Field Marshal Kodandera Madappa Cariappa, OBE, LOM

The Man who said to Pakistani General to treat his son like any other POW (Prisoner of War).

If the Indian Army is not involved politically in any matter, and Govt. of India is not worried about the coup (Army takeover) it is because of one man. The man who sat the Ethical Standards so high for the soldiers of Indian Army that a soldier made up himself to sacrifice his life for saving the life of his countrymen. The Swordsmanship of Field Marshal Cariappa can not be defined in just few articles still i will try to light. Ladies & Gentlemen please feel the Proud within you are getting introduced to Field Marshal K.M. Cariappa

After gaining Independence a meeting was organized to select the first General of the Indian Army. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru chaired that meeting. Leaders and Army officers were discussing to whom this responsibility should be given. 

In between the discussion Nehru said, “I think we should appoint a British officer as a General of Indian Army as we don’t have enough experience to lead the same.” 

Everybody supported Nehru because if the PM was suggesting something, how can they not agree? 

But one of the army officers abruptly said, “I have a point, sir.” 

Nehru said, “Yes, gentleman. You are free to speak.” 

He said, “You see, sir, we don’t have enough experience to lead a nation too, so shouldn’t we appoint a British person as first PM of India?” 

The meeting hall suddenly went quiet. 

Then, Nehru said, “Are you ready to be the first General of Indian Army?” 

He got a golden chance to accept the offer but he refused the same and said, “Sir, we have a very talented army officer, my senior, Lt Gen Cariappa, who is the most deserving among us.” 

The army officer who raised his voice against the PM was Lt General Nathu Singh Rathore, the 1st Lt General of the Indian Army. 

On being appointed as the first Commander-in-Chief of an independent Indian Army on 15 January 1949, Gen. Cariappa was instrumental in the integration of troops and turning an imperial army into a national army. 

During the 1965 and 1971 wars, he visited the front lines to talk to the troops and keep their morale up.

Apart from being a military man, Cariappa had insight about the status of the country. He is quoted as saying, “In modern warfare, a large army is not sufficient, it needs industrial potential behind it. If the army is the first line of defense, the industry is the second.” Cariappa had even said that “soldiers know the facility of wars to solve the internal problems. We ought to be ashamed that today they had more peace in war than peace in peace.” Such insight has placed him above many in this field. “Army is there to serve the Government of the day, and we should make sure that it does not get mixed up with party politics. A soldier is above politics and should not believe in caste or creed,” was another insight of this soldier.

He lived and remained, as he said, “an Indian and to the last breath would remain an Indian. To me there is only two Stans - Hindustan (India) and Foujistan (the Army).”

During the 1965 war, when his son, an Indian Air Force pilot, flew an aircraft. The plane was shot down by Pakistan. He was captured and imprisoned as a Prisoner of War (POW). 

When Ayub Khan learned about this, he informed Cariappa he would not be kept in a POW Camp like other Indian POWs, since they had worked together before independence. But Cariappa politely declined the offer, saying every soldier in the Indian Army was his son, so he could not request special privileges for only one.  

Field Marshall K M Cariappa was popularly known as ‘kipper’ among his colleagues.

As a token of gratitude of the nation for the exemplary service rendered by him, the Government of India conferred Cariappa with the rank of Field Marshal in 1983; till date there are only two appointments that is made by the government of India to the rank of Field Marshal and Kipper was one among them.

Field marshal(5 stars) is the highest military rank in Army. Field marshal would be the senior most officer in the army and is permitted to wear the uniform till death.

On 15th May 1993, Field Marshal K M Cariappa died in Bangalore, when he was 94. Let us all salute this great Indian Soldier, a national hero and a warrior.

Abhishek Tiwari

MAJOR GENERAL IAN CARDOZO, AVSM, SM

He cut off his own injured leg by his own Khukhri and ordered his sahayak Gurkha  " Go Bury it".

A Perfect Example of Chivalry himself, a Soldier by profession, an Officer by right & a Gentleman by all his Might. Ladies & Gentlemen I present you one of the finest men of our clan. Major General (Retd.) Ian Cardozo, AVSM, SM.

He is an inspiration to entire clan of Soldiers. His Books Param Vir Chakra & Sinking of INS Khukri.   

A lovely Poem he gave me when i got honor to meet him.......

"I am the unknown soldier, forgotten and ignored

When once the war is over and peace and quiet assured...

... Although we have left earth's orbit and need to rest in peace

Our souls are not past caring, our pain will never cease

Till you and the country's leaders created a haloed space

For a fitting War Memorial, on valour and honour based."

