A SENIOR OCTOGENARIAN ADMIRAL RECALLS
“A true leader has the confidence to stand
alone, the courage to make tough decisions, and the compassion to listen to the
needs of others. He does not set out to be a leader, but becomes one by the
equality of his actions and the integrity of his intent.”
--- Gen
Douglas MacArthur
With Indian Veterans Day about 3 weeks away, we honour those who have
passed away and the very senior veterans who have laid the foundation of our
Armed Forces post Independence. I am fortunate to be living in a country
blessed with a great traditional and cultural heritage and guided by Senior
Veterans who have been exceptional military leaders. Today we glance with awe at
some of those Naval Officers of our incipient Indian Navy, who laid the
foundation for the mighty three-dimensional force of the sub-continent that we today
are.
One among the Senior Octogenarian is
the 89 yrs young empathetic Admiral GC Thadani. The Admiral recently rang me up
and shared with me some very rare nostalgic photos of that era, the ones that I
proudly share with you all today.
Albeit, Let me also share
with you the letter of noble thoughts of our very handsome Admiral Thadani.
Dear Raj,
Reference my telephonic conversation with you this morning and sharing
with you some thoughts that came to my mind while taking a stroll last evening,
and later on by pouring a ‘Chhota’ one and thinking of the beautiful and noble
life in the Navy.
A few days ago, in the process of cleaning my house and lightening our
burden, I came across many photographs of earlier years whilst I was in the
Navy & working under and with some Legendary Officers of our Good Ol’ Navy.
Memories of those beautiful years can never be forgotten or of the STALWARTS, who
guided, strengthened and saw to the growth of our Navy during the later part of
the last century.
I am sending you about 30 photographs on your mobile and pl have a dekho
. These could be circulated on our NAVY CHANNEL if you & Vijay
consider appropriate. These photographs could be a sign of remembrance and
paying tribute to the ELDERS who have passed away as also to those
veterans, who by the LORD'S grace are living on a reasonably good pension.
IT IS ALSO POSSIBLE THAT SOME VETERANS
WOULD BE TICKLED TO SEE THEIR PHOTOS WITH THEIR LADIES.
These
photos include late Admirals Jal Cursetjee, Ronnie Pereira, Ram Tahiliani,
Bambie Barboza, Pougy Nadkarni, Ramesh Arte, Subash Chopra,Narinder Bhalla, Adm
Bhatia, Laj Mehta, Dastidar Sahib, S B N Singh, K T Raju, Adm Batta Sahib, K R
Menon, , Surinder Gadihoke, Adm Kirpal Singh and Adm Sharad Shahane, Commodores
Kakkar, Vijju Shahane, I K Malhotra, Jimmy Martin, Ravi Sikka, Surg Cmdr
Mukherjee, Mukundan, Kulin Lohana,Mundi , Vishnu, Riswadkar and others.
Our living legends are Adm Dick Shunker, Tony
Jain, Billu Chowdhury, Adm Ramdas, Chacha R R Sood, Gulu Wadhwani, Dev
Thukral, Madan Puri, Mouli Ghosh, Cmdrs Nikki Nadkar, I J Sharma, Kuldeep
Singh, C S Khuman, Navin Chandra, Prem Garg, Indru Wadhwani, Awasthi, Subroto
Bose, Lalit Talwar [ 1st C O Vagli ]
There are photographs of Prince Charles who visited the Naval Dockyard in Dec1980, R N's Navy Chief
Adm Sir Henrey Leach in Nov 1980, and Rear Adm Sir Jeremy Black of Falkland War
fame [ happens to be my coursemate in Dartmouth] in 1986.
I
hope my writing to you is not a waste of time- maybe it is an emotional
remembrance of having wonderful shipmates, sailing for months on the high
seas and writing poetry while sitting on the grating after coming from the
Engine room. I now feel light after writing the above & both you &
Vijay take the final call.
With very warm
regards,
Gulu Thadani
