, for which they earned for the Regiment, their First Post-Independence Battle Honour :URI; was also a witness. He was quite bitter…his son–in-law was one of the two officers, present in 4/3rd, in Karu, that fateful night in 1979, who had been manhandled by the troops when they broke out in open mutiny. Kachari’s wife, Purna, was a Raini, whose lineage goes into the 3 GR Regimental History books authored by the Brits ( Barclay) ! No wonder he was sore with the 4/3rd. He wanted 4/3rd disbanded, and rightly so, and but for some fleet-footed leg work by another 4/3rd CO, that time Brig SDS Yadava, would have surely been too….

We witnessed the very colourful, and magnificent, and musically very moving Beating Retreat, with all ears and eyes. It was a thing to remember for ever, that, the only Military Attache who was standing absolutely still, and very ram-rod straight and to a proper military “attention”, during the sounding of the Retreat by the massed buglers, was only the one from the Peoples’ Liberation Army of China. Even some of the Indian Army officers’, some of whom were in their ceremonials, were lax. Soon after, the fire-works after last light, came the crackling on the ether, and alarming missives about one of the 2/3rd boys having blown away his index finger , in his gusto and military clock-work-style and rapid firing of the Illuminating Para-flare rounds from his 2” Mortar! Some of the officers rushed to the roof of the South Block where the troops were positioned, not-visible from the grand-standed VIPs; including the Supreme Commander of the Indian Armed Forces himself, the Raksha Mantri, the Three Chiefs; and what have you; and by the public, to lend aid and advise. We did not stop the fire-works, but just like in war, continued committed to our task; just like it would have been fending off an enemy assault on a defended post on the borders! Just like 2/3rd had been doing in the Western Desert against the German General Erwin Rommel’s ( The Desert Fox) Afrika Korp, Italy; Festubert, Nevue Chappelle, in France; or in the Palestine, in the Great War, or the Second World War, or even as part of the Boundary Force during the Partition of Hindustan, by the departing Brits, in 1947.

[IOM (Indian Order of Merit). Predates the Victoria Cross by nineteen years, but equated with it for the qualifying act. Awarded only to Indian Army rank & file, till the British Indian Army became eligible for the VC later on.

OBI (Order of Britsh India) Awarded for distinguished service.

MC ( Military Cross) Awarded for gallantry in action, in the face of the enemy.

SC ( Shaurya Chakra) Awarded for peace time gallantry, post-Indian Independence.]

( with inputs from retired COLONEL Jayant Thapa, Shaurya Chakra, 2/3 Gorkha Rifles)

PS Amidst, a raging media-debate on the issue of the necessity of all the Military type display of might & power during the RD Parades on the Rajpath, and the still absence of a national level memorial to the those of the free –India’s fallen fighters on the field of battle, the first She-President of India came out with flying colours on RD 2008. She conducted herself with great élan, panache & dignity behoving highest office of the Land. She was ramrod straight right through out the time when the military contingents were going past, and sat down only to relax a bit & chit-chat with the Chief Guest Sarkozy, the French President who was clearly not at ease and had other beautiful and forlorn thoughts on his mind that time.

She even spoke better than most He-Presidents of the past , who despite there erudition in most cases, and rocketry credential in one, could barely speak in a lingo & ‘ lehza’ that the common man on the street could follow either in Hindi, or contrived & laboured English. Partibha Singh Patil even peeled off the best salutes , I can remember of date. The picture of her, and her male armed forces ADCs saluting in unision, the hallowed memory of the Father of the Nation, in Raj Ghat, will remain with me forever. She beat even the Cold Streams Guardsman in the cold-wave!

However, she mentioned the Armed Forces only in the passing in her Republic day –eve address to the Nation, but nevertheless made up for this lapse by stressing on the need for more & substantial empowerment of the women of India.

The papers carried the news of 425 gallantry awards . It was most gratifying to note that the rank & file seem to have also got their share. Four got to get the Ashok Chakra, but only posthumously!. It was very moving to see the next of kin receiving these in person from the Commander-in-Chief in person. Nb Sub Chunni Lal of the JAK LI already had two gallantry awards under his belt when he was still alive & running around chasing the militants in J & K. Some hero He! His son has vowed to follow his father into the Indian Army despite the hard life and privations of the soldier’s life which is causing acute shortage of volunteers at the officer level entry. Some spirit this. It needs to be commended by one & all, especially the politicians & the bureaucrats. despite the travails & high-handedness of which, the Indian Army still commands respect from the enemies of the State & the common man! But I would venture to say that they should not take it for granted. After all, who heard of a “No War- No Peace” situation for the last 62 years! Even the most battle-hardened and loyal of soldiers will baulk at this state of affairs sooner than later given the belligerent proclivities of the Maoists, the Naxals and what have you. The politicians should stop, do soul searching seriously, & think hard.

An interesting tale in the Times of India even talked of the forgotten & shameful 1962 Sino-Indian border war. The deeds of two local tribal Monpa women in Kameng; Sela & Nura were re-called & how they helped one Jaswant Singh of the Garhwal Rifles defend Jaswant Garh at in the epic battle of Nuarang, which was one of then only two Battle Honours given to the Indian Army in 1962; the other being the last-man last- round defence of Rezangla by the C company of 13 Kumaon in the high Himalayas of Ladakh.

The Brahmos fitted on a nuclear submarine is what the Indian ‘second strike’ will be all about, in a nuclear war scenario. The cryogenic engine being fitted on to AGNIs II & IV will indeed give them a great boost. The foreign media picked up these pictures live & carried the stories on the internet along with texts high lighting the import of India as a regional Power! The Bhishma tank : the much need push in deep strikes overland. The most popular civilian motif was on the 1857 War of Independence ( not the ‘Sepoy Mutiny’) though all depicted the red-coated sepoy felling red –coated Englishman.

In another RD, I remember that the Gujrat earthquake was creating havoc even as the President was smugly taking the salutes from the passing military & civilian tableaux. The rescue-act could only be put together after the parade function got over….,..talk of Disaster Management then! It is just as well that this authority is now headed by a former Army Chief and is making its presence felt in the National Media. About time.