With stammers in my mind caused because of melancholy I began this story!
By: M S Nazki/ ANN DESK
This is one about a great military leader who knew that India was capable of fighting wars on many fronts and he proved it! Pakistan went into a walnut shell and China into a hibernation behind the great wall like a dragon in eternal rest!
‘There is a saying in Tibetan, ‘Tragedy should be utilised as a source of strength. No matter what sort of difficulties, how painful the experience is, if we lose our hope, that’s our real disaster.’ Life has to carry on and it will with its own sudden and stunning twists and turns’. General Bipin Rawats death was definitely devastating!’
-‘How could someone like me survive a plane crash? I didn’t look like someone who could do that. I wasn’t someone who could do that. Maybe I hadn’t. Maybe I was dead. Maybe I was lying on the ground somewhere, rain falling over me, into my open eyes. I looked at myself in the mirror and didn’t see anything. I didn’t see me. But later I realised that I had survived.’ Miracles do happen but they do not do so every day and on Wednesday someone in heaven decided to keep his door shut!’ But this was not for the first time that the heavenly door of the ultimate listener was closed. It had happened before too in the lives of some great men, I mean the military leaders!
-‘General Orde Charles Wingate was a British General of world war second who started the Chindits which made Long range penetration behind the Japanese lines in Burma during the 2nd world war. He was born in India in 1903 at Nainital in the then United Provinces. Wavell had been impressed by the performance of Gideon Force, and when he became Commander-in-Chief, India, he remembered Wingate. Deeply perturbed by the declining morale of the British Army in the Far East, Wavell summoned Wingate to see what chestnut unorthodox warfare could save from the fire that was consuming Burma in 1942. Wingate’s idea was to put soldiers behind the Japanese lines to sow confusion amongst their lines of communication and also to strike back at them at a time when they were carrying all before them. His ‘Chindits’ or ‘Wingate’s Raiders,’ a brigade of British, Gurkha, and Burmese guerrillas, harassed much stronger Japanese forces in the jungles of northern Burma (now Myanmar) during World War II. General Wingate died in a plane crash on 24th March 1944 near the village of Thiulon in Tamenglong District. On 24th March 1944 Wingate flew into Broadway in a B-25 Mitchell bomber (43-4242) from 1st Air Commandos. From there he visited the White City and Aberdeen Strongholds. After returning to Broadway he flew on to Imphal ( Koirengei) to meet Air Marshall Baldwin and from there at 8.00 pm, he set off back to Lalaghat. Wingate’s plane crashed on the return journey in the hills around Tamenglong. All on board were killed including a number of war correspondents. ( Broadway, White City and Aberdeen are code named wartime airfields in Burma). The crash site is located near village Thiulon in Tamenglong District, Manipur. The crash site is around 1.5 km southwest of the village. The elevation reads 740 metres above sea level. I have seen the place because I know Tamenglong by heart, a beautiful place with lovely people’.
-‘Who does not know about Orde Wingate and this great man from 5/11 Gurkha Rifles would have read and reread about Charles time and again and that is how he planned the surgical strikes in the enemy lines with precision. The strike in Myanmar, the post Uri strike and then the Balakote broke the backbone of terror both in North East and Kashmir! Pakistan was left to only paper plans. The Chinese may try anything but taking on India after Galwan, they definitely would have to get back to several thoughts!’
-‘ Seva Medal ribbon.svg Uttam Yudh Seva Medal, Ati Vishisht Seva Medal ribbon.svg Ati Vishisht Seva Medal, Yudh Seva Medal ribbon.svg Yudh Seva Medal, Sena Medal ribbon.svg Sena Medal, Vishisht Seva Medal ribbon.svg Vishisht Seva Medal, all were on the left side of his ever widening chest as his heart always beat for India. Bipin Rawat PVSM UYSM AVSM YSM SM VSM ADC (16 March 1958 – 8 December 2021) was an Indian military officer who was a four star general of the Indian Army. He served as the first Chief of Defense Staff (CDS) of the Indian Armed Forces from January 2020 until his death in a helicopter crash in December 2021. Prior to taking over as the CDS, he served as 57th and last Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee as well as 26th Chief of Army Staff of the Indian Army.!’
