For some time now I have been reading posts from the 'Valiants' and reminiscing
about my days as a Valiant.
💥💥
Though I generally maintain radio silence (but am on listening watch), I could not resist posting some memories of my days in the unit.
To begin with, I had joined in 1977 as a 2Lt. I will mention the ranks as they existed at that time. Lt Col Hari Prakash was my first CO, a perfectionist, no nonsense and a hard taskmaster. Followed by Lt Col HS Sarna and then Lt Col Ruhil. Maj Kochar was the 2ic and later Maj Bomrah.
Maj's KK Aggarwal, Vinod Kumar, KG Sharma (late) were the BC's. Later Maj Bisht joined us as did Maj Seghal and Maj HK Kalra (probably the only golfer in the entire Brigade those days).
Capt Hardeeep Cheema (Para) was the Adjt. A very fatherly figure for us youngsters. Incidentally, his elder brother was the Cdr 261(I) till he proceeded on retirement.
We had 130 mm guns with, if I recollect, Kraz 214 later replaced by 255's. For local ex (it was fire and move though WW2 had finished long ago), we used to go to Mehrauli and Khanpur area and even camp there. For course shootings we had 6 x 3.7" Hows as trg support eqpt. Course shootings with both calibres were carried out in the local ranges on the outskirts of Delhi..
For practice camps we used to get a spec train and move to Pokhran which was a lot of fun and Perumal, the waiter used to look after us well in the train. Khetolai, Topchian ki Dhani, Navtala ---and deer hunting by Gypsy and KG Sharma (the ban order had not yet percolated) and venison was not uncommon in the offrs mess.
Lt Anil Kalia was the senior subaltern. Many years later he and I were CO and 21c in another unit and the relationship continued, much to the surprise of many! Others who served in my time were 2lts/lts JP Singh, Raghavan, Ravi Menon, Unikrishan, Dagar (from Delhi posted to Delhi !), VV, George----
Capt Sundresan was the OC LRW. Other Capts were Rameshwar Lal, Varma (daddy), Umed Singh Khatri (affectionately known as 'Mess Kesri' in the Stn Arty Mess), Gipsy GPS Chowdhury, Abdul Kader, Chugh, Pradeep Saxena (from Delhi, posted to Delhi !), Vinod Verma (late), AN Sharma and Arul Raj (the famous painter, originally from Bangalore now settled in Delhi I believe), Santokh Singh Bhatia. Capt PK Sharma (an old YO) was posted back just as I left the Valiants. About the same time we had a new capt (IG) posted, I forget his name.
Capt Deepak Kapoor was the BK Romeo and I was the GPO. Later, when I was Cdr 22 Arty Bde and he was the COAS we spoke of our earlier days in 216.. Capt Balwant was the QM (SL). Originally a TA in 60 Hy before commissioning.
May have missed out a few names. My apologies (🤗). Memories fade wrt events almost half a century ago.
*My Quarter Guard Stint*
I was put into the Quarter guard on the second night of arrival at about 0001 h when I went as 'duty offr'. The guard cdr was Maj KG Sharma (in proper dress of a hav), as I did not have an ID card (it had been 'stolen') and the entire guard did not recognise me as a 216 offr. At about 0600 h I was released by the SM with apologies as some 'mistake" had taken place. Being a fourth generation army offr I knew all about these mistakes ofcourse.
*The Rock Star*
Gipsy was a hit in Delhi. His house was in Vasant Vihar. A rock star he was- guitarist and singer. Had a Jawa specially modified in Sanjay Gandhi's factory. They were friends. His single offrs pad had the choicest collection of bikini clad (some without) hollywood actresses and great music.
*7 Extra Duties*
Lt Col Sarna once lost his temper in front of the lined up offrs as we stood outside his office for introduction to the new cdr. The uniforms (starched cotton) and the cross belts and Brown shoes of most of the lined up offrs had seen better days. I was the last offr in the line up.
2Lt.
One star barely visible. Best Tgt.
He shouted at no one in particular (to incl everyone), and since he was in front of me he added 'give him 7 extra duties'. Well, later Capt Cheema called me to his office and asked me if I wanted the duties spread over or in one go?
"spread over sir".
He smiled. I may have detected a wink. So I did three duties in the next two weeks and then to my joy he seemed to have forgotten about the remaining four. Who was I to remind him?
*The Night Occupation Mishap*
I think it was in Sept 77. We had a sad incident. During a ni occupation drill, as the Kraz and gun came to a halt, one of the gnrs jumped out a bit too soon, lost his balance and came under the limber wheel. Fatal. We had a mandir parade a few days later. Ravi Menon will recollect.
*The Burma Campaign.*
Maj Bisht had just come back from the staff course. And since the unit had been tasked to give a presentation on the Burma Campaign for the Arty Bde, he was made the OIC for the event by the CO.
We had a small ramshackle two room barrack (offrs sand model and study room) short of where Manekshaw Center stands today. And 100 yards ahead was our Hockey field (Ravi Menon was a good hockey player) and drill ground. Bang on the turf where this famous Centre now stands.
