Ferozepore (1)

Ferozepore 1
1965- -I was physician in MH Ferozepore -Indo Pak war breaks out-7 Infantry Division moves out IMMEDIATELY to Khemkaran sector-Overnight the town is empty , deserted. Families of officers had to fend for themselves all the while praying for safe return of their husbands except of course the AMC officers! Suddenly four wives ,all South Indians, landed in Capt. Krishnan's house because their husbands told them so for the simple reason that'medical specialist' will not be moved out! Next morning ALL the four + Jaya and  Suba, 1 1/2 yrs were "packed"in Mrs.Pillai's Amby and the driver was instructed to proceed to Delhi. ( Later I learnt that all roads to Delhi was  one way "FROM" Delhi to facilitate army movement, but somehow clever resourceful mallu driver reached Delhi .How simple it sounds now!! It took ALL OF SEVEN DAYS before Ltcol Murthy could contact his elder brother Venkatraman then GM Air India staying in 3 Circular Road New Delhi. Suba & Jaya were staying with them. Till then it looked as though those seven days were longer than one யுகம் ! To confound our misery were rumours like “petrol pumps ordered NOT to supply petrol to civilian vehicles” Black out in Delhi and vehicles were forbidden to use even parking lights ’Mallu driver is driving in Delhi for the FIRST time”  “Did my chellachu   get something to eat or drink?” My thanks to Mrs.Pillai (where ever she is now).Unforgettable one week !!
Mr.Vekatram’s pet was BIG Ulsatian ,almost as tall as Suba was then .They two took an instant liking for each other & Suba used to play with him & even ride on him fearlessly!! Two weeks later Jaya & Suba moved to a cousin of Vedam Patti in govt accommodation located on a road from Connaught Place & Karolbagh.That is where I met them much later.

Truck loads of casualties poured in to MH Ferozepore -150 bedded hospital, with one physician, one surgeon (MONI,SSRC officer),one gyenaecologist, one ophthalmologist ,one pathologist and one CO(commanding officer) .The last mentioned could not help because he was a thorough bred administrator . There was NO prior warning from AHQ (army head quarters) either in informing us to expect loads of casualties or in providing materials  or manpower. That is PLANNING & INTELIGENCE Info !!.   
Surgeon ,Gyenec & opthalmologist (latter two because they can cut & sew!) were inside the one OT(operation Theatre) with a minor OT as annexe. For FULL THREE days & nights they came out only to ‘answer call of nature’( I have  heard this dignified expression only from Tamilians?) ,reclined on a chair when sleep was impossible to resist, bit into whatever was supplied. So did the OT nurses and ORAs (Theatre assistants). When I recall this my heart brims with pride even now.
My duty was to prioritise the casualties –sounds simple but I thank the Lord I did not have to do it again in my life.. After a hurried assessment I had to decide whether casualty “A” has better chance of survival with surgery than casualty “B”.and send the one with better chances into OT and offer “expectant” treatment  (medical profession is successful in inventing such phrases to delude the relatives into believing that “doctor is doing his best!”.) to those I had condemned. No colleague to confer, no lab to help. , I don’t know if I prayed for the decision to be right. I don’t think I had the time. But I recalled my appa ,General Medical Practitioner, predicting death with uncanny precision and advising relatives not to waste money any more on treatment but save it for final rites.But again they were sick persons & here in fronf of me were thakada jawans (healthy soldiers) in their prime of youth but maimed by war.
Pathologist did the blood grouping & cross matching. We NEEDED blood not litres but gallons! Only AMC personnel posted to MH were around and each one of them was fully engaged. Somehow news reached the civil population and in a moment droves of donors walked in. Ask Indian to face a national crisis and no one can better his response!! What is more Dal Roti was also brought by them in plenty.
Time for ‘ward rounds’ was available in the nights when trucks & ambulances stopped. No lights allowed. My nurse & I waded thru darkness guided by my pen torch. ( Later I was to meet this nurse as the wife of an airforce officer in Delhi) ”Is that you Krishnan? This voice cant be any one else’s” I rcognised the voice too. Joshi,  Sapper (Engineer)  officer.
 During my tenure inJ&K I was drafted to escort a recce team from Srinagar to Leh. Awaiting to get adequate number of mules to carry us & the rations we were asked to stay in Srinagar transit camp.Joshi was the sapper officer in the team. Strikingly handsome and bubbling with energy Joshi & I enjoyed each other’s company. It was a paid holiday in Srinagar .We were out every day exploring Dal lake in  boats or hiking or just walk & walk thru streets .He also was an avid sportsman, Hockey was his forte. Leh recce was called off after four weeks because specified number of mules was not available!!
“is that you Joshi?” I yell ,all the time troubled  not knowing why he was in the hospital . I rushed up to him & asked. Joshi asked me to flash the torch on his legs. Oh God! No legs!! He had stepped on a mine & both lesgs ,one below knee & the other upto ankle were blown.I cried aloud. Doctors are human too. Sister Gill ( I remember her name now) consoled me. She said “ Sir, at least your friend is alive”. She had lost her father in 1947 war in Kashmir when she was barely a few months old.

