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