Major General Ian Cardozo was a young major in the 5 Gurkha Rifles in the 1971 war with Pakistan. In a swift military offensive, India defeated Pakistan within 13 days, liberated a region and led to the creation of Bangladesh.

In the war, the then Major Cardozo stepped on a landmine and had to cut off his badly wounded leg with his own khukri.

Yet, through sheer will power and determination, he did not let his disability come in the way of his duty as a soldier and went on to become the first disabled officer in the Indian Army to command an infantry battalion and a brigade.

Tell us about your wound.

At that time, I was still not wounded.

There was a BSF commander who got panicky when he saw all these fellows (prisoners) and asked: "Please send someone here.' I told the CO that I would go. I did not know that I was walking on a minefield. I stepped on a mine and my leg blew off.

A Bangladeshi saw this happening, he picked me up and took me to the battalion headquarters. They were feeling bad. I told the doctor, 'Give me some morphine.' They had no#8800 it had been destroyed during the operations. 'Do you have any Pethidine?' 'No'

I told him: 'Could you cut this off?'

He said: 'I don't have any instrument.'

I asked my batman: 'Where is my khukri?'

He said: 'Here it is, Sir.'

I told him: 'Cut it off.'

He answered in Gorkhali: 'Sir, I can't do it.'

I told him: 'Give it to me.' I cut my leg off and ordered: 'Now go and bury it.'

You tell people that you are embarrassed to tell the story because it was nothing at all. What was your first thought?

My first thought was for her (pointing to his wife, Priscilla). I thought, 'What a stupid thing happened to me. It was beyond my control, it just happened.'

Then the doctor came and tied it up. My CO also came: 'Ian, you are very lucky, we have captured a Pakistani surgeon. He will operate on you.'

'Nothing doing, Sir, I don't want to be operated by a Pakistani doctor. Just get me back to India,' I answered.

By that time Dhaka had fallen and there was no chopper available.

I then told the CO: 'Two conditions.' He immediately said: 'You are not in position to put conditions.'

I told him: 'OK, two requests. One, I don't want Pakistani blood.'

He retorted: 'You are a fool.' I said: 'I am prepared to die a fool. My second request, Sir, I want you to be present when they operate on me.' The CO asked: 'Why?' I answered: 'You know why.' (There had been cases of torture). So, he agreed.

Anyway, the Pakistani surgeon did a good job. His name was Major Mohamed Basheer. I have never been able to say, 'Thank you.' I owe him a thank you, but it is not easy (to find someone in Pakistan].

What did you feel when you cut your own leg?

People are giving more credit than I do. Actually I just felt deeply embarrassed because my leg was in a terrible state. I did not want to look at it and others to look at it. I wanted to get rid of it. Nobody wanted to do it, so I did it.

You have said that you always dream that you have two legs.

Yes, in my dreams, I have two legs, no artificial leg.

How did you manage to get a promotion after being disabled?

One has to accept that the army puts a great amount of emphasis on physical fitness. One has to be fit to be a commander at any level.

From my side, I felt that the doctors were unfair to me to say that I could not perform as well as anybody else.

With my wooden leg, I was determined to prove to the army as well as to the world in general, that a person with a wooden leg could do as well, if not better, than a two-legged person. I resolved to keep myself physically fit.

I woke early morning, did some exercises and went for a run. I did the battle physical test. I had a problem with the officer in charge of the test who refused to allow me to pass the test. He said he would not let me go through that test because a year earlier someone physically unfit had gone through the test and died.

I told him I was fit, but he answered that he would arrest me if I do the test. I told him: 'You can put me under arrest only after I commit the offense. So let me do the test and you can arrest me after.'

So I did the test and left seven officers with two legs behind me. The officer was a good man, he said, putting his arm around my shoulder: 'Well done, Sir, good job.'

I later went to the vice-chief and asked him, what else should I do? He said: 'Come with me to J&K.'

He came by helicopter to a place at 6,000 feet. I climbed from the road to the helipad. When he arrived, he asked me: 'How did you come here?' thinking I had used my contacts to fly with a chopper. I told him: 'Sir, I climbed from the road.'

He was surprised: 'You can climb!' I told him: 'What I can or can't do is the minds of my senior officers.'

He said 'Alright' and put up my case to the army chief (General T N Raina) who asked me to accompany him to Ladakh. I walked in mountains in snow and ice. General Raina saw this and when he returned to Delhi, he asked for my file and wrote: 'Yes, give him a battalion and to all other officers who are not taking shelter behind their wounds.'

For me, it only meant that one has to do what is required by one's job. I was the first disabled officer to be approved to command a battalion.

