My Journey in the Indian Army

 My Journey in the Indian Army 

I  

January 1956-December 1959

Dehradun-Delhi-Bombay-Pune-Dehradun-Badrinath

The Indian Armed Forces provide unique opportunities to serve in our country’s varied terrain, including its far-flung outposts. This is especially true for those of us who are in the infantry. Often posted to border areas and remote parts of India that are not easily accessible, we travel by various modes — even by foot. En route we meet and see a variety of people and places, including lesser and well-known monuments and historical and natural sites. And we stay in accommodation ranging from tents to barracks to bungalows to erstwhile palaces! In the process, we explore many parts of the Indian subcontinent, the existence of some of which is not even known to most people. Of course, as one grows in the profession and attains higher ranks with increased span of command-responsibilities, the area of travel also increases.

I have been fortunate that I have been able to travel and live across the length and breadth of the country — from the mighty Himalayas and the foothills to the southernmost part of India, from river valleys to coastal areas; from the Thar desert to the Deccan; from the Western and Eastern Ghats to the Vindhyas and the Nilgiris; and of course, to most of the more accessible places in the hinterland. In fact, there are probably just a couple of states and union territories in India that I have not stayed in or travelled to.  

My journey in the Indian Army literally began in January 1956, when I first went to the National Defence Academy (NDA) Khadakvasla, from Dehradun. 

That was by train and I was fifteen years old. On earlier occasions, I had travelled to places as far as Bangalore with my father, who was also in the Army, but this was my first independent journey. Fortunately, there were a couple of other cadets from Dehradun — MMP Kala and Surinder Dania — heading for the same destination, whose families were known to my father. So, we travelled together. Both of them, coincidentally, along with me were assigned George Squadron in NDA. Our NDA numbers were 2355 (self), 2356 MMP Kala, and 2359 (SK Dania). I was allotted the senior most number, and that implied I became the course senior of 15 Course George Squadron. I had to take charge whenever the course assembled, and report to the Officer-in-charge. Not being used to military ways, I had to learn the same in double-quick time.

Of my impressions of the first journey, to NDA I particularly remember the flurried transit at Delhi Junction and negotiating the change to the connecting special NDA train assigned for travel to Pune, with the steel trunk and the ubiquitous ‘hold-all’ that was an indispensable part of much of our early train-travels. It was not easy to carry these bulky belongings but we managed to get hold of a coolie and a cart, which we piled high and rushed to the platform where the NDA train was docked — and managed to catch it in the nick of time! Once we had boarded it and were allotted our specific seats, we did not have to worry about any logistical or other arrangements. The train was also provided with a Dining-carriage for meals.

During the NDA training — which was a balanced mix of academic and military subjects, in addition to sports — I did the Khadakvasla-Dehradun trip often, apart from study trips to other places. The compulsory sports in NDA were novice boxing, riding and swimming, but one could participate in a number of other sports such as football, hockey, basketball, squash, tennis or cricket. The day began with Physical Training, and we were constantly on the move — everything was organised like clockwork and had to be done on the double, or on cycles moving in formation.

In later trips home, we generally opted to take the direct train from Dehradun to Bombay, rather than changing at Delhi. It was a very slow train, on the Central Line. It terminated at VT in Bombay. From there, we had to change to the Western Line for the connecting NDA train to Pune, which left from Dadar station. Though we passed through Bombay every six months on our term break, basically all we saw of the city at that time were these stations and the routes to and from them. And whenever there was an opportunity, we made a beeline for the hotel Shere-Punjab for a meal of hot naan and butter-chicken!

After three years of NDA, in January 1959 I went to the Indian Military Academy (IMA), coincidentally in my home-town of Dehradun. The IMA provided us facilities for organised treks during the term break, and we went trekking in the Himalayas whenever the opportunity allowed. I recall vividly our first trek in the Garhwal Himalayas to the Badrinath Temple, Valley of Flowers, Hemkund Sahib, and Mana Valley. Those days there was no bus or even a road beyond Joshimath, so we — Gentlemen Cadets Khan, Aggarwal, Vinod and I — walked from there to a place called Gobind Ghat on the Bhagirathi, about 14 kilometres away. We spent the night at the Gurudwara in Gobind Ghat on the banks of the Alaknanada river, which provided us with a free bed and prasad — there were hardly any wayside hotels then. This became the forerunner for many such treks later, when there was a real sense of discovery and adventure in walking in these remote areas.

From this serene and peaceful Gurudwara, we went on to the Sarovar and Gurudwara at Hemkund Sahib, which are at an altitude of approximately 12500 feet; and then to the Badrinath Shrine. At Badrinath, we were able to have darshan of Badri Vishal, and after a quick bath at the hot springs and a brief halt, we proceeded to Mana village — the last inhabited village on our side of the Indo-China border — which we reached before sunset. The heights above are the origin of Vasundhara Falls and the Bhagirathi River. The tribal population of Mana village, besides limited cultivation, rear goats and sheep and make indigenous handicrafts. They only stay here during the summers, which is the time we were there. During the winters, since it is too cold in Mana, they migrate to lower heights. On our return from Mana, we rested in a dharamshala for the night before continuing back to the IMA.

