A bitten bit of my past !!

 

 I was the youngest of the 4 siblings and the only son ,but that  never  made me precious and  pampered by the family. My father was in the army. We all  grew up in cantonment environment, hopping almost every 2 years  from one Cantonment to the other  Like from Allahabad’s Draupadi Ghat we came to Calcutta’s Fort William and  then to  Bangalore Cantonment  Bangalore was the only city where we  remained stationed for almost 5 years before getting  shifted to Delhi Cantonment in 1961, 4th of July to be precis

It was the year 1959-60 and I was about 10 years old  studying in the 6th form in the Army’s  Regimental school . Around this time my  father decided to put me into “King George Military School” .This  was a ‘day’ Boarding School exclusively for Defence personnels . It is now called “Rashtriya Military School”. There was an aptitude test which I cleared but failed the written test. I was happy, as I will not be sent to  boarding school and be away from family. My Father was hugely disappointed.

Had I got into the King George Military School, I would have defently got into NDA after the schooling and then even graduated from IMA .Probably  would have been the part of the IMA’s “Passing out Parade” and  eventually got  commissioned into the Indian Army  around 1971-72  Chronologically speaking , I would have been holding the rank of a colonel and commanding a regiment when “Kargil War”  broke out in year 1999.  In all probability I would have retired from the Army around 2007-2008  after a 32 years of exemplary service as a “war veteran” holding  the rank of  Brigadier  

Had all that  been the facts of my life, I would have  written a book on “Kargil War” and living today a king size life with my copyright revenues. I remember reading the book “Untold Story” written by retired  Lt Gen B M  Koul  It was about 1962 Indo China war  I remember how our politicians in the parliament then had protested its publication However Sardar Swaran Singh who was then the Defence  Minister made a statement in the house of Parliament which said that an Army officer was free to write and publish a book post retirement The book “Untold Story” though controversial , was very well received at the book stand  This incidentally reminds me why the Book “Four Star Destiny” written by retired army Chief Gen MM Narvane has been put on hold .It's now year and more since  this book is awaiting  clearance from PMO  This speaks a lot about the Democracy that we are today 

Much water has flown down the bridge since the advent of “Amrit Kal" , surprisingly today  chanting of "Jai Shri Ram” has become more a "War Cry” than a symbol of “Hindu Devotion” !!