The presentation was partly a 'play'. I remember Gipsy (sans turban) was Wingate. I was made the IO of Gen Slim and was told to introduce the sand model. It was 1978. WW2 ribbons were easily available in Gopinath bazaar and I had got a couple of them made for the 'actors'. I dont think I was paid for the expenditure (and my pay was a measly Rs 715 per month).
*The Svy Course*
Sometime in 1979 I proceeded on svy course to S of A. And there my IG was late Maj JS Chamba who was a Valiant. His first two questions were-' did you get pre course trg and is Shankar Patil still the svy NCO?'
No to both. I did not get any pre course trg and Shankar Patil was the mess hav by then! Another 216 offr (war veteran) in the School at that time was Maj Shah. So despite no pre course trg the Valiant grid was powerful and I came back with flying colours (though I joined aviation much later !!😊).
*The Coup d' etat*
This was perhaps 1980. Lt Col Ruhil was taking over the unit from Lt Col Sarna. It was Col Ruhils dining in. I, Unni, Dagar and Ravi and maybe George and VV were near the bar.
All 2Lts, Lts, junior (acting) capts.
Away from the bigger brass. In any case we were in awe of the Vir Chakra. Suddenly Col Ruhil saw us and walked towards the bar. 'So, what are you youngsters upto?'
Maybe I was with one drink too many. Dutch courage.
'Sir we are thinking of taking over the unit'.
For 5" there was silence. Then Col Ruhill roared with laughter and said-'maybe you should brief me, that's what I am doing these days!'
Well the ice with the new CO was broken.
Must add this. A few months later I was pipped as acting 'capt' by Col Ruhill. 3 years service completed. And within a few months posted out.
*R Bty GPO*
When I joined in 1977, we had plenty of surplus stores. During the war a lot of replacements had been pushed in terms of manpower (by Arty Centre) and stores (by Ordnance) to make up for losses. TA eqpt, batteries, tele sets, charging sets etc used to be hidden before insps. As a GPO, my stn was the TA store.
Not to be seen.
So I spent most of the time with the men. Despite being a Maharatta unit; Sikhs and non Mahrattas also landed up in 216 after the war. Many of the soldiers had wound medals. Patil my opr told me that as he was sitting in the CP a bullet hit his hand holding the tele next to his ear. He lost a finger and the handset was shattered! Close one that.
Chormule, Ingle, Bhonsle, GP Singh, Gawde were the Nos1 with me.
Hav Anand Ubhe was TA hav and Sable, SD Shinde and RD Shinde, Potghun were TA's -- amongst others.
Bhintade was SJCO. Suryavanshi was the R Bty BHM (sabh aap se pehle mienay teen GPO train kiye hain). Roshan Lal was the H1 Dvr. Patil was my Opr. Ankush Pawar and Gaekwad were my helpers over time.
Gulzar Singh was a DR (HQ Bty) and Jarnail Singh was P Bty H1 dvr with Ravi Menon. AP Patil was Lt JP's helper or was he with Kalia--- ? JP and Kalia used to stay in the near by ordnance mess as there was a shortage of accn in the Stn Arty Mess.
We had a Sikh AIG ( Harbhajan Singh?) and another one- Ram Asra. The latter was in charge of my YO's pre course trg and we used to go to the ceremonial bty for 25 pdr lessons. Khape was a good boxer and also in the Kabbadi team. Tirupati was our star BB player. Nalwade was a wrestler. So was Anand Ubhe.
*Mien Tehnu Ghassun Marun*
Loosely translated 'I am going to box you'. Many years later I landed up in 116 Med as the 2ic (Lt Col). This is a story of 116. Col Kalia (senior subaltern, 216) was the CO.
As I was getting the regt deployed one cold winter night in Babina rgs, Col Kalia came in his jeep near the svy director where I was standing with the IG (from S of A) and whispered to me that the deployment of P Bty was having some problem. And then he got down from the jeep and began walking to the RCP with the IG.
I took his jeep as it was the nearest available vehicle, time was short and told the dvr to get down and wait there. I drove off to see what the GPO was doing.
After about 30' I returned back. All problems sorted out. Cuckoo Kalia and his dvr were standing like penguins in the cold, an icy wind was blowing and it was close to midnight. Next to them was the IG. By now the CO was both half frozen and sleepy. Unfortunately his jacket was in the jeep and I had commandeered it!
He ran towards me as I got down from 'his' jeep and shouted-'mien tenu ghussan marna'. I grinned at him and suddenly the young IG ran away from there. To cut the story short he later told us 'sir I thought that the CO and 2ic were actually going to have a fist fight'.
*My Dining Out*
So as the drinks were piled on me, it was my dining out and probably 0ct 1980. Ravi Menon and Dagar were ensuring that my glass was never half empty. Anyway, all good things must come to an end. It was time for my farewell speech. My rehearsed speech was forgotten, the whiskey had taken its toll. So the speech ended something like this: '--- in the end, on behalf of Col Ruhil, I thank you all for this wonderful evening'.
At that time I was a bit confused as to why my last sentence elicited so much laughter among the offrs and ladies present. One more drink was given to me and thereafter I have hazy memories of being carried to my room.
