The Indian Express: Monday March 15, 1999
"Unsung soldier's story, Lest we forget"

So when she strode into the Kamal Mahal at the Maurya Sheraton today, beehived by important-looking men, for the release of party member Amarinder Singh's book, Lest We Forget, invariable whispers of woh acchhi lag rahi hai, na? ricocheted off the pristine walls.

Of course, Amarinder Singh's Maharaja of Patiala and President of the Punjab Congress tribute to the ``unsung heroes of the Indian army'' took over from the Sonia-seizure almost immediately. Says Singh of his book, ``It is a little effort on my part to bring out the true worth of the Indian soldier.''

Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw, who released Lest We Forget, regaled the audience with humour-laden accounts of his experiences on the battlefront.

Then he quipped in his propah Brit-speak, ``When he asked meto release the book, I wondered if I also had to sign it like Monica Lewinsky.'' Also present was Chief of Army Staff, Ashok Malik.

The book narrates instances of exceptional bravery shown by soldiers in seven regiments during the three major wars of our post-colonial history: The Kashmir operations in 1947-48, the Indo-China war of 1962, and the 1965 Indo-Pak war.

The approach, admits Singh, who took five years to research and write his book, is intensely personal. ``I collected the people who fought those battles, took them to the scene of action, let them relive the battle moments and then built the stories,'' he explained, adding that it was the ``human story of the Indian soldier.''

Manekshaw, who has ``browsed through the book,'' lamented his eighteen-month absence from the 1962 war, all because of a charge against him for allegedly saying, ``I will have no instructor in the staff college whose wife looks like an ayah.''

Sonia Gandhi , who flew in from Nagaland for the occasion, later presenteda copy of the book Lest we Forget to each soldier whose story was recounted by Singh, while he summarised each act of courage in an audio-visual presentation. The stories of men who have spent terrifying moments in prison camps, stuck it out in minus 20 degree weather, or had their noses shot off during battle are indeed gripping.

Among the 30-odd soldiers honoured in Lest We Forget, was General Harbaksh Singh, CO, Western Command, in the 1965 war, under whom the author served, and Colonel Shamsher Singh, 2-I-C, Zojila Pass, in the 1947 war. Col Singh, incidentally, is grandfather to reigning beauty queen Gul Panag. Panag, who sat quietly in the last row with her family, disappeared before celeb-happy shutterbugs could click away. But actress Sharmila Tagore was more than willing to pose, and was later heard cooing to the Maharaja (of shifting political loyalties), ``It was very moving.''

That is probably the truest quote of the evening, for Lest We Forget, if nothing more, is a much-needed emotionalshot in the arm for one set of our defence guys.

Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.

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