To be continued…..

Ferozepore (2)

-MH Ferozepore –contd

I left you with me in a state of shock at the plight of Joshi who aspired to represent Army in Hockey lying with  BOTH legs amputated by cruel war. I had known him for only four weeks but still I cried, I don’t know why! Thank you Sister Gill for helping me to recover. I suppose we were siblings born to Mother India-- (Later I met Joshi fitted with artificial limbs in ALC Pune & was shocked again, pleasantly this time, looking at his cheerful face and pride that he could drive a specially designed three wheeler. Bravo!).

Back to MH Ferozepore: Casualties continued to pour in. NO HELP,   NO HELP at all from AHQ. Wry humour was permissible under those circumstances—Either AHQ believed that MH Ferozepore had been ‘captured’ by Pakis or we in Ferozepore wanted to believe that DELHI had been captured by Pakis !!Both surmises were proved wrong when my CO received ORDERS to IMMEDIATELY ‘despatch’ (I resented this term then & even now) the medical specialist ( would it not be simpler to call me a physician!)to Abhor to attend to Brig.Puri who had severe pain in the chest.—Sri Puri had served as ADC earlier to GEN.Choudhry COAS) (chief of army staff)& hence the urgency--  Abhor was a border town even closer than Ferozepore to Pak and I was warned by a kind Div staff officer that the entire region was HEAVILY MINED and I should be careful. Naturally I asked “How does one avoid stepping on a mine?” ( Joshi’s predicament flashed thru my mind) “Well, Good luck Doc” was all that he could say. Driver of my jeep was far more helpful “ Saab aap kisiko balla karne keliey jara rahain, aap ko kuch nahin hoga’ .I examined Brig.Puri. Symptom wise he had a heart attack Stable clinically.My equipment—Stehoscope & sphygmomanometer ( BP apparatus for the less informed!). NO ECG. My ‘orders’ were that I should shift him  to MH Ambala. When I assessed the logistics It was clear that this order was from a ‘chair borne administrator’. To Ambala it would have taken FOUR hrs by road & then another six hours by train ( presuming that trains were running at all & on Time). Whereas it was 30 mts to rail head from where Brig was & another three hrs to my hospital in Ferozepore. Capt.Krishnan  IGNORED  the AHQ instructions & took him with me to my hospital in Ferozepore. 24 hrs later- Maj.Jagmohan Grover senior physician in MH Jallunder, arrived in Ferozepor under orders from AHQ to advise on the Brig. He replied to AHQ that BEST had been done. When I thanked him he said “remain true to your profession ,you can’t go wrong”. I was to meet him later when I was reader in medicine in AFMC & Col.Grover was associate professor. We became friends notwithstanding the difference in seniority.( AHQ babus wrote his name as J. M. Grover. His protested that JAGMOHAN was ONE name & he should be designated “J.Grover” but babudom  was not impressed).

shenbaga thoppu

A) Travel Bug—shenbaga thoppu

Srivilliputtur (SVPR) –my days in Hindu High School SVPR -1936—1946.

