CULTURALQA 03-2024-15 Allthe below two QA are from Quora DIGESTto me on 15-03-2024.
SelectedQuora answers by scholars generally interesting jokes are included. Still theyneed not be 100% correct answers Iam only a compiler. Compiled and posted byR Gopalakrishnan,80, on 15-3-2024 Q1 What is theIndian thug life like? A1 AmitSingh,9h First Incident - While Swami Vivekananda was travelling by train, inRajasthan he was resting in a second class compartment with closed eyes as ifmeditating. Seeing Swamiji’s saffron dress and his relaxedcomposure, two Englishmen started abusing him. They were under the impressionthat Swamiji did not know English. When the train reached the station, Swamijiasked a train official for a glass of water, in English. The Englishmen were surprised; they asked Swamiji whyhe was silent, though he could understand them. Swamiji snapped back,”This is not the first time I havemet fools.” Second Incident - Swamiji was wandering near the Himalayas some time.In the course of his journey, he came across a river. The boat had already leftthe shore and he sat near the shore waiting for the boat to come back. As hewas waiting he saw another Sadhu, a Siddh Yogi approaching. The Sadhu saw Swamiji sitting and asked why he wassiting. To this, he replied he was waiting for a boat. Curiously Sadhu asked, “What’s your name?” Swamiji replied,”I am Vivekananda.” The Sadhu said in a mocking tone,”Oh! You are thefamous Vivekananda who just thinks by speaking in foreign he has become a greatsage.” “Could youcross this river? See I can cross the water by walking on it” and hedemonstrates his power by walking few meters on the river. Swamiji showing his respect humbly asked,”Indeed itsa great power…how much time did you take to get this power?” The Sadhu feeling proud replied”It’s not easy, I hadto bear the tough Himalayas for 20 years, devoted myself to penance and afterregular 20 years of extreme Sadhna I got this power.” To this Swamiji said,”You wasted 20 years to learnsomething that a boat would help me do in 5 minutes. You could have used these20 years serving the destitute, the poor. You wasted 20 years, to save 5 min.It’s not wisdom.” Q2 What aresome of the unknown facts about Sam Manekshaw? A2 MajorAdiyagya Singh, Veteran,Defence Analyst (2017–present)Updated 4y ****Thirty Five Unknown Facts About Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw**** Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw was People’s General.Such officers are rare in armed forces of any army. Normally, I write on Quorawhen I am catching flights or traveling in car, using my travel time forblogging hobby. But when I read this question then I chose to deliberatelywrite it as you can’t get a single thing wrong about a Legend. Let us see some unknown or unheard facts about FieldMarshal Manekshawwhich you don’t know because the Government of India never wished you to knowbecause it may increase his face value and Government feared in 70s that afterretirement he may enter politics. You can understand his charisma which evencreated fear in minds of ruling politicians of that era. Let’s begin: 1 He was born in Amritsar on 3rd April 1914 in a ParsiFamily. His father was a doctor and got married to a Parsi Girl of Mumbai. His father belonged to Lahore. 4 They accidentally shifted to Amritsar. As the journeyfrom Mumbai to Lahore was difficult and his mother who after marriage wastravelling from Mumbai to Lahore couldn’t take the stress of traveling andstarted crying. Dr. Manekshaw step down of the train in Amritsar with his wifeand since then they always stayed in Amritsar. This is the reason that India’sfirst Field Marshal and the General of Indian Army who divided Pakistan intotwo belonged to India because of his mother. 5 Field MarshalManekshaw had 5 more siblings in blood relation. They were four brothers and he had twomore sisters. Field Marshal was fifth child. 8 He is alumni of Nainital’s reputed Sherwood Collegefrom where he did his schooling. Hewas a brilliant student. After schooling his father was sending him to England to pursue higher studies.But his father felt that Manekshaw is too young to stay alone in a foreigncountry. 9 Manekshaw wanted to become a Gynaecologist.He joined Hindu Sabha College, Amritsar forgraduation. 11 In 1932, Britishers decided to give commission toIndians in Royal British Army and Royal British Air Force. They opened IndianMilitary Academy to impart military training along with graduation to Indians.Manekshaw was bored studying in Hindu Sabha College and decided to join Indian Military Academy to livea life an extraordinary. Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw’s first posting was with2nd Battalion the Royal Scots in 1934. His second posting was with 4thBattalion of 12 Frontier Force Regiment which was later on called as 54thBattalion of Sikhs. 