Musings of an Army veteran by Lt Gen Baljit Singh

Brig Sukhjit Singh (Retd)

IT has been truly said by Baron Lytton in ‘Richelieu’ that “the pen is mightier than the sword”. Yet, it takes a battle-hardened war veteran to prove this axiom in today’s materialistic world. Collectively, therefore, we have to thank and commend Lt Gen Baljit Singh for his literary gem titled ‘Narratives From the Heart of a Veteran’.

The crisp narrations, each separate as a tale or recollection by itself, unconnected as it were, chronologically or event-wise, take the reader by the hand through the magic of narrative imagery — bestriding a whole succession of tales of varied hues, nuances and empathies, meandering through the life and times of the author, from a memorable trek through the forbidding, yet beautiful, scenic heights of the Himalayan massive. Woven into this scene is a fascinating account of our Himalayan border tryst of tri-junctions. Included herein is a crie de coeur to the powers that be for the preservation of our fragile ecological heritage. It takes us to the somber, gritty, gore-splattered fields of combat during the India-Pakistan conflict of 1971, an excursion with brief stops. Here, literary homage is paid to the more philosophical realm of our very existence, drawing upon the life and times of Alexander the Great and touching ‘Requiems to the Fallen’.

The author has paid eloquent tribute and offered a benedictory salute to his distinguished predecessors, both in the field of the great inheritance they bequeathed the Army and those who fell on the ‘Field of Honour’.

What is of special interest to the uniformed would, in my personal view, be as enshrined by the author in his trenchant and impassioned piece on ‘Keep the Armed Forces Engaged in Honing War-Winning Skills’. This is a sure recipe for success and needs to be paid heed to, at every level.

In summation, it would be very remiss if attention were not drawn to the author’s soul-stirring call in these troubled times, where individual conscience often succumbs to the seductive allurements of pelf et al over principles and integrity. Also immortalised is a warrior’s strident omen from the depths of his experienced being, a beacon to us lesser mortals, in ‘Open Letter to Fellow Citizens of the UT of Ladakh’, where he seeks to lift the veil off the allegedly seductive “development” in one of the last reserves of nature’s bounty on earth. Therein also lies a valuable caution for all to dwell upon.

This literary offering is a splendid compression of the life and times of a thinker, analyst and a person profoundly beholden for nature’s munificent bounty; of considerable intellectual benefit to both the uniformed and lay reader. It is a convenient companion to carry on a voyage of discovery of what true values can, and do, really mean. The ancient “seer” in the prophetic narrative of ‘See you in Babylon, Iskander’ was, after all, quite correct in his prophetic sermon.

A touch of humour, too, is visible in the delightfully cheerful piece ‘Quest for the Perfect Army’. In its entirety, this anthology assures the author of an honoured place in the pantheon of military writers who have successfully and laudably avoided the common designation of most writers of military tomes, in not producing some such work as an “I” specialist. All in all, this book is a splendid educational read.

While digressing from the encomiums regarding this eminently valuable collection of military anecdotes, it must be stated that, regretfully, there are some unfortunate oversights in proof-reading, such as paragraphs being repeated and other avoidable spelling errors, which detract from this otherwise splendidly put together anthology that will, surely, become a distinctive and valued addition to any bibliographic collection or library.