By Rahul Seth
We recognize the 8th of October as the Indian Air-force Day. On
this day we celebrate the proud individuals who man our skies and form an
essential element of lethal assault and defense to assuage the nation’s
national security and sovereignty. On this day, we recognize their
sacrifice, and the sacrifice of every other such member of the armed forces or
individual who, in the history of the nation, have indulged in similar
contributions to the nation. On this day, we don’t celebrate just these
individuals, but the idea that and moreover, the ideal of patriotism that
drives them. LTGTR speaks with retired Group Captain Tejwant Singh, who joined the Indian
Air-force on 9th March 1963 and served in both
the wars of 1965 and 1971. During the War of 1971, his Mig-21 Aircraft was shot
down over Pasrur airfield in Pakistan and he was taken POW (Prisoner Of War). Later, post
repatriation, he was awarded the Shaurya Chakra for his
gallantry in flying back to base a valuable and damaged Mig-21 aircraft in
April 1973 when a vulture hit him unexpectedly. Despite serious injuries to his
body and face and with just half the available vision he displayed
determination, a high degree of flying skill and bravery in tackling a very
serious situation at great personal risk. We visited him at his
Gurgaon home, where he now writes avidly, his first book, ‘The Bold,
Brave and Fearless’ having recently been launched in Canada; He actively
blogs as well, titled ‘Don’t Mistake me for a Muslim’.
Q.
Sir, why is your Blog titled as such?
A. Post 9/11 America was in a state of fear. Trust in people
became a problem and everyone looked at people with brown skin with eyes of
suspicion. Turbans became synonymous with Muslims on account of the
Taliban Pathan turbans and eventually to suit their own safety and convenience
some Sikhs stopped wearing them, however those who were devoted still kept them
on. A regular American citizen’s General knowledge is extremely poor even
though they are extremely liberal and welcoming in comparison to the USSR who
were distant and confronting, post 9/11 America changed radically to resemble
the coldness I experienced in the USSR and they mistake us Sikhs for Muslims.
My blog is to tell them the difference since most of them refuse to consider
the world beyond their nose.
Q.
Sir, How Did you come to join the Air-Force?
A. I come from a family of warriors. For nearly the past 300 years
my ancestors have been defending this nation. My Father and his father before
him were also in the Army. The Tenth Guru of the
Sikhs, Guru Gobind Singh, established the Khalsa to combat the Tyranny of the
Mughals. At the time of Aurangzeb’s rule, Non-Muslims weren’t even
allowed to wear a sword, ride an elephant or a horse. I chose to join the
Air-force as a diversion from the Army. I
have no male descendants but my younger brother’s sons, however, are in
Merchant Navy and Hotel management, respectively. The desire to join the Armed
Forces seems to be diluting.
Q.
Sir, How was the experience of your First Flight?
A. The first flight is known as the Solo flight. In
my times we used to have piston-engines trainer aircraft with the Instructor
sitting in the rear seat. I took off and looked back at the Instructor’s seat and saw it empty and
for the first time I felt absolutely in control. Taking off is the easy, it’s
the landing that one needs to worry about. Landing
takes the greatest amount of control. In a layman’s explanation, one would need
to control the float: speed and height has to gradually decrease; as the lift
component decreases the drag increases. Landing is like a controlled crash.
When you are in the cockpit, it isn’t like you are strapped into the plane, but
more like the plane being strapped onto you. It is a great sense of
responsibility, to have to bring the plane back safely.
Q.
Sir, How was your experience as a POW?
A. In the 1971 war, when we took flight it was like our defining
moment. It was as if we had been trained for just this day. We had planned an
aerial strike deep in enemy territory. We had planned to take the shortest
areal route, from Amritsar to the target. The Pakistanis had pre-empted this
and had placed their Anti-Aircraft guns in Sugarcane Fields and villages all
along our route starting from Lahore. It was an amazing sensation watching an
AA gun fire at you. It isn’t like a bullet, but more like a ball of flame,
coming straight for you. The shell that gets you isn’t the one that you can see
coming straight at you. Those will miss you because you would gone past at the
speeds modern fighter aircraft fly. The ones that get you are the ones that
explode in front and above you. On shard of shrapnel is enough to damage a
vital part of the engine. We took heavy AA firing.
