Officer & thorough gentleman

On termination of our staff college course in Wellington, I received my posting as a Brigade Major in Palampur, Himachal Pradesh. “You are going to relieve Major Surrinder Singh?” my friend Ami Bal asked. They were both from the same regiment, the famed 17 Poona Horse. “You will love to meet him,” he added.

  Surrinder was my senior by five years. For some reason, I was denied leave after the course — not even the mandatory joining time was granted — and rushed straight to the duty station. On the first evening, I telephoned Surrinder to seek his permission to skip the PT period next morning as my kit was awaited. When I met him on the morrow, I came in for a mild reprimand. “You infantry chaps will never change,” he said with a smile, “you have done enough PT in your unit. Here you have more important things to attend to.” 

There was no hint of superiority or sarcasm in his tone, just a sincere counsel. “The Commander being an infantryman himself will, of course, be very happy, and in fact will expect you to do PT. But resist it, like I have done.”

That was Major Surrinder Singh. As I came to know him during the next four days — a man of simple habits and tastes, with strong beliefs. He spoke his thoughts and his convictions. He had been the Brigade Major during the 1971 war. The headquarters had accumulated a plethora of highly classified war documents. Before I arrived, he had sorted out and had most of these destroyed. He did not leave any unwanted burden on me; his dedication and sincerity showed eloquently through his actions.  

When he learnt of my denial of leave, he felt genuinely sorry. “I wish you had written to me, I would have delayed my departure,” he said. I knew he meant it.    

Occupying a chair vacated by an outstanding person is akin to being put in the outer lane. You have to run much harder to keep up. Everyone from the juniormost functionary to the Brigade Commander sang his praises. Even the three infantry battalions spoke of his high calibre, deep involvement and an extremely helpful nature. 

There were snippets from his personal life. He had an individual style of seldom wearing his belt and his cap. He walked through the small cantonment holding these in either hand. Intrinsically shy, if he saw some ladies coming in from the opposite side, he would change his route. A junior also told me of his caring nature. Once when he had reached home on leave at midnight, his mother had already gone to sleep. Not wanting to disturb her, he sat out in the verandah till morning.

He got married in his next assignment. Col WS Baljit Singh of 8 Cavalry, his father-in-law, was posted in NDA when I was a cadet. My contact with Surrinder continued over the years. Whenever we met, which to my regret was not often, I always came away wiser professionally and a better human being.

Surrinder was tipped to succeed General BC Joshi as the Army Chief. Unfortunately, the latter died while still in saddle and the succession line got changed.

 Lt Gen Surrinder retired as the Northern Army Commander and settled down in Chandigarh to lead a quiet life. He passed away on October 23. In his demise, we have truly lost an officer and a gentleman. In every sense of the term. RIP.