 Curriculum insisted on 'educational' excursions & we were taken to distant Sivakasi (12 Kms from SVPR!)to the match factory & litho printing press. We were wonder struck seeing print outs in COLOUR .But beyond that these trips were monotonous & boring because neither teachers ( who volunteered for this attracted by allowances )nor the students prepared by informing themselves of what there were to see & possibly learn. But what we enjoyed most was bi-annual trips to nearby mountains with a motly bunch of enthusiasts aged 12 to 50 yrs!.Destination was “SHENBAGA THOPPU”at the foothills of western ghats,about 10 to 12 Kms from SVPR. Mode of transport: your legs!Grocery/cooking utensils were carried on our heads .Sugar was always entrusted with 'kannan' because unlike mythical Krishna who stole butter,  Kannan of SVPR will not steal!Well, activities in the camp depended on one's age. 35& over played card games. Rare vernacular expletives were exchanged during these sessions. Younger than  35 went hiking ,often on unchartered tracks. (My daughter Suba should now know where she got the trekking bug!). More delicious food in ambience of raw nature I have not tasted. Duration was 3 to 4 days determined more by diminishing rations rather than our desire to return home. Walking back was always tiresome and invariably darkness set in before we reached SVPR.The light house giving us a lead as well assurance we were indeed close to our destination was “light.from the from the fire in the burning ghat on the outskirts of SVPR. The dead were in a way our guiding lights.

Our AMMA

Furmoish from Chuppamani: “ write about our mother. I was too young and cannot recall much about her”

CHUPPU  As she was affectionately called was petite, charming woman with a smiling countenance and a soft almost musical voice. Her complexion was மா நிறம் an euphemism for dark but she was not as dark as our sethu mama but certainly looked so standing next to appa with his glowing complexion. She wore only மடிசாரு ( nine yards saree). Friendly—among her good friends was Kalyani mami whose grand daughter is Savithri w/o Sriram. She visited and played Tennikoit (ring tennis) in Sevuga pandian Town club wearing மடிசாரு!! There was a group photo of ladies attending the club.I have saved it somewhere? Amma was sitting in the front row in wearing nine yards and covering herself like we had seen MS subbulakshmi did. This was  before Chuppamani & his younger sisters were born. Salute her for emancipation from a docile girl born & brought up in Azhwarkurichi a tiny village with pronounced archaic ‘traditions’. Also doff your hat to her husband without whose encouragement this would not have been possible. This is the club where all her three sons learnt tennis & her husband came to relax ,cracking jokes  on vadagalais & thenkalais, poking fun at them for eating separately in parties ! There was some chemistry between her & her husband. As children we had NEVER NEVER once heard a harsh word exchanged between them.  There were no loud “hello dearest” but an understanding & respect which none of us in this generation can either comprehend or appreciate. TA mama f/o chamy told me (almost mockingly)  “your appa will not take a final decision without approval from your amma”. This was when appa was negotiating to buy ‘the big house’ (dispensary cum cutcheri hall’) .Rs.9000 was the final price & I must record the help of Chamy in this deal.( I sold this to Chamy for Rs.30000 And he sold it later for 300000!!!)We had never seen or heard discussions on this vital issue between appa & amma but I was too young to fathom this unique relationship.

A few vignettes I remember: அப்பளா கச்சேரி—appalam making –was an event about a dozen ladies assembled in the ரேழி (central hall) of the house and ‘rolled’ appalams. Time also for gossip , & the place was out of bounds for men & children!! Amma laughed loud and enjoyed trivia exchanged.  //    On ஸ்ரார்தம் (annual remembrance day for the departed elders in the family) servants were not allowed inside the house. Amma swept & swabbed the entire house and prepared the elaborate vathyar sappadu, assisted by Kalyani mami.  //  She wanted her only brother Sethu to stay with us & get educated. Appa agreed but Perichammai vetoed it. Neither the son nor the daughter in law even whispered a protest. That was Perichammai.  //   Appa was kind, still  his personality & status was a bit intimidating to me. Hence whenever I wanted to go to ‘cinema’ I always requested amma to obtain permission from appa and jumped with joy on hearing the word “சரி”.from him. Amma gave whatever amount I mentioned. I used to get enough to take two of my friends who could not have managed it. Ticket price:four ana!! Poor Amma, she had no idea how much ticket cost was.  //  She was very very fond of her eldest son.( Perhaps this special bonding ensured that anna reached in time to do the last rites for her. More about it later).  //   She adored Ambi –the ONLY grand child she was destined to see.  //  Among her friends were TA mama’s wife, Soundaram mami, Kalyani mami and DEVAKI. Devaki was not a Brahmin but had free access to Suppu’s house.( Appa also never queried who my friends were with whom I shared food / small eats in the house) Devaki was a mid wife EXPERT in conducting deliveries AT HOME. She was the one who helped in deliveries of Lakshmi, Suppamani,Papa& Bavani as well as couple of abortions. She was the wife of Krishnaswamy Naidu, a close friend of appa.She was accepted as a member of Suppu’s family. I remember her chiding me for ‘shaving’ on amavasai day and you could have guessed my age then but she addressed me டே கண்ணா!! I resented it then when none of us were ever spoken to in such loud way by my mother. An odd occasion amma had to pull up the servant or someone it was at best an admonition rather than a ‘dressing down’.  //  Kolattam:  Bonhomie was delightful! Distinct groups –‘kutties’ in pavadai/blouse, Little older with pavadai & dhavani, , next was where my age group was ogling all the way to Thirumukkulam (town tank) those who wore saree for the first time and the last was மடிசாரு mamis including amma. The groups were by no means exclusive. Singing solo & in groups during performing kolattam was the event noted for its colour & gay abandon. I have never heard amma sing. I don’t think she learnt at all. It was perhaps not an important item in ‘biodata for marriage’ those days!     