12. His commanding officer in his annual reportmentioned that ‘’This officer, I beg his pardon, this man, one day become anofficer”. 13. You can refer any picture of his, and you willfind the Field Marshal never wore sunglasses. The story behind this; as a youngofficer he was wearing expensive Crookes lenses and was walking down the roadsporting his new branded sunglasses. His commanding officer who was riding ahorse and a British officer saw him wearing those glasses. He took his glassesand grinned it below his boots. The commanding officer said “I am in your country since 30years, and never wore sunglasses; they are the surest way to ruin your eyes”.Since that day till his death, the Field Marshal of Indian Army never wore sunglasseseven in the brightest of the bright days. 14. After Independence of India, his battalion the 54 Sikhbecame part of Pakistan Army and Manekshaw sir chose to stay in India. During 1971 war, he kept aclose eye on 54 Sikh had felt proud when he used to come to know that 54 Sikhhas done something well during the war. Now, 54 Sikh in Pakistan Army is knownas 4/12 Frontier Forces. 15. He met hisfuture wife in Lahore in 1937. 16. He fought 2nd world War against Japanese inBurma. 17. On 22ndFebruary 1942, Sam got 7 bullets in his body which was fired by JapaneseMachine Gun. Hewas awarded with Military Cross for his courage fighting against the Japanesein 2nd world war. 18. As Army chief of Indian Army, General had givenstrict orders in his headquarters that any veteran of 54 Sikh (jawan, JCO orOFFICER or their families) coming to headquarters should be directly brought tohis office. He used to address their problems personally, note it down in adiary and used to ensure that their problems civil or military, should besolved. He did not care howsmall the problems were because 54 Sikh was his family. 19. Major Sam Manekshaw as General Staff Officer inDirector Military operation in 1947–48 supervised the strategical planning ofIndo-Pak war in Kashmir. Also, he played a crucial role in drawing ceasefireline when UN intervened and cease fire was declared in winters of 1948. Today,that ceasefire line is known as Line of control. 20. When Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto visited India along withdelegation to discuss various issue, Major General Sam Manekshaw was part ofIndian Delegation as Military Advisor and played major role to dominate thediscussion due to which Zulifiqar Ali Bhutto had to agree upon various termsand conditions of India. 21. Brigadier SamManekshaw held appointment of Director Military Operations. Today, this appointment is held by aLieutenant General and now the appointment is called as Director General ofMilitary Operations. Due to this specific promotion as Director MilitaryOperations, Manekshaw missed to physically command an infantry battalion whichis considered as the sine-qua-non of Infantry soldiering. 22. He wasappointed as the father of 8th Gorkha rifles regiment (known as colonel of the regiment) in1953. 23. He has never served in a Gurkha unit/sub-unit. 24. Sam Manekshawheld appointment of Commandant of Defence Services Staff College. 25. DefenceMinister VK Krishna Menon did not like Sam’s out spoken behaviour and influenced LieutenantGeneral BM Kaul to initiate a court of Inquiry against Manekshaw blaming him for being moreBritisher and less Indian and questioning his loyalty for India.Lieutenant General Daulet Singh who was India’s Western Army commander was thepresiding officer of the court of inquiry. India in 1962 due to an arrogant andegoistic Defence Minister was on the verge of losing its first Field Marshal. Fate prevailed and 1962Indo-China War broke out which also came as reality check for IndianGovernment and arrogant politicians. 26. During 1962war, India had lost considerable territory in Arunachal Pradesh. The area of responsibilitywas with 4 Corps of Indian Army. Lieutenant General BM Kual was sacked by theArmy chief from appointment of Corps Commander and Lieutenant General SamManekshaw on 28th November was promoted and given command of 4 corps. 27. The famous line “Gentleman, I have arrived! Therewill be no more withdrawals in 4 Corps, Thank you” was said by the General whenhe was 4 Corps Commander in 1962 and rest is history. The 4 Corps in month of December startedpushing Chinese back from Arunachal and Assam region. 