A soldier you dont know

[Applause]

eminent speakers

invities ladies and gentlemen

and my dear student friends

it seems like just yesterday but in

reality it was

way back in 1969 when i entered

the academy for pre-commission training

as a gentleman cadet

why gentlemen get it because army

believes

that there got to be a gentleman first

and then an officer

and for the next 34 years i don’t the

olive greens and the camouflaged battle

fatigues

and

began my career as a young left

lieutenant commanding a body of 30

tough commandos and over the years i got

graduated

into commanding a rifle company of 120

rifle soldiers

and then went on to become a battalion

commander commanding about 800 plus

seasoned men and went on to come on the

brigade

of little over 5000 men and eyeball to

eyeball deployment in

isikim

i served all these graduation happened

in

far-off and tough places

most of them about 14 000 feet

the snowfall varying between 12 to 24

feet

and the temperature hovering around zero

to minus 38 degrees celsius

and god was kind enough and he blessed

me

and gave me an opportunity to look into

the eyes of death

smile and at times bite the bullet

and survive and come back and tell the

tales

fortunately i never knew the meaning of

fear

but exactly after 50 years in the year

2019

other day a smart lady staff member from

this college

srila is her name she somehow convinced

me

and catapulted me onto this stage now

looking at this

intellectual crowd i know the meaning of

fear

thank you for for putting that fear of

god in me

as i said earlier i lived with these men

shared their food lived with them and

along with them i fought the battle in

71 war

in one night while pushing the

pakistanis across

ravi river i lost 41 men

in one night and more than 90 men were

injured

later on in nagaland

the deadly terrible malarial mosquitoes

killed more men than the bullets

and i went to sri lanka fought with the

tamil tigers of ltt

and though deadly ied explosions

i was blown off and given up as dead but

survived to tell the tale

after spending three months in icu and

another three months undergoing

surgeries

then i fought with the mercenaries

foreign trained mercenaries

in the northernmost borders next to

gilgit and skardu

in a place known as guraj

and then during this period

besides i lost many men in avalanches

i dug them out from the buried snow

this very painful experience my dear

friends to lose your soldiers die

in your arms but more painful is

to meet those old parents

and the young widows and those

little toddlers all these years

i’ve been trying to decode a infantry

soldier

front line combat soldier the more i

tried

more enigmatic he became and more

endearing he became

so much so that after 15 years of

retired life

every day when i light the lamp and burn

the instant stick

i pray for them pray for their

well-being

in 69 when i entered the portals of the

hallowed

portals of academy a beautiful onyx

granite wall greeted me with the famous

quotes

it says the safety

honor welfare and welfare of your

country come

first always and every time

the honor welfare and comfort of the men

you command come next

your own

safe safety comfort and safety comes

lost

always and every time

ladies and gentlemen these are the

inaugural speech

extracts of the inaugural speech of

failed martial sir philip chatwood then

the erstwhile commander of the

british indian army he was addressing

the

first batch of the cadets who were

undergoing training to become

army officers in in india

and incidentally field marshal shfj

monik shows in this

first batch in 1938 now this word

has become a credo for the indian army

officers

a credo means a statement of belief

we believe in every word in this

it is 81 years the indian army officer

has become a role model

for the other armies every day you hear

in tvs

or every week you hear in tvs encounter

between

security forces and the terrorists

two terrorists killed one major

martyred but nobody asked why one major

got martyred

he has got 120 men under him to fight

it is because of this credo your own

ease comfort and safety come last always

and every time

the major puts the safety of

men first and the foremost that’s why

in kargil the ratio of officers who got

killed

is much higher than the number of men

who got killed

that is the credo of the indian army

with this i am reminded of a famous

quote of

abraham lincoln he said i like to see a

man proud of the place in which he lives

i like to see a man live so that his

place will be

proud of him ladies and gentlemen just

close your eyes for a minute

think of those people think of those

professionals who will make you proud

and say i am indian and think of those

who must live for that the india the

nation is proud of them and if a soldier

figures in that list

i am glad that i took up this profession

as i said i’ve kept decoding

a soldier what’s the soldier made of

very difficult to find out when you

listen to our leaders

it’s very painful to hear them talk so

loosely

just the other day one gentleman said

a soldier joins the army just to get two

square meals a day

other day when fulham happened another

senseless

leader said so what they are paid to die

if a soldier joins the indian army for

two square meals a day and if he’s paid

to die

let me assure you ladies and gentlemen

he will

not dare to look into the eyes of death

and smile

he’ll never take a bullet in his teeth

he’ll try to live for another day

and earn another square meal

if he does that you and me will not be

able to sleep

in our comforts of the home

peacefully then who’s the soldier

come travel with me to northern border

states like

rajasthan punjab haryana himachal

pradesh

which are the main feeder states for the

combat soldiers

most of these boys they join the army

movement they cross the age limit of 18

that is the

that is the benchmark and every house

from where the soldier comes either he

is the third or

fourth generation soldier to join the

army from the same house

his great grandfather grandfather father

they have been

in the armed forces

if a house doesn’t provide a man into

the

army it’s considered as a sense of shame

for the head of the family these are the

people who join these so-called martial

regiments known as the rajputs the sikh

regiment sikh light infantry

dogras kumanis and gadwal rifles

gurukas so on and so forth

now this man joins the army at the age

of 18.