Appa suffered a stroke. A few months earlier he had written to me- I still preserve that post card- He said “ as I am penning this letter I noticed saliva dropping on the paper. I wiped the lips but was shocked to note that I did not feel the touch of my finger. A few moments later I was alright & I could feel the sensation on the lips. Is this an indication of an impending stroke? If so I pray that I should die & not live paralyzed” A pity that the good lord did not listen. TIA-Transient Ischaemic Attack _ is the name given to this warning signal for stroke. Appa could not have read about it because it appeared in text books that I read but his judgment was ‘spot on’ by sheer clinical acumen!!  I had bought a few bottles of Lomedex (low molecular weight dextran) & left them with Dr. Ramaswamy (anna’s classmate practicing in SVPR) with instructions on how & when it should be given. No avail. Mani Shankar was with appa then.  I rushed from Pune (borrowing money from Surg comdr Kuppu).It was a ‘completed stroke’ and now only rehabilitation. Appa was in the upstairs room and my problem then was to stop volunteers pouring in to ‘help’.M.L.Vasantakumari  had come to Thirunelveli for a concert & when informed about appa’s stroke desired to see him Mr.Vaithi elder B/O Kasi stopped at our house on their way by road to Madurai. MLV sang one thiruppavai in the ragam set by appa.Appa’s speech had not been restored fully but tears in his eyes expressed his thanks.  

More about amma I came to know from Jaya!. Appa was taken to Pune because anna was posted in Kirkee, a satellite town of Pune and I in Pune. During the time he spent with us -16 Right Flank Lines Wanowri-appa & jaya used to talk & talk . Vignettes: Amma “ I hear there are 2^nd & 1^st class in trains. Will you take me in that?” Appa took amma in “intermediate class” (between 2^nd&3^rd!) from SVPR to Tenkasi. He recalled how happy amma was.  //  In Kizhambur Perichammai expected amma to draw water from the well & carry it all the way to kitchen.She was pregnant then. “ I didn’t like it at all” said appa “but I could not speak against Ponnu (perichammai’s name later given to my akka, Andal was added by my appa.)  // 

