In August 1987, our regiment, 75 Medium Regiment (Basantar River) was about to move out from Delhi to the Kashmir Valley. Captain Pratap Singh, being posted on compassionate grounds and having spent two years, the time had come for return to his parent regiment as per the norms in the Army. Captain Desh Raj and I moved with the advance party to the Kashmir Valley.

Captain Pratap called me up to say that he had walked up to our Commanding Officer (CO) Colonel Mahaveer Singh and had requested him that he liked to continue with our regiment and wanted his parent regiment to be changed to 75 Medium. He also said that he had enjoyed the two years he served with our Regiment and that he had developed a special attachment to the soldiers and officers. Colonel Mahaveer accepted Captain Pratap’s request and contacted the Army Headquarters and thus Captain Pratap’s parent regiment was changed to 75 Medium Regiment, and he moved with the regiment to the Kashmir Valley in November 1987.

Our Regiment was to induct its first Observation Post team in Siachen Glacier in March 1988. The choice was between Captain Pratap and I. Colonel Mahaveer briefed us in December 1987 to select our team and also to prepare and train for the impending task. At that time the Brigade Headquarters wanted an officer to be attached with them as an administrative staff officer for six months and so Colonel Mahaveer said, “One of you will go to the Siachen Glacier and the other to the Brigade Headquarters.”

Siachen Glacier, one of the world’s largest glaciers, is situated North of Leh. This land, the world’s highest battleground located at about 5,750 m (18,875 ft), will test human endurance against the rigours of high altitude and turbulent terrain. Ever since Indian forces occupied the Siachen Glacier in 1984, both India and Pakistan have fought intermittent artillery duels and many attempts were made by Pakistan to capture the territory. In winter, temperatures here can plummet to minus 70 degrees Celsius and winds of up to 160 km an hour can come without warning. Over the past several years, soldiers have seen amputation of limbs lost to frostbite and death by pulmonary edema. Many soldiers have lost their lives to avalanches or falling into crevasses during patrols. According to some estimates, 90% of the casualties in Siachen have been due to weather and altitude, rather than actual fighting.

Captain Pratap, a Short-Service officer, commissioned in September 1983, had not opted for a permanent commission and had decided to take release from the army after serving five years. Armed with his application for release from the army, Captain Pratap walked into Colonel Mahaveer’s office in January 1988 and told him that he wanted release from the army and hence wanted to participate in an operation prior to his release. He managed to convince Colonel Mahaveer that he would take on the duties in the Siachen Glacier in March. Thus, Captain Pratap started with his training for the operations and I moved to the Brigade Headquarters.

On 27 May 1988, Brigadier DS Chowdhary, our Brigade Commander called me to his office to break the news that Captain Pratap had laid down his life while performing his duties. Immediately I called up Colonel Mahaveer to break the sad news and he did not utter a word. I rushed to the regiment and straight went into Colonel Mahveer’s office and that was the only time I ever saw tears in his eyes.

On 26 January 1989, the nation recognised the supreme sacrifice made by Captain Pratap Singh and decorated him with Maha Veer Chakra (MVC). The citation for the award read as under: –

“Captain Pratap Singh was deployed as an observation post officer Siachen area in April 1985.

The adversary made repeated attempts to retake a key post vital for our defences of Siachen, without success. Their last attempt to take a post was on 09 May 1988, when they fixed four ropes and a ladder-system on the ice-wall below the post for the purposes. This attack was successfully beaten back by our forces. The ropes and the ladder-system fixed by the adversary, however, remained in position, making it possible for them to use it again in their fresh attempts to take the post. It was imperative that the fixed ropes were cut, and the ladder unfixed to prevent fresh attempts. On the 18 May 1988, Second-Lieutenant Ashok Choudhary was able to reach and cut four of the ropes. On the 26May 1988, it was decided to cut the remaining two ropes and unfix the ladder. Captain Pratap Singh undertook this mission with the help of a jawan, descending the ice wall. On reaching the location, Captain Pratap Singh found a large quantity of ammunition and grenades lying at the head of the ropes. While examining the same, a grenade booby-trapped him, severely wounding his right arm and chest. Despite being badly wounded the brave officer crawled forward to the fixed ropes and cut them with his knife. Then he unfixed the ladder system and let it fall down the ice wall. Then the gallant officer inched back to his own rope to come up the ice wall to return to the post but collapsed due to his severe wounds and made the supreme sacrifice of his life for the nation.