28. Very few knowthis; After 1962, Krishna Menon was invited as the guest speakers atprestigious Defence Services Staff College. During his lecture, he quoted “I am sorry, that myfriend Sam Manekshaw was not in his customary place in the audience because hewould have liked him to hear this. Anyone can be great in success; only a trulygreat man can retain the aura of greatness in adversity. This was the lesson I had learn fromSam Manekshaw, and I would be happy if this was the lesson students atthis eminent institution carried with them when they left Wellington ratherthan trying to imbibe knowledge from pedantic talks such as his”. Sam Manekshaw made his haters tolove him. This was the aura and charisma of Field Marshal Sam Manekshawwho defined the commitment of Indian Army towards India. (Today’s generationdoubt that probably Indian Army will coup and disrupt democracy. They don’tunderstand the history of Indian Army and about people who made Indian Army) 29. In December1963, Lieutenant General Sam Manekshaw took over the appointment of India’s WesternArmy commander which was also the 2nd appointment from the top. 30. In 1964, in asocial evening, Defence Minister Yashwant Chavan asked Army Commander General Sam abouthis opinion about the critical region of India. Sam replied “Eastern Theatre ofIndia, as you see Chinese at one end, then you have eastern Pakistan then youhave insurgent prone Nagaland to destabilise internal security”. DefenceMinister requested Sam to take over as the Eastern Army commander and Samwillingly took over the appointment. On December 1964, Lieutenant General SamManekshaw became India’s Eastern Army Commander. 31. In 1967, whenIndia had clash with Chinese on Nathu La, Sikkim, Lieutenant General Sam Manekshaw wasofficiating Chief of Army Staff. The Chinese army realised that the Indian Armyof 1967 is not the same army which they faced in 1962. 32. One day, Samin his Staff Car was traveling to Dum Dum Airport to catch a flight. There was a protest goingwhich had blocked the road. Hisdriver started turning the car to take a detour, Sam asked him not to do so.Sam got out of the car, and started walking towards the leader of the protest.Sam put his hand on hisshoulder and announced ‘’I am Sam Manekshaw. After listening to this,the protest leader got a shock, and instantly asked his followers to clear the road for the ArmyCommander. 33. WhenIndia-Pakistan War broke out then at that point of time President of Pakistan was General YahaKhan who was junior during army service to that time India’s Army chief GeneralSam Manekshaw. Both of themhad also served together in Military Operations branch before the partition. Major YahaKhan had purchased a bike in 2nd hand from Major Sam Manekshaw and did not paythe money. Once in a social evening Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw jokingly saidthat “Yaha never paid me the thousand rupees for my motorbike, but now he has paid with half of hiscountry”. Sam Manekshaw was famous for its wittiness. Field Marshal Yahya Khan said “Oops!” 34. On April 1971,Indira Gandhi called a cabinet meeting where the Army chief was also present. Sheannounced that India should declare war over Pakistan and liberate EastPakistan. All the cabinet ministers nodded in affirmative but The army chiefGeneral Sam Manekshaw did not say anything. Indira Gandhi looked at him and asked Sam you don’tagree with me. General Said thathe doesn’t agree with her and should consider various factors before going onwar andhighlighted that he need time to prepare infrastructure and plans to launch theoffensive. Indira Gandhi felt offended and said she is the Prime Minister andshe wants the offensive to happen in matter of few days. General Manekshaw said “sweetheart,you can declare war but before that I will like to submit my resignation”.Indira Gandhi got angry and dismissed the cabinet meeting. The army chief wasthe last one to leave the office, Indira Gandhi asked General to stay back. Shewas angry but this time kept calm and asked his submissions. General explained that in matterof months monsoon is going to hit East Pakistan and Brahmaputra river willbecome sea for them making his armoured disable to cross the river. Also, the terrain will becomemarshy. He explainedthat to launch successful offensive, he needs to create roads till borders,concentrate resources and also strengthen defences against china on easternfront and Pakistan on western front. Indira Gandhi agreed to the Army chief and rest is history. The Generalbecame the Chankya of liberating East Pakistan. 35. Afterretirement Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw was on board of directors of various multi-national company and hecontinued to be on the board of various companies till his last breath.Comapnies such as Bombay Burmah Trading, Britannia Industries, AV ThomasIndustrial Products, Goetze India and Nagarjuna Fertilisers, among others,while Jhunjhunwala is on Praj Industries, Geojit Financial, Aptech Ltd,Provogue, Viceroy Hotels, Mid-Day Multimedia and a few others, where he heldsignificant stake. References: Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw: Soldiering with Dignitywritten By Lieutenant General Depinder Singh, PVSM, VSM If you are really proud of this man then let usspread this knowledge in the whole world. Our present generation needs to know the gloriouspersonalties of India. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/308583833.2899373.1710475770894%40mail.yahoo.com.