My plane was shot down as well. I had been wounded and couldn’t
walk due to an injury to the spine. I was captured and given first aid and then
put on a stretcher and into an ambulance. I was taken to the Gujranwala Jail,
put in a cell and locked up. The mattress was filthy as expected. Later in the
night, at midnight, my cell door was opened, I was blindfolded, cuffed and
loaded into the jeep and then we drove all night long up
to the morning. I could peek through the corner of the blindfold. Because my
watch had been taken away, I had no idea of time. But when the sun came out, I
could feel its warmth on my right side. I could assess directions by the heat
of the sun: when the sun was on my right, I knew we were travelling north. And
when my left became warm we were travelling south. This kind of realization
comes when one is under captivity and one’s senses become acute. It’s all a
matter of survival. They thought I didn’t know where I was
and were poking fun at me. But I immediately surprised them by stating where we
were, based on my assessment of the Punjabi dialect spoken by the local people.
The jeep ride continued until I was taken to Rawalpindi.
I wasn’t tortured at any point. They did question me a lot, but
moments after I had been captured ‘Jangbandi’ or a Truce had been declared and
the war had ended. I actually made an immediate bond
with a Major Khokher, a medical officer, who was sitting by me while I lay in the ambulance
on account of my spinal fracture. He gave me tea and peeled a Kinu to fed me.
Q
Sir, What do you think of corruption in the Defence Ministry and deaths of Air
Force pilots due to plane crashes on account of purchase of cheap parts?
I believe there is a systemic problem in the institution that we
have established in our nation, ergo the Ministry of Defense which is
essentially run by politicians and bureaucrats, who aren’t members of the armed
forces. Here one must compare with the United Kingdom model wherein the armed
forces and the people running it are merged into one body which makes
infrastructure and development easier since their need is better understood. When
you have bureaucrats only running the show, they have a different perception of
military matters and a different frame of mind compared to how men in uniform
see the same issues.
Post Kargil,
there was lot of hype about changes required in procedures but nothing substantial
has happened. Moreover the Defence Budget is heavily burdened with 80% of it
going to towards pay and pension leaving very little for modernisation. On the
other hand if we have a system where all Central Services personal first serve
in the Armed Forces for a period of 5 years and then change over to other
professions, then we can gradually have less number of ex-servicemen to be
given pension. Those who change over to other Central Services like IAS, IPS
etc can remain on reserve for 5 years during which they could be called back
into Uniform as a trained and available National Force. And during this 5 years
reserve period they should report every year for 1 month re-training to keep
their operational skills tuned. ‘Exigency makes a man’. Such militarily trained
individuals or civilians would always be ready to serve the Nation. This scheme
can be incorporated if we change our mind-set. I had
sent a letter to the Prime Minister with this recommendation but received no
reply. With times we have to change our attitude and make the best of
what we have. A prime example of a dynamic attitude is the way the Punjabi
community settled down after independence. They had abandoned their properties
in Pakistan and most had come with nothing but clothes on their back. They were
given properties abandoned by people who went across to Pakistan. They did not
beg for government funds and assistance. Punjabis immediately capitalized on
the opportunities available to them and made the best use of it converting
everything into profitable ventures. Their attitude and resilience surprised
the rest of the Indians who were not affected by the partition. I was very
young and heard other boys of non-Punjabi origion comment about this in my
school.
