Gone Too Soon
Lt. Col Manish Gosain
Remembering Flt lt Maheesh Trikha who made the supreme sacrifice on the Siachen Glacier in 2002
In THE SUMMER OF 2002, On AWIndy,
cold but sunny morning at a helipad on
the highest battlefield on earth, the Sia
chen Glacier, there was great hubbub and
some commotion. The commotion and
clamour were not limited to the helipad
itself but had spread to the onlookers as
well. The onlookers, who were soldiers,
had all gathered around and were amused
to see an Indian Air Force (IAF) helicopter
take off and land repeatedly.
The helicopter would take off, climb up
to a height, go around the nearby peaks
in a circular motion and then land. Its
rotors would not switch off, the set of
passenger soldiers would get off and
then a fresh set of soldiers would climb
aboard. And the whole going around cir
cuit would be repeated.
Upon enquiring, it was revealed that
the helicopter was being flown by Flight
Lieutenant Maheesh Trikha of the IAF
along with a co-pilot and he was taking
in-flight, a particular set of soldiers be
longing to the Gorkha Battalion deployed
on the northern Glacier. The IAF detach
ment was co-located at the base camp,
providing air support. The unit was the
seventh battalion of the 11 Gorkha Rifles,
commonly referred to as the 7/11 GR.
Flt Lt Maheesh Trikha was doing this
only for a small and selected group of sol
diers. The eligibility criterion of this small
group was that all of them were from the
‘C’ or the ‘Charlie Company’ of the battal
ion. If you are wondering about the possi
ble connection between a helicopter pilot
of the IAF and the C Company of 7/11 GR,
it was simple and straightforward—Flt Lt
Trikha was a ‘fauji kid’ and had spent his
childhood in the 7/11 Gorkha Rifles and
especially in the ‘C’ Company where his
father Col Jagat Raj Trikha had been the
Company Commander.
Flt Lt Trikha had carried this associ
ation, kinship or regimentation, as you
may, in his heart for all these years and
even after considerable passage of time,
he remembered many of the junior com
missioned officer (JCOs) and non-com
missioned officers (nCOs) who had been
young soldiers during his father’s time. It
needs to be highlighted here that Flt Lt
Trikha did not do this ‘joyride’ business
for all and sundry. It was limited to the
select few of the ‘C’ Company only and
that too after the day’s sorties—for the
ferry of rations and stores to the remote
posts of the Siachen Glacier—had been
completed.
Life and routine continued and Flt Lt
Trikha like all other pilots would come
to the detachment at the Base Camp of
Siachen Glacier for some time, often a
fortnight and then go back to his unit at
Leh. The battalion, 7/11 GR, continued to
remain at the base camp as it had opera
tional responsibility on the highest battle
f
ield. The pilots of IAF and the Army Avi
ation used to dine in the battalion mess
and as the normal flying hours used
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