Captain Pratap Singh thus displayed conspicuous gallantry in eliminating a great threat to a key post of our vital defence of Siachen Glacier at the cost of his life.”

Officers’ Training Academy (OTA) Chennai honoured its alumni and this valiant soldier by naming the Pipping Lawns where the newly commissioned officers wear their first pips as Pratap Pipping Lawns.

After over 25 years, Captain Pratap Singh, MVC, continues to be my hero and always has a special place in my heart.

Captain Pratap’ younger brother Shakti Singh can be reached @ +91 98100 67777

During our recent visit to India, we stayed Colonel Pradeep and Dr Sridevi at Devlali and their house was located in Pratap Enclave.  The enclave was named after Late Captain Pratap Singh, MVC and at the main gate of the enclave there was a board with his photo and a brief write-up about his heroism.

Lieutenant Pratap Singh arrived on posting to our regiment, 75 Medium Regiment (Basantar River) in January 1985 when we were located at Delhi.  A few months prior he had lost his elder brother Late Squadron Leader Gaj Singh of the Indian Air Force in an air crash in Rajasthan.  Lieutenant Pratap had come on a posting on compassionate grounds to take care of his aging parents who lived at Basai Darapur village, near Punjabi Bagh, New Delhi.  At that time, his elder brother Colonel Ran Singh was serving with an Air Defence Regiment of the Indian Army.  Captain Khazan Singh, father of Lieutenant Pratap was a World War II veteran.

Ever smiling Lieutenant Pratap joined our regiment and in no time got amalgamated with the regiment.  He was a good sportsman and a great leader and won the admiration of all the soldiers.  Despite all the problems he faced, he always looked cheerful and was cool as a cucumber at all times.

Lieutenant Kaushik, Pratap and self, we became the ‘trouble shooting trio’ of the regiment, who could be sent on any missions anywhere.  As Lieutenant Kaushik was married, Pratap and I generally took on all out-station tasks – mostly going to Meerut to participate in sports competitions with the Brigade.  Colonel Mahaveer Singh, our Commanding Officer (CO), took utmost care of all of us as his sons and had a major role in developing us into good human beings and leaders.

Lieutenant Pratap and self being bachelor boys dined in the Officers’ Mess.  The mess and the bachelors’ accommodation were located in Sector 14, Gurgaon and some of the married officers also lived there.  The Regiment was about 10 km away and we all used to travel to and fro the Regiment in one vehicle.  Every day at 1:30 PM we all would assemble in the Adjutant’s office for our travel back to Officers’ Mess.  Captain Rahul Gowardhan (now a retired Colonel) was our Adjutant (assistant to the Commanding Officer) and once he was busy closing up for the day and he accidentally tore off an important sheet of paper assuming it to be trash.  The Lieutenants were all immediately tasked to assemble all the torn pieces of paper and solve the jigsaw puzzle to retrieve the original document.  After that whenever we assembled at the Adjutant’s office for our return journey, Pratap would pick up all the torn papers from the wastepaper basket and start solving the jigsaw puzzles with us until one day Captain Gowardhan asked us as to what we were doing.  Pratap said, “we do not know when you will tell us to recover a document, so why not utilise the time”.

Captain Desh Raj (now a retired Colonel) was a great sportsman and appointed himself as the commander of the bachelors (he always considered himself as a youngster).  He would mostly accompany us and always guided us in our day-to-day duties and also joined us in most of our adventures.  Then we had Late Colonel Avinash Chandra, affectionately called by all of us as ‘Guruji‘ as he always had something to contribute about anything and everything.  He was always forthcoming to save us from all our misdeeds and also resolve many difficult situations.