UNKINDEST CUT OF ALL : 1944 –Both amma & appa fell ill same time with a flu like illness. Anna was to come home for summer vacation but postponed the date to suit akka who was to join him with ambi. I had written “appa & amma are down with fever. Come early”.  //  Appa gets well In a day or two. Not amma. Worry on appa’s face unnerved us. “Typhoid with double pneumonia (term for broncho pneumonia those days)’ I over heard appa telling Mr.M.N.Sankara iyer, another close friend I was in Std 7 . Did not understand what it meant but that something serious is happening was not difficult to surmise. Ambi (s/o Ponnu chithi) who had come to spend school holidays & we literally ran to both Andal & Sivan Koil. I don’t remember the DATE but I remember the DAY-FRIDAY. Evening I find appa sobbing inconsolably ( Have I not mentioned  earlier his unacanny capacity to predict death) Dr Mathuranayagam. appa’s class mate was medical officer to Govt hospital in SVPR.He was brought in a bullock driven cart. (He was not sober enough to drive his car). A lady doctor ,residing in the same North Car Street, refused to come . Mr.M.N.Sankara iyer literally dragged her out & reached our house.  //  Anna & akka had boarded TRV express on FRIDAY night & should reach SVPR on Saturday about 10.30AM. //  9PM ONE penicillin vial arrives from ‘distant’ Madurai & was taken straight to the ONLY frig in SVPR Pothi Hotel. It was not administered. 11.30 PM our amma died. House & the street were all people all over even in that late hour. Bavani slept the night on my lap while I was leaning on the chettiar sleeping & yet not sleeping. I don’t recall where lakshmi, suppamani & papa were.  //  When TRV Express halts at Virudhunagar We usually make a bee line for the vadai ,a speciality there. Neither anna nor akka ate anything. They were yet to know, but still...Anna told me later “my first shock was when I did not see you at the station”.  Only car in SVPR belonging to Fund Office was sent to fetch anna & akka from railway station. The driver cried on seeing ‘doctor aiya’s children and could not be persuaded to say anything. On reaching home anna was shattered to see everything laid out for a funeral . Remember I had written that both amma & appa were ill. He did not know WHO till he heard appa screaming ‘Mani, have you come”. First time I related this train of events, I choked. I cannot write any more now also.

 Anna - I lied to you when I said I haven't yet read it. I have read it re read it & again read it. I don't know. I was at this age crying with in myself & & tears , chocked feeling leaving me gasping on Amma's last day. Thanks Anna, bless you, for this. The silent unspoken bond of Amma & appa - how very fortunate you are - yes I am jealous - Anna pl. go ahead give me more & more. 

I think Devaki was the malayalee mistress of the great Naidu - I never liked her - she used to hug me in the presence of Rengu, Cholai & other friends of mine .

Yes I too was overwhelmed with Appa's personality. I would steal money, go to cinema - he would take me to the small room in the dispensary house & scold me sometime would hit me but not in the presence of a third person, not even Alagagiri samy & my reward would come in the night he would hug me & allow me to sleep near him telling me all the time , "I won't be here with you forever. Study & do well like  kannan. Want anything ask me. Don't take money with out asking me". In retrospect I thank him for not using the word "steal".   

Strangely he hasn't mentioned Mani anna - his 1st son but only Kannan. I really envy you. 

western ghats & courtallam

Travel bug- contd

A bigger trip to the top of Western Ghats! A Forest Officer(FO), friend of my dad (appa), arranged this. About 8 or so of appa’s age and a dozen younger people including my elder brother (my younger brother was too young then) were taken in a bus but final lap of about 2 KM to forest bungalow close to top of Western Ghats was by trekking up a narrow path.Some of us felt we should aim for Everest!!.  .Scenic beuty was breath taking. Appa carried medicine & first aid kits (which were better stocked than what I would later see in my AMC carrier!). Appa gave quinine mixed in sherbath to every one.He had not read CDC guidelines but had abundant practical wisdom. Some of us cheated on this. I am sure appa knew that but never chided us.FO had warned that we should not venture out except in groups of five or more. We were reminded of the story of five buffalos attacking & chasing a tiger away. FO didn’t seem happy when queried whether he will be leading us?! We strolled, climbed tripped, fell etc all the while all the time filled with a mixture of curiosity and fear of confronting a tiger. All that we saw-- a few bison! A tax officer in the group always chose to join with the younger crowd believing he was not yet old enough to join appa’s group.   One night this officer he woke us all up screaming hysterically that a tiger had come inside our dwelling place! From then on he was the butt end of our jokes & he then chose the company of the seniors.Well we returned very happy, me happier because appa had reserved the front seat next to the driver to Kannan.

Decades later the 4 of us JP,KT,S & C holidayed in Srinagar, Pahalgam & Gulmohar More about it later.

I am happy & thankful that these mountains & hill tops are allowed to preserve their pristine beauty and blissful communion with nature without commercial ventures debasing them. Mother nature will give a fitting reply if you dare to indulge in such promotions. Take a lesson from what happened in Uttarakhand..