The same thing happened when I was to take command of a brigade. The bureaucracy said: 'No, you can't command a brigade.' I wrote to the army chief that I had proven that I could command a battalion; there was no reason why I should be demoted in a staff job.

The chief said: 'Why do you harass this man, give him the command of a brigade.'

Later three disabled officers became army commanders. One even became vice-chief: he had earlier had both his legs amputated.

What would you tell the youth of this country?

I have many things to say: 

1.You have only one life to live, live it to the full.

2. You have 24 hours in a day: Pack it up.

3. The other thing is 'Never give up.'

4. If you believe in something, do it in a right way at the right time.


Abhishek Tiwari

MAJOR SANDEEP UNNIKRISHNAN

It was my first visit to a martyr’s family, my first meeting with them. It was Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan’s birthday. Before meeting them, I had heard stories from my friends about their experience of meeting a martyr’s family. Naturally I was extremely curious and of course nervous too. We had a rough idea of the direction of the house. When we reached the nearby locality, we saw banners wishing Major Unnikrishnan a happy birthday. We knew we are in the right place.

We were greeted by his mother. Earlier, I saw only one video of her in the news channels where she was mourning beside his son’s coffin. And now, when I saw her after 5 years, she was calm, composed, but still equally emotional. There were many visitors but she welcomed each one of us personally with equal warmth. A proud mother with lots of pain hidden in her heart that reflects in her eyes. The house where Major’s parents live now is a newly built one. And Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan stayed there for only one month. When he was there in the house with his family, he regularly used to take her mother for morning walk and jogging. Today also she regularly goes for morning walk, only because her son inspired and accompanied her one upon a time. She showed us all the albums of her son from childhood till the last day. We saw the training photos of Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan in the metro station of Kolkata. Throughout I found her soft yet composed, steady but still you will feel that she is at the verge of vulnerability.

And then she showed that photo – the blood stained floor of that room in the Taj Hotel, Mumbai. Taj Hotel, Mumbai – where his son fought till his last breath. He attained supreme sacrifice saving many customers and employees of that hotel. And the blood in the room of that photograph was Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan’s blood. His parents explained me the photo. Can you imagine, can you feel the pain a parents have when they show the photo of a room stained with the blood of their only son who was young, dynamic and full of opportunities?

Feel it, feel it. That blood was shed by Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan to save his countrymen. And those countrymen were busy criticizing the death sentence of Ajmal Kasab. They forgot that they were alive to discuss that Ajmal Kasab had biriyani before he was hanged, only because Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan and many more brave men of our country gives their life every day protecting the life of their countrymen. We remember and cry for 9/11 (9th September). Surely it was a horrible incident and painful too as it involved loss of lives. But my dear countrymen, how many of you remember today, 26/11 (26th November)? How many of you remember those lives that were lost saving other lives?

When we forget to remember, the parents of Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan every year, this day, visit that hotel, that room to pay respect to not only his son but to all the brave sons of this motherland who gave their life protecting others.

As I was leaving their house last year March, his father gave me a small card on the occasion of his son’s 37th birthday. It says “If you start off being afraid of failure, you will end up also fearing success; because then you will have something to lose” – words that Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan used to say often, used to believe and practice in his life.

From the Diary of A Brigadier........ 

" After finishing my Passing Out Parade at N.D.A, I was a Commissioned 2nd Lieutenant who have a lot of enthusiasm and responsibility (But no Authority). We felt like we were at top of of the world ..........We here is used for a group "The Nightwalkers" including Me, Col. Sandhu (Rocky), Col. Parashar (Jimmy), Brig. Tyagi (Jolly), Brig.Singh ( Biggy) (All 2nd. Lt. then).

Oh! by the way I came up with an idea of writing this because few days ago when I visited my Son, many of his course mates addressed him "Biggy" I don't know why this name only .......but it recalled me of "The Nightwalkers". I still remember the lines written by me before the day we were about to depart for our Designated units. It was.....

Whatever whether it’s cold or hot,

                                                    we watch your back you like or not

We might choose to live like rests,

                                                    but we are here coz we were best of bests

Beautiful Kids and a gorgeous Wife,

                                                    that's what we expect of life,

Brothers in arms mean everything to us,

                                                    we are in hurry but not in rush,

Ultimate aim is Happiness of faces,

                                                    no matter how many bullets we faces,

Survival of odds is my compulsion,

                                                    as many lives are based on my propulsion,

I am here on duty just to watch,

                                                    you fulfil your dreams of Lamborghini and Scotch,

Our work is hard thus less time to feed,

                                                    you have party with smoke and weed,

We barely get time to be on our feet,

                                                    you cry out loud for a stained bed sheet,

You cry a lot for terrorist’s human rights,

                                                    and no one bothers what we lose in fights,

We like Black & White nothing in brown,

                                                    as we aim quite high with heads bowed down

People get dizzy by drinking at bars,

                                                    we play cool even at fire of mortars,

Headaches in changing baby diapers?

