Guest column: A second life

Col Avnish Sharma (retd)

Having traversed a common path of tough regimen as raw teenage cadets and later as officers in challenging live situations, coursemates experience an unparalleled bonding. It was the 43rd year of our passing out of the Indian Military Academy and we all gathered for a customary reunion. Such reunions among birds of the feather have no holds barred conversations of tales of years gone by. They are a mixture of nostalgia in the remembrance of those you left us, fun recounts and banters and heartwarming experiences of hits and misses.

Ranbir was serving as the General Officer Commanding in Chief of the Northern Command of the Indian Army, considered to be an intense operationally active command of the country. The Army Commander is willy nilly outside his headquarters to the forward areas. Travel to far flung posts is by helicopter making the machine his second home.

During one such sortie, the General took off from Poonch and as he was approaching the Kashmir valley, the chopper developed a snag, lost height and crash landed in a ravine. On its downward fall, the helicopter first lost its rotor blades to the wild tree line and as it fell on the rocks astride a water stream, the rear portion of the machine too fell apart due to a huge impact after the free fall. The aircraft had seven occupants with the rear occupants having been thrown out in the wilderness on crash. Ranbir felt blood dripping from his brow and finding a way to his lips. He realised he was alive. His first reaction was ascertaining the fate of his aides and pilots. The pilots had slumped ahead and seemed immobile. He beckoned them and others and some responded in daze and pain induced by fractured spines, broken ribs and dismembered bones. So, like a true commander in all situations, Ranbir gathered his wits and took a quick survey for help and resuscitation.

It was in the middle of nowhere and the fear of choppers catching fire made him pull the injured away and do a headcount. While narrating the woeful incident, Ranbir confessed to a stark realisation that no one including a three star General is insulated from calamities! More than his safety, the safety of his comrades peps a soldier as he goes around doing damage control despite the state that he himself was in.

He heard some loud music from the hilltop some kilometres away and guessed a wedding was in progress and wished someone from the revelry would notice the crash. Some people seemed approaching through the undergrowth. Now, this was a peculiar situation and difficult to guess if the visitors were hostile or hospitable given the nature of the situation in the valley. With the state of disarray that existed, there was no choice but helplessness. They, without a minute’s delay, started lifting the injured towards the road head. The leader of the rescuer party claiming to be a compounder in a village dispensary had taken charge. Meantime, as it unfolded later, the news of the crash had reached the authorities and the Border Security Force (BSF) unit in the vicinity ordered the rescue. The compounder had bundled the injured in the cars with Ranbir in the passenger seat of his Maruti Suzuki Alto car. The cavalcade sped at breakneck speed towards the nearest BSF unit. “ Drive slow” were Ranbir’s words and the reply by the rescuer made him smile: “Saab, you have survived a helicopter crash. A little speed now won’t kill you.” They crossed a quick reaction team of the BSF speeding towards the crash site, the compounder who had taken over command of operations was unstoppable till they reached the BSF unit medical inspection (MI) room and the rest is history.

The parting shot by the humble chief rescuer, as we thanked him, was so true: “General saab, jaako rakhe saiyaan maar sake na koi.” A deep thoughtful gaze towards his dumbstruck coursemates, Ranbir did seem to reminisce if the fellow was indeed in the garb of the almighty.

(The writer is a Chandigarh-based freelance contributor)

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