LALIT "TIGER" TALWAR AND ME - A TIMELINE

January 1956. I begin my second term in NDA transferred from 'Fox' to the newly-formed 'King' squadron.  Fresh 15th course cadets arrive and two of them impress me as they have a certain air about them: Vijay Malhotra and Lalit Talwar. They are both naval cadets with consecutive academy numbers of 2420 and 2421 respectively, and since they are in the same division as me, we have cabins on the same floor. Over my five remaining terms, I keep bumping into them though we have little to do with each other being from different courses. But that lays the foundation of a lifelong friendship with both.

December 1963-May 1965. I am posted in NDA as a Divisional Officer and so is Lalit Talwar. Both are bachelors and stay in the Officer's Mess with cabins near each other on the same floor. We now meet almost every day and spend a lot of time together in the evenings along with other naval bachelors like Subodh "Guppy" Gupta, Mel Charles Kendall and Sudhir "Ike" Isaacs. Guppy and Lalit take up golf and insist that I join them. After some resistance holding that golf is an old man's game, I cave in and join them but not before a few lessons from the Russian blue-blooded Dimitri Jouravlov, NDA golf coach, who is well-known for his remark that water is the best drink in life but as he can't afford the best, we can give him the second best, Rum.

Somewhere down the line, we start calling Lalit, "Tiger". I suspect it was because of his prowess at golf that the nickname got associated with a champion golfer as borne out years later by Eldrick Tont Woods appropriating the nickname for himself. For some reason, maybe wayward golf and kiddish temperament, Tiger and Guppy call me "Child". Tiger continued to address me as such all through his life.

Apart from golf, I discover another passion of Tiger's- Indian classical music. From Ravi Shankar to Ali Akbar Khan and Bismillah Khan, he has a big library of tapes which he makes me listen to whenever I visit his cabin. I too become a fan of this class of music and Tiger gladly transfers his collection on to my tapes. 

Mid-end1965. I am transferred to New Delhi as Flag Lt to Admiral Chatterji, Commandant, National Defence College. Tiger is selected for the new Submarine branch and comes to Delhi to learn Russian while standing by to go to the USSR. Both of us apply to join the Delhi Golf Club, become permanent members within a month and start playing there.

One Saturday evening, I invite Tiger to have drinks and dinner with me at the NDC where I stay. We sit outside on the huge lawn and after just 2 whiskies, Tiger says he is feeling groggy and leaves without dinner. We have a game planned the next morning and when I go to pick him up from Kotah House, he is still in bed. He says he has a massive hangover and won't be playing. I go back to my cabin and while putting away the bottles taken out the previous evening, discover that a gin bottle, which was more than half full, is empty. It then dawns upon me that Tiger was mixing gin instead of water with his whisky and hence the hangover!

We attend many classical music performances. I vividly recall a jugalbandi with Ravi Shankar and Ali Akbar Khan accompanied by the tabla wizard Allah Rakha.

Tiger gets engaged to Rashmi and both families decide that he is too handsome to be left alone in the hands of Russian girls. So Rashmi and Tiger are married before Tiger goes abroad. 

1966-1990. We operate in different spheres with Tiger leaving the Navy in 1980 and settling in Noida while I am at Navy's call shuttling between different cities. 

1990-2020. I settle down in Delhi after taking retirement from the Navy and meet Tiger off and on and we play some rounds of golf at the DGC. I am playing regularly at the Army GC and I invite Tiger to join me there. For some reason, the Army course is Tiger's Achilles heel, so he doesnt't come as often as I would like him to.

Summer 2005, after visiting Ruchir in New York, Akhila and I are returning to India and are at Heathrow changing flights. Suddenly I hear someone shouting 'Ravi'. I turn around and am pleasantly surprised to see Tiger. He tells me he is on his way to US after a stay in London. He has one daughter in UK and one in USA so it is convenient for him to break journey in London both ways rather than take long connecting flights.

2020-2024. Thanks to the lockdown, we keep in touch on WhatsApp. The first message I have from him is a forward of a youtube recording of Ustad Shujaat Khan playing Sitar and singing the ghazal 'Zindagi Se Badi Saza Hi Nahin' at Jashn-e-Rekhta. Tiger's forwarding message says, "Enjoy, my favourite artist." There are regular exchanges of music including a sufi qawwali with a dervish dance. And, of course, "Dama Dam Mast Qalandar"! Tiger also says he enjoys my blog and often sends appreciative comments which boost my morale.

14 October 2024. We meet at Kailash Kohli's last rites. This would turn out to be the last time I would see him in person.

03 January 2025. I am on a visit to the NDA and go to our old Squadron 'King' now 'Charlie'. There is an album with old photographs and I find some of Tiger's on joining the NDA in 1956. I send these to him. I also send some of the NDA golf course where it all started. He mentions Jouravlov in his response and I tell him that the course is now appropriately named after our old friend.

24 January-14 May 2025. Tiger undergoes a complex liver surgery. He is in and out of hospital. His daughters create a site on WhatsApp on which they keep his friends apprised of his condition.

15 May 2025. We get a message that Tiger is no more.

So rest in peace, my friend. Thanks for the happy times we spent together and many, many thanks for introducing me to golf and Indian classical music.

If there is a golf course in Heaven, you and Kailash will already be playing. If not, I am sure you will convince St. Peter to make one. And music, they are all there, Ravi Shankar, Ali Akbar Khan, Vilayat Khan, Bismillah Khan, Allah Rakha and his son Zakir Hussain.