![\"Excerpt:](\"https:\/\/c.ndtvimg.com\/2023-03\/46mbdbsk_bipin-rawat-book-cover-650_625x300_03_March_23.jpg\"\/ "\\"Excerpt:")
<\/div>\nThe cover of ‘Bipin: The Man Behind The Uniform’<\/i> by Rachna Bisht Rawat<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Winter of 1979<\/p>\n
Amritsar Railway Station<\/p>\n
The sun was shining brightly. A young Gorkhali officer in combat\u00a0uniform and DMS boots stood at the platform stomping his feet\u00a0impatiently. He was Second Lieutenant Umed Singh Thapa of 5\/11\u00a0Gorkha Rifles. He had come to receive 2Lt Bipin Rawat, the new\u00a0twenty-one-year-old officer joining their unit and had removed his\u00a0epaulettes, showing his rank, for a reason. Since Bipin was the son\u00a0of Brigadier Laxman Singh Rawat, former Commanding Officer\u00a0of 5\/11 GR, and had also been awarded the Sword of Honour for\u00a0topping his course at the Indian Military Academy, the unit officers\u00a0had decided that he needed to be\u00a0cured of any airs he might have\u00a0developed and had to be brought back to mother earth.<\/p>\n
A mischievous plan had been hatched to rag Bipin, and it was\u00a0now being put into action. It also added some excitement to the\u00a0lives of the officers and men, who were a little bored with their\u00a0staid regimental tenure at Khasa, a small army cantonment near\u00a0the Wagah border, about 14 km from Amritsar. Thapa had driven\u00a0down to the railway station in a jeep, bringing along a one-tonne\u00a0(truck) for Bipin Rawat’s luggage. Being a Gorkhali, he had been\u00a0chosen to pose as Bipin’s sahayak<\/em> (helper).<\/p>\n With narrow, twinkling eyes and a guileless smile, Thapa\u00a0was tailormade for the role. All he had to do was remove his\u00a0rank insignia. He had been tasked to receive Bipin and steal his\u00a0identity card. A delighted\u00a0Thapa had rubbed his hands in glee and\u00a0immediately agreed. The then Commanding Officer of 5\/11, Lt\u00a0Col (later Brigadier) Ravi Devasar, was out of the unit location for\u00a0some official work that day and\u00a0completely unaware of the mischief\u00a0brewing behind his back.<\/p>\n There was the wail of a horn, and Thapa looked up to find a\u00a0train thundering down the tracks. The noisy steam engine rushed\u00a0past him, pulling along its cavalcade of bogies. As the train whined\u00a0to a stop, Thapa hastily put on his jungle cap and, reminding the\u00a0four Gorkha troops with him to not address him as ‘Sahab’<\/em> in front\u00a0of Bipin, started walking along the platform to look for his guest.\u00a0‘Pahilo kaksako dibba,’<\/em> he called out, pointing towards the first\u00a0class carriage from where a smartly uniformed and slim Pahadi officer\u00a0was stepping down-beads of perspiration on his face, cheeks red\u00a0from the effort of pulling down his shining black steel box, which\u00a0now rested on the platform. Stencilled on the side of the box, in\u00a0bold white font, was ‘2Lt Bipin Rawat, Indian Military Academy,\u00a0Dehradun to Amritsar’. It left no doubts about the identity of the\u00a0officer who, at that moment, was busy dragging down a heavy khaki\u00a0canvas bedroll with thick leather straps.<\/p>\n Thapa broke into a quick sprint and was there by Bipin’s side\u00a0in a flash. ‘Ram Ram, hajur!’<\/em> he bellowed, clicking his heels together\u00a0and bringing his arms smartly to attention. ‘Ma timro sahayak hun<\/em>\u00a0(I am your sahayak<\/em>.’)\u00a0Bipin saluted him back. ‘Tapaiko I card deno parcha. Adjutant\u00a0Sahab le mangarnu bhaeko cha<\/em>\u00a0(You will need to give me your\u00a0identity card. Adjutant Sahab<\/em> has asked for it),’ Thapa informed\u00a0Bipin in Nepali, blinking innocently. By then, the other soldiers had\u00a0picked up the luggage waiting on the platform.\u00a0Bipin reached into\u00a0his pocket and handed over his identity card to Thapa. Thapa led\u00a0him to the jeep\u00a0waiting outside and, instructing the driver to drive\u00a0the ‘new saab’ to the unit location, assured Bipin that he\u00a0would\u00a0follow in the one-tonne along with the luggage.