The Track-II Man
Roopinder Singh

Maj-Gen Himmat Singh Gill (retd) with his wife

MAJ-GEN Himmat Singh Gill (retd) wants to be known more for his writing and diplomatic sorties than his Army background. This is understandable, since he has written fiction, was part of the recent Track-II diplomatic efforts in the USA and Afghanistan and has now been in the news as the unanimously elected Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi’s, Member, Finance.

He has written two novels, Ashes and Petals and The Commitment. He has also contributed to When the British Left, an anthology on Partition. In fact, Ashes and Petals, published in 1978 by Vikas, is based on the trauma of Partition and has a particularly poignant instance of Rasaldar Santa Singh killing his granddaughter, even as the marauding hoards have boarded the train from Pakistan to Amritsar. First novels tend to be autobiographical, and this one too deals with the travails of a family settling down, the hero Ajit Singh joining the army, falling in love with Salma, a Muslim girl, and fighting in the wars against Pakistan.

Commitment is a love story in which there is commitment by one and not by the other side. Published by Lancer, in 1985, Commitment’s locale is both India and Cambodia and it is a short tale of love, sacrifice and losing it all. It has a rather staccato style despite it exploring relationships, which often turns out verbose.

The anthology When the British Left was selected and edited by Saros Cowasjee and Kartar Singh Duggal in 1987, and here General Gill is in exalted company of Mulk Raj Anand, Saadat Hasan Manto, Krishna Sobti and Khushwant Singh.

General Gill has also been active in Track-II diplomacy and was sent on a diplomatic mission to the USA, and later to Afghanistan, where he has served as Military Attaché from 1978 to 1982. In fact, he is working on updating his manuscript on Afghanistan, which is a work of historical fiction on the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the rise and fall of the Mujahideen, the Northern Alliance, and the US intervention in that war-torn nation.

When asked what he was planning to do, now that he was in the National Academy of Letters, which is another name for the Sahitya Akademi, and also Chairman of the Chandigarh Sahitya Akademi, General Gill said he wanted to focus on North India, which "is not only brawn, but also brain. Literature in Punjabi, Dogri, Kahsmiri and Urdu has been neglected in recent years, nut now that we have noted Urdu writer Gopi Chand Narang as Chairman, I am sure we will focus on regional languages. I also want to improve the interface between the national body and the regional bodies. Being the senior, it is the duty of the national body to organise and facilitate interactions, such as seminars, publishing events etc."

A soldier, who has managed to maintain a Track-II throughout his career and indulge in various interests he had, General Gill will need all his skills as he negotiates his way through the politico-literary maze of Sahitya Akademis.