On passing out of IMA on 13 December 1959 at the end of our training, I opted to join the Gorkha Rifles. However, despite the assurance by the sponsor officer, Capt Bharat Singh, a fine gentleman from Jodhpur, that I would be granted my choice, the pre-commission recommendation for me by my Battalion Commander, Lt Col AS Judja — who was from the artillery — was for the Corps of Artillery. This caused me a bit of panic, since I had set my heart on joining the Gorkhas. I rushed to inform Captain Bharat Singh of the development, but he assured me that he had already spoken to Lt Gen Moti Sagar, the Colonel of the Gorkha Regiment. When playing in the IMA 11 in an exhibition hockey match, Lt Gen Moti Sagar, during the introduction to the players, gave me the good news that I was to be commissioned in the 2nd Battalion of the 4th Gorkha Rifles.

Those days, there was no prior attachment with the Regimental Training Centre, and we went straight to our respective battalions. However, I was in Dehradun on some preparatory leave, and coincidentally in our neighbourhood in Race Course Colony, there was an illustrious World War II veteran of 2/4 GR, Major Sohan Lal Rajput. Major Rajput had joined in the ranks and accompanied the battalion to NWFP; and later to West Asia, North Africa and Italy. In 1947, he was granted a commissioned rank as the SM (OL) of the battalion. He retired in 1959.

An institution in himself, highly popular and respected by all, and an encyclopaedia on the battalion, he briefed me about our paltan and its routine in its present location in the cold regions of Kargil — a place I had not even heard of. He also told me how I should kit myself to prepare for the winter snow, and report to the Transit Camp at Pathankot Railway Station. Some of this was already known to me from the letter of welcome from the battalion, and from (then) Captain Bharat Singh, 2/4 GR who was posted at the IMA and was my mentor and sponsor. Captain Bharat Singh had recommended that I read Bugles and the Tiger by John Masters, an officer of the 4 GR and subsequently a celebrated author. John Masters took over the Chindit Brigade in Burma, from then Brigadier WDA Lentaigne, another former 4 GR officer. Brigadier Lentaigne opted to continue with the Indian Army after the partition. Later as Lt General, he became Commandant of the Defence Services Staff College. 

The presence of the 4 GR continues till today in the form of two residential blocks in IMA named after two 4 GR Commandants of the IMA — Brigadier Collins and Brigadier Kingsley. In fact, I spent my one year at the IMA in the Kingsley Block. Coincidentally, 4 GR was raised as the Extra Gorkha Regiment in 1857 at Pithoragarh, which incidentally is the district my family hails from, in the mountainous Kumaon region. Later, in 1861, it was renamed the 4th Gorkha Regiment, earning the title of the 4th Prince of Wales’ Own Gorkha Rifles in 1924. Eventually, after independence it became the 4th Gorkha Rifles. In 1866, the 4th Gorkha Rifles’ Centre was located at Bakloh in the state of Himachal Pradesh. And my own battalion, the 2nd Battalion of the 4th Gorkha Rifles, was also raised at Bakloh in 1866. 

Our regimental history is in the highest tradition of a fighting force. In the late 19th century, the Regiment was employed in the North West Frontier; then in Burma in 1870, and thereafter in the 2nd Afghan war of 1878; and with expeditionary force, sent to China in 1900 in response to the Boxer Rebellion. The 4th Gorkhas was deployed to the Western Front in late 1914, fighting in many of the early battles before being re-deployed in Mesopotamia in early 1916. While the 1st Battalion earned battle honours at Neuve Chappelle in France in 1914, the 2nd Battalion earned battle-honour ‘Baghdad’, fighting at Tigris 1916 and Kat-al-Amara 1917. The battalion celebrates 11 March as Regimental Day, the day it entered Baghdad. The battalion also saw action during the Second World War. It was deployed in North Africa (1940-3), and fought Rommel’s Africa Corps. It was captured by Rommel’s forces but was re-raised from the remnants and escapees and later took part in the Italian Campaign from 1943-5. 

In May 1948, the 2nd Battalion was inducted in Tragbal, in the Kashmir Valley as part of the Sri Division commanded by Maj General KS Thimayya, and tasked to recapture the complete Gurais valley along with 1 Grenadiers. The battalion fought with utmost grit and courage, and played an important role in clearing Gurais-Kanzalwan sector in 1948-9 under Lt Col AW Desai. It mostly fought battles at sub-unit level. Lt Kam Dal Gurung, Lt Daman Singh Pun MC, Sub Rudra Bahadur Pun VrC, Naik Kalicharan Gurung, L Naik Lal Bahadur and Rana were awarded with VrC for gallantry. Beside five VrCs, the battalion also earned Battle-Honour Gurais, one Ashok Chakra, and “Mention in Despatches”after independence — a truly remarkable achievement. Therefore, it was a unique privilege and honour for me to have joined such an illustrious battalion at the age of nineteen, as a Second Lieutenant. And I looked forward with a sense of enthusiasm and great expectation to joining it in Kargil, far in the north of India.