Every day at 1 PM, the Mess Havildar (Sergeant) used to ring up the office to find out whether Pratap and I were coming to the Mess for lunch.  The aim was to decide on the quantity of food to be prepared as we both were in our early twenties and were famous in the Regiment for our gluttony.  Hats off to Mrs Chandra, Mrs Desh Raj, Mrs Gowardhan and Mrs Kaushik for standing to our gluttony whenever we landed at their homes, especially at mid-night.  All the ladies welcomed us and served us excellent dinners.

Major Mohan Krishnan, a 1971 war veteran, was our Second-in-Command and was a simple and jovial person.  Once he called Pratap and me to his office and admonished us about our late night at the Officers’ Mess.  He ordered that for dinner, one had to reach the Mess by 9 PM and the Mess had to be closed by 10 PM.  After a few days we reached around 9:10 PM and the Mess Havildar expressed his inability to serve us dinner as we were late.  We decided to go for the movie in the town and we landed back at the Mess at 1 AM.  Now Pratap told the Mess Havildar, “the Second-in-Command has only stipulated the time for closing the Mess, but he has not laid down any timing for the opening; hence now serve us breakfast as a new day has dawned.”  That was the end of the Mess closing timing.

We both got promoted to the rank of Captains and were appointed Observation Post (OP) Officers.  Our duty in war was to direct the artillery fire to the target.  The guns fire from about 10 km behind and it is the duty of the OP officer to direct the fire on to the target.  In case the shells do not land on the target, a correction is ordered in terms of “Go Left/ Right” or “Add/Drop.”  During our operational training with live artillery firing, Captain Pratap very often confused between Right and Left and many a times ended up giving the opposite corrections.  Colonel Mahaveer Singh our CO came up with a solution – with a marker pen he wrote ‘LEFT’ on the inside of his left wrist and ‘RIGHT‘ on the right wrist. He told Pratap to look at it prior to ordering a correction and the simple trick worked.  At the end of the day, I even advised Pratap to tattoo it on his wrists, never realising what was in store…….

Captain Pratap’ younger brother Shakti Singh can be reached @ +91 98100 67777

Prior to the Second World War the Indian Army encouraged shikar (hunting) as a way to develop stalking and shooting skills, although this activity was controlled by game laws. When Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru became Prime Minister, his love for wildlife and nature caused the brakes to be applied, gently, to illegal hunting and cutting of trees. The Indian Wildlife Act was passed in 1972 and brakes applied strenuously. It was during this period that the military became increasingly conscious of their role in wildlife protection. All Cantonments became environmental friendly – banning use of plastic bags, tree plantation drive, water conservation, rain harvesting, etc.

There are many instances of Indian Army men saving wild life. Raising the bar on dedication towards the nation, the Indian Army personnel of Tenga Garrison in Arunachal Pradesh ‘literally’ went out of their way and rescued a bear cub from the clutches of poachers. A group of elephants were crossing the area when the young elephant fell into the water tank and got stuck near Silliguri in West Bengal.   Soldiers rescued the elephant using a bulldozer. The three-year-old elephant was only able to clamber out of the sunken pit when the dozer destroyed some of the tank’s surrounding wall.

During our Sikkim Tenure, we were located at about 10,000 feet above sea level near an Alpine Sanctuary. The region holds some of the most beautiful oak, rhododendron, and coniferous forests and alpine meadows. Leopard cats, black bears, and the endangered musk deer are found here, in addition to many rare high-altitude birds.

In this area we wore our woolen clothes throughout the year as the temperature would never go above 10 degrees Celsius and could come down to minus 30 degrees.   Most of the time it was either snowing or raining and “dry” days were a few. Lightning strikes were rampant and we were advised not to carry anything metallic on us resulting in us never wearing our metallic articles of the uniforms. The terrain was treacherous, with narrow winding roads moving up the mountains. Driving on these roads was very risky, especially on snowy and foggy days.

We all lived without our families and officers would get together in the evenings at the Officers’ Mess for dinner. Most winter evenings we used to be visited by our friends – a family of bears – father, the mother and three cubs in tow. They exactly knew where the store room of the mess was and the Mess Havildar (Sergeant) would throw a bag of atta (wheat flour) at them when they came calling on. These bears would carry this bag of atta and disappear into the shrubs and would come over few days later when this stock finished.