imagine your son at home who’s 18

going to join the armed forces

after one and a half years of one and

one year of tough training

we convert them into adults

we make him go through the initiation of

the warrior code

the warrior code says i am a warrior

fighting is my dharma i will train my

mind

body and spirit to fight i will excel in

all devices and weapons of war

present and future i will always

protect the weak i will be truthful to

bluntness

i will be humane cultured and

compassionate

i will fight and embrace the

consequences

and he concludes by requesting the god

god give me strength that i ask

you of nothing just give me courage

most of these words are drawn from the

famous quotes

and motivational songs of gurus for

example

in my regiment guru govind singh he was

the

tenth and the last guru who was a

motivator

there’s a song which says

that means brave is he who fights for

the weaker section despite being cut

into pieces

thou shall not leave the battlefield

that’s what he says i will i will always

protect the weak

and by the time he is 19 and a half or

so

he attests he attends the

attestation parade it’s a ceremony

occasion

where his proud parents come lined up in

a ceremonial parade ground

he stands up in his full ceremonial

regalia

his right hand places his hands on the

holy book

it can be a gita quran bible

or a grandson which is kept on a

national flag

he swears his allegiance to the nation

and pledges

everything for the nation it is like

giving a blank check

pay to my motherland

an amount of everything including my

life

signed bhajan singh

and this check has no expiry date

probably my check is still lying

somewhere there

for you and me that boy who is 19 and a

half year old

is just externally a tough muscle kid

after training otherwise he’s half

man half boy

he is not yet old enough to buy a glass

of beer

but he’s old enough to give his life to

the nation that is the irony

he probably has a girlfriend who has

either broke with him

or a wise one has promised to wait for

him

in the other half of the world

he goes to his regiment

which is in the valley

or the loc or in a high altitude

or in seating

he has grown up physically spiritually

and emotionally

and my dear friends

some of them don’t get to celebrate

their 20th birthday

despite this

why our nation doesn’t know what a

soldier is

you know what a veteran said

we the unforgiven led by the unknown

have done the impossible for the

ungrateful it’s partly true

even as we stand here at this moment

go back to seating the highest

battlefield in the world

at 21 000 feet

mercury drops down to minus 58 degrees

celsius

the wind howls at the speed of 80 to 120

kilometers that is a good weather

at this moment at 21 000 feet

the highest helipad in the world a

alh drew helicopter flown by a young

captain and a major

from the army aviation corps are trying

their best to

hover balancedly balancing and land on a

small piece of helipad

believe me no one in the world today

whether is the american gi or those

great heroes you see in the hollywood

movies

flies at 21 000 feet

no helicopters in the world fly at 21

000

feet they are made in india alh through

helicopters

and flown by the indian pilot

at the same time

one of these young soldiers who’s in

twenties

he’s driving a truck truck

wheels fitted with the non-skid chains a

radiator filled with

anti-freeze mixture you know where is he

driving

the world’s highest motorable pass at

seventeen thousand five hundred

and seventy feet kardongla

negotiating negotiating that pass and

trying to go to the administrative base

taking essential supplies to the

his comrades if this is earning two

square meals a day

he can as well drive a truck from

bangalore to bombay in bombay to delhi