<\/p>\n In twenty minutes, the jeep had driven into the unit location,\u00a0where the sentry on duty quickly gave a call to the main office,\u00a0announcing the new sahab’s<\/em> arrival. 2Lt (later Lt Gen.) Rakesh\u00a0Sharma, also a\u00a0participant in the mischievous plan, scampered across\u00a0the corridor to ensconce himself firmly in the unit\u00a0adjutant’s chair\u00a0just before Bipin marched in. He greeted Sharma with a crisp salute.\u00a0‘2Lt Bipin Rawat reporting, sir!’ he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n ‘Good morning, Rawat!’ Sharma replied, looking up from the\u00a0papers he had pretended to be busy signing.\u00a0‘Welcome to the unit!\u00a0Let me see your identity card, please.’\u00a0<\/p>\n A puzzled Bipin replied that he had already handed over his ID\u00a0card to his sahayak<\/em>, who, he was told,\u00a0would be delivering it to the\u00a0adjutant.\u00a0<\/p>\n ‘No one has given it to me,’ Sharma exclaimed, looking a little\u00a0miffed. ‘Who is your sahayak<\/em>?’ When Bipin looked unsure, Sharma\u00a0summoned the boys who had gone to pick him up from the railway\u00a0station. ‘Which\u00a0of them is your sahayak<\/em>?’ he asked. A bewildered\u00a0Bipin could not identify the man, since all the fair and slim Gorkha\u00a0boys looked similar to him. Also, Thapa had not made an appearance\u00a0at all in the identification parade.<\/p>\n A seemingly exasperated Rakesh Sharma sat tapping his fingers on\u00a0the table impatiently as Bipin confessed he could not identify the man.\u00a0‘Well! You seem to have lost your ID card. That is very careless of you.\u00a0<\/p>\n I am taking this very seriously,’ Sharma told Bipin coldly, hiding a\u00a0smile. ‘I will have to march you up to the Commanding Officer.’\u00a0A nervous Bipin was taken to the CO’s office, where, in\u00a0the absence of Col Devasar, Senior Captain Madan Gopal was\u00a0comfortably seated on the CO’s chair with a stern expression on his\u00a0face and a Lt Colonel’s brand-new epaulettes (borrowed that same\u00a0morning from the unit Baniya) sparkling from his shoulders. ‘You\u00a0are a Sword of Honour from the academy, right?’ he asked after the\u00a0introduction had been made, nodding grimly at the mention of the\u00a0missing ID card.<\/p>\n When Bipin answered that he had topped his course, Gopal\u00a0told him that Bipin would have to complete the Battle Physical\u00a0Efficiency Test (a two-mile run) to prove how fit he was. ‘Since\u00a0you are the best in your\u00a0course, we expect you to finish in the\u00a0excellent category,’ Gopal said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Bipin was driven down to the highway in his uniform, handed\u00a0over a 4 kg self-loading rifle (SLR) and told to run towards the\u00a0Wagah border, all the way to the turning point, and to return only\u00a0after collecting a ticket from the kanchas<\/em> (boys) manning it. The\u00a0two-mile stretch was the unit’s regular cross-country route and\u00a0pre-marked, he was told. Though tired and frustrated, and with an\u00a0angry winter sun bearing down hotly upon his head, Bipin made no\u00a0excuses and immediately set off on a quick sprint, returning with the\u00a0required ticket.<\/p>\n He was surprised to find that he had not been able to meet the\u00a0‘Excellent’ finish time of fourteen minutes and forty-five seconds.\u00a0The run had taken him longer than that. He did not know that the\u00a0crafty ragging team had got the ticket collection post shifted by 400\u00a0yards so he had to run an extra distance, which increased his timing.\u00a0He was again marched up to the CO, who glared at him darkly\u00a0this time. ‘I must say that I am disappointed in you, Rawat. It is\u00a0shocking to find that a Sword of Honour could not make it to the\u00a0Excellent category,’ Madan Gopal growled at the shamefaced Bipin.\u00a0‘Just because your father is a Brigadier and an ex-CO doesn’t mean\u00a0you will now take it easy and can sleepwalk through your regimental\u00a0tenure. Pull up your socks!’