Hindustan Times (Bathinda)

When the army commander’s car flag flew away

- Lt Gen Harwant Singh (retd) gen_harwant@hotmail.com ■ The writer is a Chandigarh-based former deputy chief of army staff

Army commander Lieutenant General Sam Manekshaw was on a visit to Srinagar, when during the dinner in the officers’ mess, he started talking to me, then a captain. He asked me a number of questions, including my activities in Srinagar. I told him of my interest in duck and chakoor (partridge) shooting and making the best of excellent facilities available for these in the Kashmir Valley. I also mentioned my interest in angling.

He asked me if we could go fishing the next morning, which happened to be Sunday. Since I had a seasonal license for fishing, there was no problem.

I reached the place where he was staying, a few minutes before 5am. His staff car was there, but no pilot jeep and escort. So I asked his aide de camp (ADC) about these two essentials. He told me that the army commander did not want any of these. Soon, Sam came out of his room carrying some fishing gear and getting into the car, told me to hop in. So Sam, self and the driver set out towards the Sindh river on the road towards Sonamarg.

As we reached near the river, I told the driver to turn right along a track and after travelling about 500 metres, we got out and thereafter walked a few hundred metres to get to the spot where he could cast the line with a spinner.

We were there for a few minutes when a civilian carrying a cloth bag joined us. I was alarmed, as he could be carrying a weapon or an explosive, so told him to go away, but he refused to leave. So I remained focused on him, in that, should he reach for something in his bag, then I would pounce on him. After a while, he decided to leave.

In the meantime, the general landed a few good size mahseer. He appeared quite happy with this trip and told me that we could go back.

Those days, there was hardly any traffic that too on a Sunday. Somewhere on the way, the car flag flew off and the driver took some time to stop. I got out and told the General that he should carry on and I would locate the flag and some vehicle could pick me up. Sam said, “No, it is my flag and I cannot leave it like this.”

So both of us walked back to where the flag could have fallen. The flag had obviously flown away from the road. I was searching the bushes on one side of the road, while Sam was doing the same on the other side. Finally, it was he who located it and walked back to the car where he handed it over to the driver and told him to fix it properly.

Next, I met Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw when, after retirement, he came to Jammu. We were together at a dinner in the mess. He did not recognise me and when I reminded him of the incident of his car flag flying away, he started laughing. Then he turned to me and asked, “Would you leave your flag behind?” I said, “Never.” We both had a hearty laugh. I was commanding 16 Corps at Nagrota at that time.

Time has flown but memorable moments linger on.

I WAS SEARCHING THE BUSHES ON ONE SIDE OF THE ROAD, WHILE SAM WAS DOING THE SAME ON THE OTHER SIDE

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