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There
is only one leader; the rest are led by him. National leadership in
times of peace requires one kind of skill; military leadership when a
war breaks out requires quite a different kind. A national leader has
to sense what the people want and direct their energies towards that
goal. Thus, Mahatma Gandhi sensed that his countrymen wanted to get
rid of foreign rule; so he gave them the means of fighting their
powerful adversaries: Satyagraha (passive resistance). Pandit Nehru
sensed that political freedom without economic self-sufficiency was
not enough; so he gave them the Five-Year Plans; equal rights for
women so that they could contribute their share to their country’s
well-being. National leaders have to do a lot of meeting people and
speaking to them in a language they can understand. Though neither
Gandhi nor Nehru were great orators, they could communicate with the
masses. What they lacked in oratory, they more than made up by their
chairsma. People worshipped them. Military commanders do not have to
meet many people nor orate to them. On the contrary, they have to work
out strategies with a few senior officers who know their job and put
them in operation in the battlefield. The less they open their mouths,
the better. They should inspire confidence in the men they lead so
that they are willing to lay down their lives for them. This is true
of military leaders of the last two centuries. Napoleon Bonaparte was
a great strategist and was able to build the French empire in Europe
before he had a setback in Russia. So was Wellintgon who got the
better of him at Waterloo.
World War I (1914-18) did not produce many great commanders but World War II (1939-45) produced a crop of able generals: Rommel on the German side; Montgomery on the British; Patton and Eissenhower on the American. Smaller wars which followed produced Moshe Dayan who out-manoeuvred and routed combined armies of Egypt and Syria, supported by other Arab nations. Since we attained Independence, we have fought four wars: three against Pakistan, one against China. The short war against China was an unmitigated disaster bringing disgrace on both our civil and military leadership. In our encounters with Pakistan, we more than held our own inflicting a humiliating defeat on our adversaries in the War of Independence of Bangladesh in 1971. It was in this 17-day-war, our Army (as well as our Air Force and Navy) showed a carefully worked out strategy executed with military precision. A point that should be kept in mind about military leadership is while officers up to the rank of colonel have to lead their men from the front, top-ranking officers issue orders from behind. Those on the front have to be brave; those at the back to have brains. When the two are combined, victory is assured. This brings me to a recent publication/Leadership in the Indian Army: biographies of twelve soldiers by Major- Gen V.K. Singh (Sage). He has done a good job by collecting biographical data of his heroes both those who led in the front (Brigadier Usman, P.S. Bhagat, later General, who won the Victoria Cross in World War II as well as India’s first Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal K.M. Cariappa. Gen K.S. Thimayya (the most amiable of the lot) and Field Marshal S.H.F.J. Manekshaw who master-minded Indian victory in Bangladesh. However, without belittling the achievements of his other heroes (a couple prone to blabbermouthing), I question the omission of some notable Generals like Harbaksh Singh who turned the tide of war against Pakistan in 1965 and Gen Jagjit Singh Aurora who put in effect the strategy decided upon in the Bangladesh war. Novertheless, I recommend this compilation of soldier-leaders to the present generation. A prayer most apt for civil and military leaders was written by Albert Holland: God give us men Men whom the lust of office does not kill Men whom the spoils of office cannot buy, Men who possess opinions and a will, Men who have honour, men who will not lie. Spiritual cocktail
My oldest, closest friend
Prem Kirpal died a few weeks ago at the age of 96. He left three
wills. One, inviting his friend and relations to celebrate the
occasion by drinking up his stock of liquor on the ninth day after his
departure. The second was a poem on the transitoriness of life on
earth to be read out that evening. The third was on the division of
his assets among his relatives and servants. He died a bachelor. The
family were sehajdhari (clean-shaven) Sikhs. So they had an akhand
path (non-stop reading of the Guru Granth Sahib for
two days and nights) at Chinmayananda Hall. The kirtan was
performed by raagis Nizambhai and his group, all five Muslims.
For the first time I heard a musical rendering from the Sikh’s
morning prayer Japji Sahib. "He was the Truth when time
bagan; He will be the Truth for time to come; He is the Truth today; O
Nanak, He will be truth evermore." This was followed by a
soulful rendering of "as sunbeam mingles with the sunlight, as
water mingles with water, so the soul mingles with the Divine when
life is over." Prem’s nephew Bhupinder Kirpal, retired Chief
Justice of the Supreme Court, read out a tribute and thanked everyone
present. As his oldest friend, I was asked to speak. I declined; his
going had hit me very hard. I feared I would break down. It was
different at his farewell party. I was determined to make it as
cheerful an occasion as Prem would have liked. We filled our glasses
and raised a toast "Here’s to Prem, May he live for ever in our
memories." Here was a living example of a secular tradition, a
mixing of Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims in paying tribute to the man who
had all three in his heart and who mixed hard spirits with
spirituality in equal proportions. Taxi driver
A taxi
passenger tapped the driver on the shoulder to ask him a question. The
driver screamed, lost control of the car, nearly hit a bus, went up on
the footpath, missed a biker, scraped a fire hydrant, and stopped just
three centimetres from a department store shop window. For a few
seconds everything went quiet in the cab, then the driver slowly
turned around and said, "Look lady, don’t ever do that again.
You scared the living daylights out of me!" The passenger
apologised and said, "I didn’t realise that a little tap would
scare you so much." The driver replied, "Sorry, it’s not
really your fault. Today is my first day as a taxi driver. I’ve been
driving a funeral van for the last 25 years. (Contributed by
Vipin Buckshey, New Delhi) |
THIS
ABOVE ALL
