Spring term '73 and I was a first termer at the National Defence Academy. As I was charging towards the mess for breakfast, a 'sarge' on post at the junction prior to the 'central mess' had me stopped to check my turn out. Cursing the guy from deep within(every minute lost meant one toast down, which was blasphemous for a cadet's bottomless tummy) but trying to look as pleasant as I could(giving dirty looks to your senior invited harsher forms of punishment, you see) I went through the ignominy and on completion(after what seemed ages), I'd literally sprinted off into the innards of the mess for the ultimate bliss - wolfing down breakfast.
As I was on to the first toast, I felt a tap on my shoulder and to my utter surprise saw that it was Cadet Gulab Khan(the 6th termer, Afghani cadet of Echo Squadron) who was trying to hand over my handkerchief, that I'd dropped on my earlier flight to the mess. After that incident, Gulab Khan was forever a friendly senior to me, always ready with a smile whenever he met me.
And in the documentary on the NDA called 'A cradle for leadership', shot extensively during those times, Gulab Khan is prominent on the 'bayonet charge' frame. His clean shaven head with a thick moustache, that he sported, showed the right amount of emotions when one's under that sort of final assault. He'd passed out of the Academy in Jun '73.
How did Gulab Khan suddenly come up on this occasion? On the TV screen behind me, the glimpses of elections in Afghanistan currently on, is being beamed and whenever I think of that country, two things come to my mind - Gulab Khan and the Hindi movie 'Dharmatma'starring Feroze Khan and Hema Malini, a hit of those times!
Coming back to Gulab Khan, I believe, he met with his untimely end, somewhere in the rough terrain of Afghanistan just after a couple of years into his commission. RIP Gulab Khan, you're a fine soul!!
As I was on to the first toast, I felt a tap on my shoulder and to my utter surprise saw that it was Cadet Gulab Khan(the 6th termer, Afghani cadet of Echo Squadron) who was trying to hand over my handkerchief, that I'd dropped on my earlier flight to the mess. After that incident, Gulab Khan was forever a friendly senior to me, always ready with a smile whenever he met me.
And in the documentary on the NDA called 'A cradle for leadership', shot extensively during those times, Gulab Khan is prominent on the 'bayonet charge' frame. His clean shaven head with a thick moustache, that he sported, showed the right amount of emotions when one's under that sort of final assault. He'd passed out of the Academy in Jun '73.
How did Gulab Khan suddenly come up on this occasion? On the TV screen behind me, the glimpses of elections in Afghanistan currently on, is being beamed and whenever I think of that country, two things come to my mind - Gulab Khan and the Hindi movie 'Dharmatma'starring Feroze Khan and Hema Malini, a hit of those times!
Coming back to Gulab Khan, I believe, he met with his untimely end, somewhere in the rough terrain of Afghanistan just after a couple of years into his commission. RIP Gulab Khan, you're a fine soul!!
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