-‘Bipin was born in Pauri, Uttarakhand, on 16 March 1958. His family had been serving in the Indian Army for multiple generations. His father Laxman Singh Rawat was from Sainj village of the Pauri Garhwal district and rose to the rank of Lieutenant General. His mother was from the Uttarkashi district and was the daughter of Kishan Singh Parmar, the ex-Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) from Uttarkashi.Rawat attended Cambrian Hall School (mine too) in Dehradun and the St. Edward’s School, Shimla. He then joined the National Defence Academy, Khadakwasla and the Indian Military Academy, Dehradun, where he was awarded the ‘Sword of Honour’. Rawat was also a graduate of the Defence Services Staff College (DSSC), Wellington and the Higher Command Course at the United States Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. From his tenure at the DSSC, he obtained an MPhil degree in Defence Studies.’
-‘The man has left a vast canvas behind as every great man does but has left the paint tray and brushes behind so that the massive canvas keeps the impressive strokes of dainty brushes moving on the painting of decisiveness and valour by the great knights and queens of Indian Army who live and fade away into glory! Bipin and Madhulika did exactly that!’
‘There was more to say, but for once we did not say it. There would be other times for speaking, tonight and tomorrow and all the days after that and then he let go of my hand. So naughty and full of life he was that evening at a farewell dinner but today we would bid a great farewell to the world I never knew! Wish we would have stood in front of the mirror early today morning, perhaps for the last time! But we did not and this goddamn thing is the kiss of death!’
( Perhaps this is what Madhulika would have told Bipin when the flying machine was rolling down with a smile on her face but definitely not with fear or frown because Bipin had taught her to be fearless)
=‘Bipin was commissioned into the 5th battalion of 11 Gorkha Rifles on 16 December 1978, the same unit as his father. He had much experience in high-altitude warfare and spent ten years conducting counter-insurgency operations. He commanded a company in Uri, Jammu and Kashmir as a Major. As a Colonel, he commanded his battalion, the 5th battalion 11 Gorkha Rifles, in the Eastern sector along the Line of Actual Control at Kibithu. Promoted to the rank of Brigadier, he commanded 5 Sector of Rashtriya Rifles in Sopore. He then commanded a multinational Brigade in a Chapter VII mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) where he was twice awarded the Force Commander’s Commendation. After promotion to Major General, Rawat took over as the General Officer Commanding 19th Infantry Division (Uri). As a Lieutenant General, he commanded III Corps, headquartered in Dimapur before taking over the Southern Army in Pune. After being promoted to the Army Commander grade, Rawat assumed the post of General Officer Commanding-in-Chief (GOC-in-C) Southern Command on 1 January 2016. After a short stint, he assumed the post of Vice Chief of Army Staff on 1 September 2016. On 17 December 2016, the Government of India appointed him as the 27th Chief of the Army Staff, superseding two more senior Lieutenant Generals, Praveen Bakshi and P. M. Hariz. He took office as Chief of Army Staff as the 27th COAS on 31 December 2016, after the retirement of General Dalbir Singh Suhag. He was the third officer from the Gorkha Brigade to become the Chief of the Army Staff, after Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw and General Dalbir Singh Suhag. On his visit to the United States in 2019, General Rawat was inducted to the United States Army Command and General Staff College International Hall of Fame.’
-‘Madhulika: In 1985, Rawat married Madhulika Rawat. A descendant of an erstwhile princely family, she was the daughter of Kunwar Mrigendra Singh, sometime Riyasatdar of the pargana of Sohagpur Riyasat in Shahdol district and an Indian National Congress MLA from the district in 1967 and 1972. The couple had two daughters, Kritika and Tarini.’
