Skip to main content

 


A TRIBUTE TO SANGAM JHA

 

LT COL NOEL ELLIS

 

24/XI/2022

 

My heart is heavy as I pen these few lines in remembrance for a very dear friend, a fellow ‘Cheetah’ of 66 Course NDA, Brig Sangam Jha (Retd). He breathed his last yesterday. My heartfelt condolences to the bereaved family. May God grant strength to the family to bear this loss.

 

Sangam, you left a little too early. It was only yesterday that we were together in NDA, Charlie sqn. A tall, fair, lanky, smart, soft-spoken Bihari from Sainik School Taliya. A good buddy and above all a simple and down to earth soul. ‘Jha ji’ as we all used to call you so fondly, you were known for your soft spoken and friendly way of life.

 

How hard you tried to be a ‘terror’! It was beyond you. Because you just couldn’t be one. It was not in your nature. You were a gentleman personified, unlike many Biharis I encountered. Sangam, your soft approach was loved by one and all. I am sure the juniors would vouch for it.

 

I remember you were good at cross country. You were a born runner unlike us who were the fourth enclosure types who repeated cross country just after finishing cross country practice, or were found floating in the ‘Charlie Well’ after that gruelling session. How hard people like me tried, we could not ‘up’ our enclosure. All those who have undergone the Charlie Well session know what I mean.

 

I also remember you had an issue with the ‘High Horse’ of ‘Ghutna Bend.’ The ‘broad horse’ or the ‘long horse’ being repeated by you over and over again till you perfected it. I also remember standing on the other side of the horse, when the squadron would have rushed for tea, requesting me to stay on, just you and me in the battalion area near the cycle stand.

 

We would discuss how to seedha karo your ghutana when you took flight to cross the horse. I would stand behind the horse to protect you from falling, as you repeatedly jumped till you had no stamina left. Fondly, you would say. Noel, kal fir karenge. Finally, when there would be just enough time to take a bath and sit down for study period, I would give you a white demo, before we lifted the Horse and mat and kept it to the side.

 

It was fondly we spoke after so many years when you were in Bombay and I in Alibaug. The last we spoke after your retirement a couple of months back. How we recollected our squadron days and life in general. I wish we could have met but destiny had something else in store.

 

I could feel your smile across the phone because I have experienced that unmistakable smile of yours first hand. God Bless you and your soul. May you keep smiling on us from wherever you are brother. Das Vidaniya, till we meet again.

 

In Grief, Noel




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

FINGER ON YOUR LIPS

  LT COL NOEL ELLIS   29/IV/2025   What has happened to Pakistan? While India is doing Fauji Exercises, Pakistan has mobilised for what! I agree that the people of India want revenge. But, from whom? Our PM has only said that “we will not leave the terrorists and their supporters till the end of the Earth”. He has never said he will sort out Pakistan, or has he?   It has been hilarious watching discussions on Paki social media channels. They seem to have already given up. Our RM meets the PM and Pakistan starts shitting bricks. They talk about jazba and gazwa, and start telling us about their nuclear arsenal. 160 I suppose. By the way we will send across one equivalent to your 160 if need be.   There is a saying, ‘Chor ki Dari main tinka” literal meaning is, a straw in a thief’s beard. However, the deep meaning is that a guilty person reveals his guilt through his behaviour, even unintentionally. Clearly, “a guilty conscious needs no accuser”...
14 comments
Read more

SCENE AT ELLIS’ RESTAURANT

    LT COL NOEL ELLIS   04/XI/2024   Every morning the scene in the Ellis’ restaurant is so refreshing. The notes birds sing sounds like ‘reveille’ being sounded by the buglers. The ‘scenario’ keeps varying with arrival of different birds at different timings.   It is like being a restaurant owner, working solo with minimum help. Yours truly is the waiter, housekeeper, cook, receptionist, barman, purchase manager, accountant, and storekeeper of this shack. Imagine!   Foremost thing in the morning is housekeeping of the garden area, followed by watering the pots. This gives the plants a nice bath, like kids being readied for school.   The first set of ‘clients’ called the ‘Tailor Birds’ appear. They love to hunt for insects which get disturbed by the watering ritual. They sing and dance, hop and skip and carry on chasing moths and worms, without bothering about my presence.   By then the Bulbuls and the Sparrows start lini...
17 comments
Read more

IF THERE IS A WAR…...

    LT COL NOEL ELLIS   28/IV/2025   I remember the 1971 war as a small child. We were in Kapurthala Punjab, very close to the Pakistan border. It was an evening in December, I do not remember the exact date. While returning from a friends house, the declaration of war was done as I skipped along the ‘Thandi Sarak’ of Kapurthala.   The gist was that a vehicle with loud speakers was telling people to head home as an "emergency" had been declared and war had started. I ran as fast as I could, shivering with fear and my heart beating unusually fast. Though I was a lap baby when the 1965 war had taken place, it appeared serious business now.   Overnight, Dad and other Uncles started digging trenches infront of our homes. Carbon paper was no dearth in a teachers house, so mom got into an overdrive to stick them to the glass windows. Though the glass had been painted during the 1965 war, some broken panes had been replaced. Mom told ...
2 comments
Read more