These bears came as a gift to us being handed over to our regiment from the regiment we relieved. The Indian Army is very concerned about the “Wild Life” and about the role required to be played to ensure conservation. Colonel PK Ramachandran (now a retired Major General), our Commanding Officer, had passed strict orders that these bears were to be treated as “Guests of Honour” and were made as “comfortable” as we could. We all felt happy about our contribution in preserving the wild life and we felt happier that at least someone could live with his family at this altitude also.

There was no reported instance of these bears ever attacking any army person in the garrison. They all appeared to be friendly and were very calm. Sometimes these bears would stand up and pose for photographs as if they could recognise a camera. We were all aware of the grizzly bears in North America attacking humans causing grievous injury, even death. We educated all our troops about the behaviours of the bears and the “Dos” and “Don’ts” were briefed to all by the Commanding Officer.

Deforestation, poaching and human encroachment onto their living areas have forced these bears to move out of their natural habitats in search of food and water. During the winters in Sikkim, the upper reaches of the Great Himalayas are snow covered and these bears are forced to move to lower attitudes in search of food. In case they venture into human habitat they are sure to be chased away, hurt or sometimes even killed. Where else can they find a safe haven – with adequate protection, food and above all love in this inhospitable terrain – other than an Indian Army Camp!

While commanding the unit in Devlali in 2002, Colonel Azad Sameer the Colonel General Staff with our Divisional Headquarters visited us. After the discussions in my office, as I was leaving for lunch at the Officers’ Mess, Captian Mitra, our Adjutant (staff officer who assists the Commanding Officer and is in charge of all organisation, administration and discipline of a unit) came to my office and asked me “Sir, have you invited Colonel Sameer for the dinner at the Dhaba?  Do I need to prepare an invitation card for the dinner?” (Dhaba is a roadside restaurant mostly frequented by the passing truck drivers.)  I replied, “Send him an invitation card card for the evening cocktails at our Officers’ Mess.”

Colonel Sameer is a great thinker and we had many discussions varying from military subjects to parenting and also our outlook towards religion and politics. We both believed in our God, and did not believe in wearing our God on our sleeves or placing the images of our God in our vehicles in that many in the army never realised that Colonel Sameer was a Muslim and I a Christian.

Handing over the invitation card to Colonel Sameer I said “Sir, you are invited for a cocktails at our Officers’ Mess at 7 PM.  It will be followed by a dinner at the local Dhaba.” From the facial expressions and body language of Colonel Sameer, it was evident that he did not like the idea of the dinner at a Dhaba.  Being a thorough gentleman, did not utter a word and accepted the invitation.

During many tactical discussions and exercises we had, I had the opportunity of accompanying Colonel Sameer. He was a ever smiling, soft spoken soldier who easily passed off as a young Lieutenant. After preparations for the next day, in the evening we visited the bar at the Officers’ Mess. He ordered his favourite Old Monk Rum and I a peg of Teachers Whiskey. The barman assuming that Colonel Sameer to be a young officer, served me first. At last I had to request him “Sir, whenever we are together, we both will always move around in our uniforms.“

After the cocktails at the Officers’ Mess, the vehicles lined up and all officers with their ladies and children got into them. I drove Colonel Sameer and we headed towards Nashik with neither speaking a word for the next fifteen minutes until we entered the Taj Hotel. That was when Colonel Sameer asked, “So this is your Dhaba.” Captain Mitra explained “Dhaba is the code word for such dinners and our officers and their families know what it meant.”

Colonel Sameer always approached a military problem with an open mind in a logical manner and I was associated with him in proposing many concepts and theories.

One such discussion on the effectiveness of a type of ammunition resulted in a probability theory we proposed to assess the terminal effect of that ammunition. After a few discussions we put the entire theory on a PowerPoint slide and explained it to all the officers and was accepted as the most probable result of employing that ammunition.

Five years passed by, and Brigadier Sameer was an Instructor at the prestigious Staff College and there was a presentation by the commander of the formation where we had proposed our theory. The very same slide we had prepared five years ago was flashed – behold – there was no change in it – even the colours remained the same.

May be someone is still flashing the same slide even now.