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 to end around noon, there was plenty of time and opportunity for the officers of the battalion to interact with these pilots. The battalion had a table tennis and many afternoons and evenings were spent playing with the kerosene bukharis on full blast.

T he camaraderie and bonhomie be tween both kinds of helicopter pilots wearing blue and green flying overalls had blossomed, developed and the work ing, social equations were friendly and amenable leading to a much better air cover for the battalion. There are many instances where the pilots went beyond the call of duty and safety to evacu ate/ rescue a soldier or deliver essen tial stores even when the weather had packed up and no flying was permitted. It also needs to be highlighted here that owing to the vagaries of extreme weather and the glaciated terrain, all helicopters used to fly in pairs, and no single heli copter flying was permitted.

Flt Lt Trikha as part of the IAF detach ment was at the forefront of these flying efforts being undertaken. Owing to his connection with the battalion, he was al ways eager and willing to fly even to the farthest and thus the most difficult posts. He was ever smiling, cheerful and prone to laughter. Perhaps, as part of the flying ethos of the IAF, he was more daring, open to challenges and always tried to push the envelope further. Whether conducting medical evacuations, delivering supplies in hostile, inhospitable terrain often be yond the capability or the ceiling limits of the helicopter or flying into obstacle ridden terrain to rescue those in peril, Flt Lt Trikha approached every mission with calm precision, unshakable resolve and the determination to succeed.

He had joined the Rashtriya Indian Mil itary College (RIMC) in 1986, finishing his schooling and joining the 88th course at national defence Academy (ndA) in 1992, passing out from ndA in June 1995 and was commissioned from the Air Force Academy on 29 June 1996. By 2002, he had about six years of service in the IAF.

On the fateful day of 16 August 2002, it was a normal day on the Siachen Gla cier. All the pilots, both IAF and the Army Aviation, were doing routine sorties, fer rying essential rations and stores to the far-flung posts. For the men on these posts, the helicopters were a veritable lifeline as they would bring fresh rations, especially green vegetables, letters from home, magazines and even weapons and ammunition, needed on the posts. Invariably, every morning, the men on these posts located at average heights of over 18,000 feet would eagerly wait for the helicopters to arrive.

 As mentioned, 16 August 2002 was bright and sunny with absolutely clear weather. The helicopters were doing rou tine tasks and then again there was great hubbub and commotion. The clamour had started from the makeshift Air Traf f ic Controller radio room wherein an SOS call from one of the IAF helicopters had been heard.

 T he commotion soon spread through the various radio networks and without any call, as if bidden by an unseen voice, all ranks present at the Base Camp gathered around the helipad. Soon an IAF helicopter was seen flying in from a side at speed, and plonk itself with a thud on the helipad. All the onlookers, who included doctors and an ambulance, rushed forward to help.

 It was seen that this single IAF heli copter was the one which survived. The other helicopter in the pair, being flown by Flt Lt Trikha had developed an engine malfunction and crashed in the glaciat ed terrain. The surviving helicopter’s pi lots had done the near impossible—they landed right next to the crashed helicop ter, picked up the grievously injured pilots and flew back to the base camp but in vain. Both these brave IAF pilots, includ ing Flt Lt Trikha, were declared dead, after all efforts by the doctors to revive the co matose pilots failed.

After some time, the procedures for in forming the next of kin and in this case, Col J.R. Trikha, commenced and the transportation of mortal remains was un dertaken. 7//11 GR provided the requisite administrative support with a heavy heart as Flt Lt Trikha was one of its own. 

For the parents, it was a calamity be yond comprehension. Col Jagat Trikha, being an old soldier could still bear the grief but for Swdesh Trikha, the mother, the shock was unbearable. The parents, in their quest to hear about the last days of their martyr son, were always inquisitive and eager to meet officers and men who had been in contact with him before he met his end. Their quest brought them to Fort William, Kolkata, where 7/11 GR had recently arrived after their Siachen ten ure. The parents met and interacted with all the officers and men of the paltan who had been in contact with Flt Lt Trikha.

now after nearly 23 years, Col Jagat Trikha visited his unit for the diamond jubilee celebrations of 7/11 GR this year, and was shown the life-sized portrait of his martyr son adorning the wall of pride in the Quarter Guard. Understandably, he was moved as he looked at it. He rem inisced that his son would have been 50 years this year. He further said that many of his classmates and course mates have now become brigadiers. Had Flt Lt Ma heesh Trikha lived, he would have been a senior group captain in the IAF.

 The portrait depicts him in his air force uniform with sunglasses on, looking dap per, smart and youthful. But then, death has ensured that Flt Lt Maheesh Trikha would never be a Group Captain/ Briga dier, he would never grow old, he would be forever young and continue live on in the memories of his family, friends, class mates and course mates.

 His mother prefers to be called ‘shaheed ki maa’. The martyrdom of her son gave her the strength and purpose to form a trust called ‘Martyr Flight Lieutenant Maheesh Trikha Foundation’ (M-Trix Foundation) working towards the emancipation of so ciety with special reference to the girl child. She takes pride in empowering and en abling marginalised girls and women from all walks of life. The foundation based in new delhi has also been conducting skill development courses for youth under the aegis of the government of India, across all states. These courses are aimed facilitating employment of youth.

Every time Flt Lt Trikha’s parents hear the hum of the rotor blades of a helicop ter, they grow pensive—a feeling only a few can understand. The lives of the sol diers marked by service, sacrifice and un yielding courage in the face of the enemy, and for the families, the unspoken grief and the unanswered quest of ‘if’.

May the winds forever carry you, and may your spirit soar in eternal blue/ Fair winds and following skies, Captain, you will not be forgotten.

(The writer is from the 7/11 Gorkha Ri fles and was serving in the unit during this period)