I don’t know as to how many of us would be knowing about Diya Nanawati, Mumbai, but I immediately came to know as who could she be because the title of the story was, ‘The Most Infamous Helicopter Crash In Our History’ and the first few lines summed it all up, ‘ Tragically, the beautiful life my grandparents and father enjoyed was to be short lived. My grandfather Nalin was sent on a non-family posting in Kashmir where he was killed on the November 22, 1963 at the age of 45 in one of the most tragic helicopter crashes of all times. All six senior officers including my grandfather died. The other officers were – Maj. Gen Nalin Kumar Dhirajlal Nanavati (Military Cross, General Officer Commanding 25 Infantry Division), Lt. Gen Bikram Singh (General Officer Commanding, 15 Corps), Air Vice Marshall Erlic Pinto (Air Officer Commanding, Western Command). Lt. Gen Daulet Singh (General Officer Commanding in Chief, Western Command), Brigadier SR Oberoi, (Military Cross, Commander 93 Infantry Brigade), Flt. Lt. SS Sodhi. Many conjectured that the helicopter was sabotaged because so many senior officers lost their lives at the same time, but the Indian Army ruled out sabotage and stated that it was an accident. Later as a cautionary rule, the government banned senior officers of the army from ever travelling together. The same rule now applies to several corporations too. Grandma Sharada Nanavati was widowed at a young age of 34, and my dad Sanjeev, was just four years old. With only 12 rupees in her bank account, it took Sharada many years to get a succession certificate (issued by a civil court to the legal heirs of a deceased person). She never took a paisa from her wealthy relatives and instead chose to live her life with dignity and raise her son alone. Fortunately she was educated with a Masters in History, Politics and Economics and was a journalist too. With recommendations from Field Marshal Sam Maneckshaw, she began working at the WHO and then later with the USIS in New Delhi. This was a great achievement for a woman in her times. As a single and independent mother, my grandmother educated my dad, and with blood, sweat and tears built a modest home in the ‘War Widows colony’ in Delhi. Daddy and Grandma remain very grateful to the Indian Army. My granddad was a war hero but I believe my grandma who is 89 years old now, is a hero too.
It was 1997 and late Inder Kumar Gujral was the prime minister, when a helicopter carrying then Minister of State for Defence NVN Somu, Major General Ramesh Chandra Nagpal and two army officers crashed in Arunachal Pradesh. That was the last time when a senior army officer was killed in an air crash. All four died in the helicopter crash near Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh on the morning of November 14, 1997. The others to lose their lives in the incident were two army helicopter pilots.
The helicopter that crashed was carrying Union minister Somu to a forward area where he was to address the troops. The crash took place near Mago, not very far from India’s border with China. The helicopter crashed that day around 9.20 in the morning. As the news reached, the army sent five choppers on a rescue mission. But what all they found was the wreckage of the helicopter that carried the minister and the army officers, around 10 past noon. All occupants of the helicopter were dead.
Earlier in 1993, a military helicopter crashed in Bhutan killing eight Indian Army officers onboard. It was a Mi-17 helicopter, the same Russia-made aircraft whose upgraded version crashed on Wednesday in Tamil Nadu carrying Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) Bipin Rawat. The victims in the Bhutan crash included Indian Army commander of eastern region Lt General Jamil Mehmood, who was on an official visit to Bhutan. The helicopter had taken off from Bhutan capital Thimpu and caught fire about 20 minutes later.
General Bipin Rawat had survived a chopper crash in 2015 when he was the lieutenant-general heading the Indian Army’s Dimapur-based HQs 3 Corps. Two pilots and a colonel too survived the crash when Indian Army’s Cheetah helicopter nosedived soon after taking off from Rangapahar helipad in Dimapur. But he was not fortunate this time. It is sad but life has to travel on!
In the Indian Army one thing is drilled into the hearts and minds every time and the thing is, there are no absolutes in human misery and things can always get worse so better be prepared for it! Take it one at a time till the final one arrives and that leads to one bare fact which we all should know: we live in a dark and romantic and quite tragic world where joys are few and momentary and tragedies well… I will not say much. Just dropping the pen with moist eyes!
