Sam Bahadur ' the real Hero of India'

Last Friday with one of my office friends I was reading the sad news of Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw's death in the paper. I got a real shock when my friend asked me -'who was Manekshaw'? I didn't expect such kind of a question from a person having MBA degree although that was not only his fault. In our country there are many who even don't know about Mahatma Gandhi. I'm not saying that I'm a highly knowledgeable person but I have different kind of attachment with Sam Manekshaw since the time when first I read his biography when I was an NCC cadet in my college.
Since that particular day he is one of my favorite personalities.
I told my friend about Sam Hormusji Framji Jamshedji Manekshaw, born on April 3, 1914 in a Parsi (Zoroastrian) family who migrated to Amritsar Punjab from the small town of Valsad in Gujarat. After completing his schooling from Amritsar and Nainital Manekshaw was one of the 40 cadets of the first batch that passed out from the Indian Military Academy in Dehradun in Dec 1934 and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Indian Army. He held several regimental assignments and was first attached to the Royal Scots and later to the frontier force regiment in world war II, he led counter-operation against the invading Japanees Army in Burma. During the course of operation he was hit by an LMG bullet and was severely wounded in his stomach. He had being honoured for his bravery 'Military Cross' right on the battlefront during the Second World War.
His moustache was his trademark and he got the title of "Sam Bahadur" from the soldiers of the 8th Gorkha Rifles of which he was Colonel of the Regiment, and had close association with the soldier of Gorkha Regiment.
On 7th June 1969 After Gen PP Kumaramangalam he was the 8th chief of Indian Army.
Besides being a punctual and strict army person he was also a very responsible family man. On 22nd April 1939 he married to Silloo Bode who was his first sight love, Silloo gave birth to her first daughter Sherry on 11 January 1940, while the second girl whom they called Maya was born on 24 September 1945.
Sherry joined the "Travel Trade" beginning with Air India and working with Mercury Travels for a long time, in fact she retired from there! She married Dinky Batliwala who was working with "Swiss Air". The Batliwalas now live in Chennai
Maya the younger one became a stewardess with the then "British Overseas Airways Corporation" (BOAC) now called British Airways. It was while flying for them that she met her husband Dhun Daruwala who was an Engineer with "Air India." She is currently heading an NGO for Human Rights in Delhi.
He was not a man of 'yes Boss' attitude, he never hesitated to say truth and because of this attitude in 1961 the then defence minister Krishna Menon had put him aside for some period after Manekshaw's refusal of his order. Just after some time everyone realized that Manekshaw was on right side.
He was very quick witted once Just before the Bangladesh operations in December 1971, the then prime minister Ms. Indira Gandhi asked Manekshaw, who was the chief of Army then, "General are you ready" (for the war). His reply surprised everyone who was there, "I am always ready sweetie."
Once on an occasion, when Indira Gandhi asked the General whether he was planning to take over the country. Simply Pointing to his long nose, he replied: "I don't use it to poke into other's affairs." Because of his straightforward attitude Indira Gandhi's trust and respects increased in him a lot.
After the 1971 Indo-Pak war he became the Hero of India When Indira Gandhi asked him to go to Dhaka and accept the surrender of Pakistani forces, Manekshaw simply declined, and said that honour should go to his army commander in the East (Lt Gen Jagjit Singh Aurora). Manekshaw said he would only go if it were to accept the surrender of the entire Pakistani army.
General Yahya Khan, the then president of Pakistan was one of a close friends of Sam Manekshaw. On 13 August 1947 he took Manekshaw's Motorcycle and promised to give Rs 1000 but just after 2 days India faced partition, on the day when Bangladesh or east Pakistan came into existence, Sam said 'Yahya give me the whole east Pakistan against my Rs 1000.
For his distinguished service to the country in 1968 he got Padma Bhushan award, in 1972 at the hands of the then President VV Giri. Manekshaw became the first of the only two Indian Army Generals to be awarded this prestigious honorary rank; the other being the late Gen KM Cariappa. On Jan 15 1973 Manekshaw retired after completing nearly four decades of military service (although the field marshals of the Indian Army never retire because the rank is conferred for life).
At the age of 94, on June 27,2008 he died of complications from pneumonia at the Military Hospital in Wellington, Tamil Nadu. He was suffering from Pulmonary fibroisis a kind of respiratory complication, on Wednesday he had slipped into coma, his last word was 'I am okay' He was buried adjacent to his wife's grave with full military honors
On behalf of our nation I m saluting Sam Bahadur ' the real Hero of India'