Book Reviews
| Author | Manan Dwivedi |
| DOI | 10.1177/0019556120140418 |
| Published date | 01 October 2014 |
| Date | 01 October 2014 |
BOOK
REVIEWS
I 959
Militarily Crazy: The Lighter Side of Life in the Indian Army
BRIGADIER
ANIL
SENGAR,
YSM, VSM, New Delhi, Extreme Publishers, 2014,
p.436, Rs. 690.00.
"Jab Hum Baithey
The
Gharon
Mein,
Voh
Jhail Rahey
The
Goli''.
This serves as the guiding tour de force
of
the noble vocation which soldiering
is.
Any work
of
art is part
of
a larger edifice
in
progression leading up to the
task
of
the completion
of
a narrative. Pragmatic and anecdotal references
can serve as an ideal and pristine premise for
the
augmentation
of
a
vocation's and profession's eulogisation
or
its realistic appraisal.
lfit
had
been any other vocation, then this work
of
art and humour would have been
ordinary but it is the intensity and the girth
of
the Defence personnel and
their sacred engagement and affair with the nation which merits attention
and applaud. The amalgamation and the collection
of
the yeoman tales and
the fresh whiff air permeating these tales makes, Brigadier Sengar's striving,
a tome to cherish and preserve.
The sections dealing with dear old Sam Maneckshaw's able leadership
and the resilience and austerity
of
top notch decision-making provides the
narrative with an able initiation and sets
in
motion, a racy and simpleton style
which
is
eminently enjoyable. The NOA oath where soldiership is celebrated
as the noblest
of
professions augurs well for a gainfully thoughtful denizen
of
the nation. The work
of
art
is
systematically and diligently comprehensible
with the tales
of
chivalrous humour serving as the staple content for the
reader. Some tales
of
valour stand out
to
put it in Brigadier Sen gar's words.
The vignette involving the notion
of'
notional food' serves up the recipe
cogently. The ordeal that a few
Gur~ha
Johnnies go through when they eat
out
of
empty tin tiffins under a tree, is staple fare for a good laugh.
The
Commander informs the soldiers that they are invited for a hearty
dinner with Rum in the night and when they enquire about the time, they
are informed that similar
to
their 'notional meal', his invite to offer them
heady food is also
'a
notional invitation' with himself being the notional
(false) settler
of
the food bill. Several such anecdotes by the author stand
out
amidst
the
narrative which is a deft and lighter dekko inside the
cantonment and
the
Defence academy wherein the noble soldiers learn
team work, efficient loyalty
in
tandem with the realisation
of
the larger-
than-life self-sacrificial tenor
of
the Army. Another incident, wherein, a
Togolese cadet chooses to shift from Navy to Army is worth-mentioning,
as during his times he and his friend were the twin members
of
the Togan
army. The cadet opts out
of
his nation's twin member Navy as according to
his
calculations, his friend will become the Admiral and he will only move
up till the rank
of
the Vice Chief. Thus, the decision to
join
the Army. Such
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