                                                    What if you knew you are at shot of Sniper?

We don’t have time for Rose, Megan,

                                                    Emily, Soldiers on side are our only family,

Our goals and targets gives us wings,

                                                      after winning battle we are king of kings,

Under every situation we moves forward,

                                                      No one ever dare calling us coward,

Minus or plus whatever temperature,

                                                      I’ll remain stood even you make my caricature,

Only one thing any soldier ever wanted,

                                                      respect our cause and don’t take it for granted.

What Is Army ??

Army is:-

When a cold and shivering jawan gets you a cup of hot tea on a patrol break at 13,000 feet.
When your sixth sense tells you there is something wrong with a guy at 50 meters.
When you meet with an accident and the first thing you check is the serviceability of your legs.
When you speak the language of your boys.
When you sit from dusk to dawn in an ambush on Valentine’s Day, you know army is giving you the red rose.
When you are a master at pump stove, lanterns, solar lights, bukharis and travelling in trains without reservations.
When you know more about cramps and cold injuries than your average doctor.
When a girl in the pub is indicated by clock-ray method.
When only your sahayak can dig out the thing you want from your rucksack.
When your pain submits to your will.
When you find it funny when your relative says he’s going on a holiday to a hill station.
When your profession is a matter of discussion during marriage proposals.
When you do not believe in ghosts but do believe in Peer Baba and other high altitude babas.
When you know the real meaning of camouflage, in field, in parties, in unit routine and in your own house.
When you can live, anywhere, with anybody, on anything that nature can offer.
When you know this LMG will be re-sited by everybody up the ladder, till it comes back to where you had sited it initially.
When somebody asks, “Do you play Golf?” and you look at the brass on your shoulder and say “Not yet!”
When you are the biggest consumer of foot powder, DMP oil, water sterilization kit, ORS packets and Meals Ready to Eat in the Army.
When you gave it all that you have got, and some more.
When you are the only one to get trained in bayonet fighting. And expect it to happen.
When your girlfriend thinks you are Rambo, Commando, Gladiator and Braveheart, all rolled into one. Your Commanding Officer, by the way, thinks you are none.
When the Politician and the Bureaucrat state, "what is so special about the ARMY", without realizing that an Army-man can do their job, better then them, but they cannot do an Army-man's job and it is the the same Army-man who bails them out whenever they fail
When you get lost in a multiplex with signboards but are at ease in a jungle with a compass.
When you can die for, what you have lived for.
That's the great INDIAN ARMY.....People call it ARMY, We call it LIFE.

Main Sanjay Bol Raha hu - Anasuya Mitra

It was a normal day. Since morning there was nothing special in my life. I was busy in my office work sitting in front of my computer. Suddenly my phone rang showing an unknown number on the screen. I ignored the call as I was sure that the call is from the service provider. The phone rang again showing the same number. I picked up the phone and the caller told me "Namaskar, Main Sanjay bol raha hoon"(I am Sanjay speaking). I was almost sure that it was a call either for my aqua guard servicing or a channel package offer from the disk service provider. So there was a very casual reply from me "haan ji boliye" (Yes tell me what do you want?). The caller then said "Main Sanjay Kumar bol raha hoon......" I could not believe my ears, I could not believe my luck. It was a call from "the" Sanjay Kumar!!!! One of the 21 person since independence who achieved the highest gallantry award, one of the seven brave hearts who received the award by their own hands, he is one of the three persons of the nation seeing whom the President of india would also stand up to greet. I just shouted "Sanjay dada yeh aap hain?!!!" (Sanjay dada is it you?) Dada smiled and answered "Ji Madam". We talked for next 7 to 10 minutes. He conveyed his warm wishes for all of us.

Infact, few days back, on the occasion of bhai duj, we the sisters of Desh sent our wishes for the brothers who are guarding us and are staying miles away from their families and home. As it was not possible to cater to all the soldiers, so it was decided to send sweets to the unit of Sanjay dada. Due to his busy schedule and various duties he got the sweets on 5th of Nov and distributed among all his compatriots and then called me.

Surely it was a great opportunity to receive a call from a warrior who received the highest gallantry award for his exemplary display of courage and valour in Kargil war. It’s really a special day and special Bhai Duj for me and all the sisters of the DESH....