Travel bug- contd

Another once a year event was visit to courtalam during ‘season’ (meaning there will be plenty of water in all the water falls). This time a cook was also taken with us. One house was rented for two or three weeks where 15 permanent holidayers and 5/10 transients were lodged. Major activities here ,apart from eating every two to three hrs was bath –shower if you may—at the falls. Main falls ,the biggest was next to the temple but there were two more in the upper reaches of the hills—“five falls” and தேனருவி (thenaruvi). One had to trek up a few KM in different directions and hence crowd will be small to nil. Younger brigade preferred these waterfalls which gave you the feeling “exclusively yours!”.Chamy used to join me but not TAS! The seniors played cards (three cards or rummy) during intervals between eating & bathing in the main falls. K T ( not me but ‘Karuppati Thirumalai) was GM of Jaya Travels which operated bus service between Tenkasi & Madurai via SVPR. One bus was chartered and KT did us the honour of driving the bus himself from & to SVPR. Entire town believed there was no better driver of a motor vehicle anywhere. (Schumaker was not yet born). Appa encouraged us to partake in these escapades and was always liberal with allowances too.  (  On the outskirts of Tenkasi is our family temple of SASTHA in Kizhapuliyur).

It is indeed sad & regrettable that this serene tranquil bounty of mother nature has also been trampled upon & reduced to an overcrowded filthy dirty place by avaricious lucre seekers. Why do we Indians fail to feel proud of our inheritance and fail to preserve their beauty & sanctity?!

the river!!  Salute this this Addendum: JP,KT,S,&C stopped at Jog Falls on our way by road (Fiat 1100) from Pune to SVPR. RAJA, RANI,ROARER were three waterfalls and rightly named for regal appearance of Raja & rani and ROAR of the third. An unforgettable sight! Much later JP, KT were taken by C to Niagra falls. Nalanda, is there any more water falls to see?!

Travel bug- contd

No summer classes during annual leave of 2 months in my days. Instead I went to my paternal grandmother at Kizhambur.My maternal grandparents lived in Azhwarkurichi ,mere 3KM away with Gadanai Nadhi (river) running between. My maternal grandfather whose name I bear used to walk with me to return me to Perichammai my paternal grandmother. (Somewhat similar to my dropping Nalanda at Kamakhya!) Walking thru the paddy fields cut the distance by a kilometer. My Krishnan thatha took off his chappals whenever we had to walk over the paddy field.  Reason: How can one walk with chappals on the puniya bhoomi that provides rice for your very sustenance!! Perichammai ,mypaternal grandmother was an illiterate by modern standards of education but the way she marshaled the limited resources at her disposal to educate her 3 sons would do credit to modern day economists. My periappa was the first graduate from a backward village , later he obtained BL , her second son (my dad) followed with B.A.,LMS(licentiate in medicine & surgery)& my kuttiappa BA<GDARA, (chartered accountant). Her husband was, I was told was a sadhu, never concerned about mundane requirements. Well generations that followed right down to Nalanda,Rohan & Varun   owe a debt of gratitude to this remarkable woman. Pea nut rolls (nilakkadai urundai) & ‘mixture’ were always there for Kannan. Now you know where I developed a fondness for this delicacy! She was a disciplinarian too. Dhobi collected laundry from home & I used to tip him to ‘starch’ my shirts but when he brought the clothes ‘starched ‘ as instructed. Perichammai immediately took the clothes to the river ,dipped in ‘holy ‘ river Water , rinsed, &  dried. My penchant for ‘starched shirts’ down.Salute the great lady.

Ambulance Train

Even in war Indian psyche is preoccupied with VIPs! Let us return to lesser mortals, in this case ‘wounded soldiers & exhausted doctors & paramedics’. After a week or 10 days there was a lull . (We knew later PAK’s 5^th Armoured Brigade with their Patton tanks were devastated by century old ‘centurians’ produced in Avadi near Madras. Close to SIXTY patton tanks were taken possession by our armoured corps ably supported by artillery and air force}. One of them is an exhibit in NDA Kadakvasala. (does Suba remember?) Pride in the exploits of our army could not help the hapless AMC who were struggling with hospital bursting on its seam with casualties and more worrisome fast diminishing rations.  Local civilians pitched in, pitched in a BIG way. Trains to & from Ferozepore had been discontinued. Number of casualties was large . Transporting to Delhi or even Ambala by road was not feasible. Train had to be mobilized. (Even the administrators agreed(!) and gave permission for ‘dispatch (I resent when this word is used in case of humans) by rail’. Local bigwigs and welfare organizations (including, I  learnt later, RSS) did the spade work and a train was arranged. My CO agreed to my request to go as an escort/ doctor.It was not my incessant wining about wanting to see chellachu & Jaya but the request of an armoured corps officer with SEVENTY FIVE PERCENT burn that he would feel confident with Capt.Krishnan around that softened the CO. A nurse belonging to Delhi & two sepoy assistants were assigned for the task of escorting about TWENTY ‘stretcher casualties’ and double that number of ‘walking wounded’.(Cannot fault army on “ classification” whatever be the subject). LOTS of food ,adequate medicine etc, could not assuage the trepidations that was churning in me. The guard & engine crew came up to me & asked whether train can move! When I replied “aye” I felt a momentary thrill that I was COAS himself!! Cries of JaiRamjiki Jai rented the air. Search light in the engine was ordered NOT to be switched on. Train moved. None knew when Delhi will be reached.