that is two square meals a day this is

not two square meals a day

that helicopter pilot can join any other

private companies and it

need not fly at 21 000 feet and risk is

every day is life it’s not a one day

business

now this is what is two square meals a

day

getting his daily wages let’s go to

our indian history post independent

indian history is replete with

courage of story of courage

and bravery i don’t know why our school

syllabus are not teaching them to the

children

october 1962

chinese invasion a company a rifle

company of

13 kumar location

and past known as resangla height

sixteen thousand feet exact area

is sikkim

minus forty eight degree celsius

equipped with old vintage second world

war bullet action rifles

wearing leather boots wearing cotton

dresses

wearing worn out jersey pullovers

at minus 48 degree celsius they are

surrounded by the chinese

they repulse waves after waves of

chinese

they exhaust their ammunition then they

use their bayonets

then they some of them wrestle with the

chinese

and every one more than 110

soldiers die in

rajangla fight till the last man and

last bullet

there are no other examples in history

where

more than 110 soldiers died fighting

together

why aren’t we teaching this to our

children

to top it the name of the company

commander

major shaitaan singh what a name

you got a paranoid chakra no doubt but

those 110 men and their bodies are still

buried

in rajangla in 1983

i was a major serving down below

rajangla is a forbidden territory it is

under chinese occupation

i took calculated risk and took a strong

petrol and went there

to collect some memorabilia for our

heart of remembrance and going there

i saw because the rarified atmosphere

the 62

items are still as fresh in 83.

can we shoes leather boots cotton

uniform items i was wearing

snow boots and covered from top to

bottom in the latest

winter clothing and i was shivering i

had tears in my eyes

how come these men have fought in this

place

and their home their family members

don’t know where their son’s body is

cremated where it is buried

these are the soldiers they don’t fight

for their salary or for their two square

meals a day

when we talk of these martyrs

go do the war memorial in kohima

why do they fight they fight for the

ashes of our forefathers

of our gods and for this precious piece

of land

so that you and your children can enjoy

for the generations to come let us

remember their sacrifices

and as we go to if you ever go to

nagaland

don’t forget to visit the symmetry of

war cemetery of koema and the visitor

after going around as you leave the

cemetery

the beautiful granite wall where

these martyrs address you

saying that when you go home tell them

of us

for their tomorrow we gave our today

let us remember them with a sense of

deep sense of gratitude

and as i close this talk

i have a small slide for you

it says relationship

relationship breaks breakups family

disputes

trust issues professional stress

clueless future

life is more than this

the reality is that life is

more simple more peaceful more beautiful

and very very less materialistic

but the way to realize this is to

either be a soldier or be with one

be a soldier or be with one the value of

trust

love unity confidence

goal and more importantly hope

this is what you learn from them it is

what makes them

brave

sorry

no yeah request that you’re living and

remember the following

thank you ladies and gentlemen i hope

you didn’t

i get bored with my small talk

what what i have to say i must also

thank this young lady rakshita who

helped me in

last two three days and she got so

motivated

now she has decided to be with the

soldier now so

i she assured me that she’ll marry a

indian army officer that is one of the

motivating levels

thank you very much