NDA 1964-65

On board Khukri, I received my letter of appointment transferring me to National Defence Academy, Kharakvasla, end-December 1963.

On arrival at NDA, I was told to proceed to ‘J’ (Juliet)  Squadron where I reported to the Squadron Commander, Maj Shyam Rattan.  We found a common link as he was the brother of CDR Anmol Rattan who was the Engineer Officer on board Ranjit where I did my small ship time as a Midshipman in 1959.  My colleague Div Offrs were Flt Lt RS Rana who being a fighter pilot always introduced himself as 'Speedy', and Capt Surjit Kumar of J&K Rifles. Our Battalion Cdr was Wing Cdr ‘Barney’ Fernandes, a  fine officer and gentleman.

One term later, Maj Shyam Rattan was replaced by Maj John Verghese, brother of the well-known journalist BG Verghese.

I was a bachelor and staying at the Officer’s Mess. Life for bachelors at the NDA was very peculiar. A typical day started at about 0630 when one watched cadets at their outdoor training like PT, Drill or Horse Riding. During the day, one was fully occupied with paperwork, cadets’ reports, an odd lecture, interviews with cadets, watching cadets at games, etc., till about 1800 when a total hush descended on the one horse town! The married folks went home happily but the bachelors, before the advent of TV and with entertainment spots far off in Poona, were at a loose end. Inevitably, we fetched up at the bar where drinks and singsong sessions took us well into the night. My bar mates included Mel Kendall, Subodh Gupta, Lalit 'Tiger' Talwar, 'Bogey' Borgonah, 'Laddu' Malik, Sudhir 'Ike' Isaacs and 'Honky' Mukuti among others. While the songs we sang followed a wide range from Pankaj Mullick and KL Saigal to Jim Reeves, Cliff Richards and Beatles, the one I remember the most was the last named's "I Saw Her Standing There" where Bogey Borgonah and I would try to outdo each other on the 'My-eeeeeen' part!

We had many colourful personalities to keep us amused. There was Maj Shyam Rattan who was actually a very senior officer being a colleague of the Commandant, Maj Gen Ranbir Bakshi. He had an enormous number of yarns to tell. My favourite was the one about his time at Monaco where he was posted during WW II. He said the Principality was so small that when he slept at night, his head was in Monaco and his feet in France! He would often come up with some self-made ones like the time he took a lift with someone on a scooter. When it started raining, the driver coolly switched on wipers on his sunglasses and carried on driving fast unaffected by rain.

When Maj Shyam Rattan was blessed with a third daughter in a row, all of us congratulated him but were aghast when Speedy went up to him and smilingly offered his ‘heartfelt condolences’. When we tried to shush him, he laughed us off and said that was how ‘we Punjabis’ view the occasion! To his utter credit, Maj Shyam Rattan took it all very sportingly and thanked Speedy with a smile.

An interview Maj Shyam Rattan conducted in the Divisional Officers' office with the three of us present was the funniest I have witnessed. The interviewee was his nephew, Rajeev Rattan, son of his brother Maj Prem Rattan. The interview was strictly formal following the prescribed format like asking Rajeev's name, father's name, home address and details of relations in the Services' where Rajeev named his father and Maj Shyam Rattan. Maj Shyam asked where the uncle was posted to which the straightfaced reply was, "He is the Sqn Cdr in Juliet sqn." The three DOs were dumbstruck watching this remarkable act of uncle and nephew where not even a trace of smile or familiarity could be seen on the faces of the two. Once Rajeev was dismissed, the four of us laughed our hearts out.

Then there was this lovable person, Dmitri ‘Dimmy’ Jouralov, who used to teach Russian when I was a cadet. He was now too old to teach but fit enough to look after the NDA Golf Club. He along with my friends Subodh Gupta and Tiger Talwar insisted on my taking up golf which I had dismissed till then as an old man’s game. I am indeed grateful to them as I continue to play and enjoy the game till today. One day I said to Dimmy that I got a stiff neck while playing golf. He strongly chided me and said, “Never! You cannot get a crick in the neck if you play proper golf! ”

Dimmy’s other interest was the bar. Those were days of prohibition in Maharashtra. So invariably we used to see Dimmy in the evening searching for someone to stand him a drink with his favourite line, “Water is the best drink in life but I can’t afford the best. So give me the second best, a rum!”

A very likeable Social Studies teacher who shall remain unnamed, was also a proficient tennis player. That probably gave him a good appetite. Once when he was staying in the Mess, he kept asking the waiter for chapatis after chapatis. The waiter got fed up and when the teacher landed up for his next meal, the waiter brought 50 chapatis and plonked them in front of him. The teacher went red in the face and screamed at the waiter inquiring if he thought the former was a pig. He finally dismissed the waiter saying, “Now take one away”.

One of the Battalion Cdrs was Lt Col BD Malhoutra, a proper ‘Saheb’ complete with a fine moustache and a British accent. Once he was in charge of a cadets’ camp for which a route march was to start at 0300. All of us were lined up when Col Malhoutra started inspecting the cadets in total darkness. He stopped in front of one and asked his name. The reply, “Cadet Bewtra, sir”.

“Spell it” said the Colonel.

“B-E-W-T-R-A.”

The Colonel shouted at the top of his voice with some choice abuses in Punjabi ending up with “You Angrez de puttar, can’t you spell your name simply as BATRA instead of  anglicising it as Bewtra?” All of us quietly sniggered wondering why the Colonel had a ‘U’ in his Malhoutra!

The loneliness of bachelors resulted in a few love affairs in the NDA. My colleague Surjit got hitched to a lady doctor posted in K’vasla MH and another Div Off and coursemate Rameshwar ‘Billoo’ Ratra married Roop, daughter of Maj K Rai Singh, the famous test cricketer who was then in the Army Training Team in the NDA. The rest of us had to be content with the  occasional ‘Socials’ where we were lucky if we could find a lady willing to give us the pleasure of a dance. Maggie Fernandes, the pretty wife of our Battalion commander, often obliged us sportingly.

Which brings me back to Wg Cdr Fernandes. I shall always remember a lecture given by him on ‘Leadership’ to the cadets with the unforgettable quote from “Hamlet”:

“This above all: to thine own self be true,

And it must follow, as the night the day’,

Thou canst not then be false to any man.”

Well into my third term, life was getting a bit monotonous at K’vasla. Providentially, I was called up to Delhi for an interview with the Commandant NDC, VADM AK Chatterji, later Chief of the Naval Staff, who wondered if I would be his Flag Lt! Would I?! I said yes before he changed his mind and left NDA end-May 65 for New Delhi.

A most rewarding moment these days is when I run into an ex-cadet of mine who recognises me and comes up to greet me.