As
far as corruption in the defense ministry is
concerned, I have no personal information on any specific incident. But delay
in procurement of important equipment invariably invited rumors that unless the
Contract is big, the 2% margin will remain small. Therefore, if the Contract is
delayed and its cost increases with time, the cut would be bigger. How far this
is true is anybody’s guess. Moreover, they don’t understand the needs in the
right perspective. For example, the Indian Air-Force needed Advanced Jet
Trainers (AJT) for better transition from a less complicated training aircraft
on to advanced and complicated front-line fighters. Since there was a sudden
jump to Mig-21s, we lost many young pilots due to lack of training on a proper
AJT. The file for the AJT was buried with the Ministry for almost 20 years ago
before the procurement was finally sanctioned. How can you bury something so
important for 20 years? Take another case of Drop Tanks that are attached to
fighter aircraft and are sometimes jettisoned or dropped to make the aircraft
lighter during extreme operational conditions like a in a dog-fight during war.
It is called WWR or War Waste Reserve. When we asked WWR for a particular
fighter, they asked “Why do you need it?” When the need was explained they
said, “In 1956 we purchased drop tanks as WWR for Hunter aircraft. A lot of
them must be left over. Besides the Hunter aircraft has been phased out of
service. Why can we use those for this new fighter aircraft” When it was
explained that each component of a modern aircraft is specifically designed and
aerodynamically specific and cannot be interchanged like in a bullock cart,
they commented, “You are trying to pull the wool over my eyes.”
Q.
Sir, Are you for complete disarmament, if it ever was a possibility?
Complete disarmament is a utopia and is therefore not a
possibility. Having an army or protective forces isn’t a dire necessity.
Besides we have always been a defensive nation and never an offensive one. The
only time any non-Muslim has ever actually conducted a military offensive
beyond the borders of India was when Maharaja Ranjit Singh of Punjab marched
into eastern Afghanistan along with the Nihangs of Akali Phula Singh. Because Akali Phula Singh had neutralized two
strong-holds of Pathans in Punjab, he had managed to strike fear in their
hearts. He led the army into Afghanistan even defeated a force of Ghazies who
are supposed to be the Commandoes of Islamic armies. The result was that the
army led by Akali Phula Singh occupied Peshawar, the Pathan’s biggest
stronghold, without a fight in 1818. The fear of selfless fighters was such
that the Afghan Governor of Peshawar ran away into the Khyber Pass and the
population vacated the city. However, as per the Maryada of the Sikhs, those
who were left behind were not molested. The only warring clans
who had the warrior spirit in India are the Sikhs, Rajputs, Jats and the
Marathas. The Sikhs have always had the spirit of sacrifice. Even when Guru
Tegh Bahadur was brought before Aurangzeb in chains, not once did he flinch or
show fear, only pride and valor. It isn’t easy to die for somebody else or to
put your neck on the line for someone else. The question is one of ‘I’ versus.
‘Tyaag’. For the Sikhs Tyaag’ always comes first and therefore Langhars are where
we feed everyone as equals without boasting or claiming credit. When Nadir Shah
invaded India and stole the peacock throne and was taking it back to Persia, it
was the brave and selfless skirmishes of the Khalsa at his encampments en-route
the return that saved the 25,000 women that he wanted to take back as slaves
and to add to his harem. This is the Spirit of Tyaag that is enshrined in the
ideal of the armed forces also. It is Tyaag that should be the Global Dharma.
We see from this inspiring conversation with retired
Group Captain Tejwant Singh that there are inadequacies in the setup as it
stands, in how we deal with our reciprocal responsibilities to these brave men
who risk their lives for us on the warfront. We owe to them the respect that they
have more them earned. We owe to them some semblance of security, resembling
the kind they render us. We owe to them not to have them neglected. Let us
recognize that on this Indian Air-Force day, and maybe do these men and women
more of a kindness and concern then just a Calendar Day.
Rahul Seth
I addictively enjoy debating, one of the side-effects of Law School and a generally verbose lifestyle. I indulge in moot courts, writing, playacting and direction, MUN’s
occasionally; I sometimes strum a cacophony on my guitar and regularly
treat the neighbors to the melody of my voice, sometimes to their
liking.
