Sudhakar Natarajan

‘Sudhakar you lucky fellow, you have got Bhanu posting!’, a very happy Commandant Kalyan Singh Rawat exclaimed on reading the signal brought by the runner, in the midst of Holi celebrations on 31 March 1995 at the 3rd Battalion Leh Mess of Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), raising a foaming mug of beer. He had won many medals, including metal splinters still lodged above his left eye. Few days ago, he had told me to feel the splinters, and I could palpate two metal pieces gliding over each other. The surgeons had removed a dozen splinters three years ago, but had left the one above his eye, as removing them could have caused nerve damage.

As a youngster, I had been a happy victim of many practical jokes played by my seniors. I replied carefully, ‘Sir, if true it’s a miracle and if not, it’s a clerical error’.

Commandant Kalyan laughed and passed me the signal. I studied it intensely. It was from Directorate General, addressed to DIG J&K (Srinagar), BTC Bhanu, 3rd Battalion Leh and few other formations. I checked if I was being fooled. The Wireless Telecom detachment stamp looked genuine. It had the initials of Deputy Commandant Seva Singh that also seemed fine. The Main Office stamp was genuine. Hopefully, this was not one of the usual April Fool’s practice jokes on me. My name was at serial No. 3.

The tall, ramrod straight Deputy Commandant Seva Singh, few years short of his retirement and very rich in experience, advised me with a perpetual nodding head, ‘Daktar, get relieved and join the new location immediately, you never know orders can change’.

I was newly married and had completed my three years in Ladakh. I was 24 when I came to 3rd Battalion and now, was 27 years. I was expecting Joshimath or Merthi, but this posting was unexpected for a youngster, as I was the junior most veterinary officer of ITBP. It was more of a surprise since I neither had a god