There were two first class coaches.My nurse was in one & I in the other. Suddenly “Save me Sir” screamed the nurse. I ran to her compartment. Other AMC sepoys also came over. A tall hefty jat jawan was pushing the girl beneath the seat. The moment he saw me he straightened up & complained that the nurse’madam’ refused to take cover when he heard LMG(light machine gun) fire. By then the ‘sound of firing’ had ceased. Well , shell shocked as the soldier was, he mistook the sound when train changes track to be LMG fire.( Nalanda, I had not yet read Agatha Christie but it was not difficult to deduce. My favourite those days was Erle S.Gardener’s Perry Mason) .

Train stops at a small station. Food, soft drinks poured in. I asked “cigarette hain?” In a jiffy two packets materialized. Unfortunately they were ‘Panama’ . Not the brand I smoked & so returned them with thanks. “ Konsa cigarette chaye saab” “Gold flake” I blurted ,immediately cursing myself for mentioning the costly brand. The boy sprinted and returned running with the priced possession-goldflake- but the train had started moving. Like trained cricketer hurling the ball on the move to the wicket keeper the boy hurled the packet at me right into my hands ,all the time running to keep pace with the train gaining speed. I did not cry but my heart swelled with pride. That boy could not have known that I was a doctor. It was pretty dark. But he knew that I was an army officer & that was what mattered.    

Jawans exchanged notes on their experiences & travails. Even laughed with relief that they were wounded but ALIVE!. Some even sang. Have you heard JAT FOLK LORE? It is comparable to the RAP MUSIC in the west .Major with 75% burns was peaceful. The shell shocked Jat jawan was quiet .The nurse was no longer frightened but was seen to be conversing with him.

Train had halted a bit too long in a place which was NOT a station. The Guard informed me that we are on the “outer” of NewDelhi station. (Balaji may know that “outer” in railway parlance means on the outskirts of the station) & that will move into any platform that becomes free. “No way, Mr. Guard” I said “ the train MUST pull up at platform No: ONE because TWENTY stretcher casualties cannot be taken up & down the stairway”. It took about 15 minutes or so  but our ‘ambulance train’ steamed into platform No: ONE. (I was told that the station master found a smart solution. He stopped ALL other trains in the’outer’. Another Indian who touched my heart & made me proud.

Local army from Delhi took over. I sat in the rear of the ambulance along with the major and we had to accommodate more stretchers the rear doors had to be kept open. It was about 6 AM now & as the ambulance was exiting New Delhi station couple of “paper boys” on bicycles threw newspapers to me. They were in Hindi. I passed them back. The little boy immediately threw English papers to me. How did he ever know?! Please remember that every paper has to be accounted by him. Whenever I recollect this noble gesture from those urchins I bless them & hope that their employers pardoned them—or even praised them

Entered the ‘Mecca’ of AMC, ARMY HOSPITAL. Major was carried to ICU. I walked with him. His parents & two young girls were waiting ,sobbing uncontrollably. The father thanked me for bringing him alive. With 75% burns, how long?  Major had told me about his parents and ONE younger sister7 He was not yet married.  Who is the other young girl? –Oh No God, Not his fiancé

In the movie Bridge on the River Kwai,  when the bridge had been blown up , the train had crashed and ALL were  dead, end shows the lone survivor, the Colonel walking muttering the word “madness” repeatedly. This one word is my conclusion too.