<\/p>\n The adjutant marched a morose Bipin out of the CO’s office\u00a0and told him to report for physical examination to the Military\u00a0Inspection (MI) Room, where yet another trickster, 2Lt Utpal Roy,\u00a0sat with a\u00a0borrowed Army Medical Corps badge on his uniform and\u00a0a stethoscope hanging casually around his neck. He was raring to\u00a0show off his own acting skills.<\/p>\n ‘Who are you? I’ve never seen you before,’ he snapped, playing\u00a0the absent-minded unit doctor, the\u00a0moment Bipin walked in.\u00a0‘I am 2Lt Bipin Rawat, sir. I have just been posted in,’ Bipin replied.\u00a0‘You don’t look happy, my boy. What’s the problem?’ Roy\u00a0asked, shining a flashlight into Bipin’s eyes while\u00a0pretending to do\u00a0an ophthalmic examination.<\/p>\n ‘No, sir, I am not happy,’ Bipin replied.<\/p>\n ‘Hmmm!’ Roy mumbled, asking him to open his mouth wide\u00a0and stick out his tongue. After peering down Bipin’s throat for what\u00a0seemed like an eternity, Roy took the spatula off his patient’s tongue\u00a0and asked him\u00a0to close him mouth. ‘And why are you not happy,\u00a0my dear?’ he asked, raising his eyebrows.<\/p>\n His dam of tolerance broken, Bipin gave the overtly sympathetic\u00a0Roy a blow-by-blow account of what had transpired with him. Being\u00a0a second-generation officer, familiar with the ways of the army, he\u00a0was smart enough to understand that he was being ragged but had\u00a0completely run out of patience. ‘Is this how a young officer should\u00a0be treated, sir?’ he asked, looking harassed.<\/p>\n Roy clicked his tongue in disapproval. ‘Shameful indeed! These\u00a0Gorkhas, I tell you! Why did you join this unit at all, my boy? You\u00a0shouldn’t have,’ he muttered sympathetically.<\/p>\n The gullible Bipin immediately opened up his heart to the kind\u00a0doctor, the only nice person he had met that day. ‘I wanted to join\u00a0Mechanized Infantry, sir,’ he said. ‘And being the course topper, I\u00a0would have got it too. But Uncle Heera [Lt General R.D. Heera,\u00a0then Colonel of the regiment] insisted that I should opt for 5\/11\u00a0GR, since my father had commanded it,’ he replied honestly.\u00a0Roy nodded in sympathy and, after pretending to check Bipin’s\u00a0chest with the stethoscope he had till then forgotten to use, told him\u00a0that all\u00a0was well, the medical examination was over, and he could\u00a0go to his room.<\/p>\n At lunch that afternoon, CO Col Devasar returned to the unit\u00a0and a dining-in was hosted for the new joiner. When Bipin walked\u00a0into the mess, the other officers were already there, this time in\u00a0their proper\u00a0uniforms, wearing their right ranks. He was greeted\u00a0with warm handshakes. As he stood in the gathering with a glass of\u00a0chilled beer in his hand, the culprits of the morning misadventure\u00a0walked up to him one by\u00a0one, introducing themselves, mischievous\u00a0smiles lighting up their young faces.<\/p>\n Bipin was surprised to find Thapa, his missing sahayak<\/em>, turning\u00a0up with shining single stars upon his shoulders. 2Lt Rakesh Sharma\u00a0took Bipin’s ID card out of his pocket and handed it over with a\u00a0deadpan look on his face. They were both from Dehradun, both\u00a0Pisceans with just a year’s difference in their ages and their birthdays\u00a0falling a day apart (Bipin’s birthday was on 16 March and Rakesh’s\u00a0on 15 March).<\/p>\n ‘Welcome to 5\/11 GR, Bipin. Don’t lose your ID card again,’\u00a0Sharma said and finally broke into the laughter he had been\u00a0controlling since morning.<\/p>\n ‘Thank you, sir,’ Bipin replied with a smile spreading slowly across his face. It was to be the beginning of a\u00a0lifelong friendship\u00a0between the two of them.<\/p>\n (Published with permission of Penguin Random House from ‘Bipin: The Man Behind The Uniform’ by Rachna Bisht Rawat. Order your copy here<\/a>.)<\/em><\/p>\n Disclaimer: The author and publisher of the book are solely responsible for the contents of the book or any excerpt derived therefrom. NDTV shall not be responsible or liable for any claims arising from the contents of the book including any claims of defamation, infringement of intellectual property rights or any other right of any third party or of law.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n