PANCHU THE GREAT

 PANCHU THE GREAT

 

LT COL NOEL ELLIS

 

07/XII/2022

 

Dear God, give me a break yaar. You took away a fellow ‘Cheetah’ a few days back and now you take another one. As they say, you too need good company; therefore, you selected our very dear friend and coursemate Lt Gen KC Panchnathan, AVSM, serving as GOC 101 Area to your folds. May his soul Rest in Peace. May you also give his family the strength to bear this loss.

 

Panchu the Great, we fondly called him. We spoke when he got promoted to this coveted rank. Then we spoke again when I was looking for some contact with the ‘Naga Hills’ Battalion, which I was a part of during my ‘Assam Rifles’ tenure. Before anyone could respond, I had the name and telephone number of the contact person from Panchu. That was the spirit of this person.

 

Panchu was a ‘Tambi.’ Tambi implies all the people hailing from below the ‘Tropic of Cancer’ for us North Indians. Somehow, Tambis and Saikapians could never gel. Yours truly was an exception. My looks and name melted many ‘terror tambi’ hearts. I got a lot of ‘lift’ from them till I opened my mouth. They could understand that ‘Tamil was Illay’ for me. ‘Venda’ was another word I knew. Panchu drew flak from both Tambis and ‘Non-Tambis’ God knows why.

 

Second term NDA, we were in for a shocker. ‘Charlie Sqn’ had never been on the ‘right side’ of the Drill Square. Everyone thought that it was because of ‘us’ second termers. That meant extra ragra, sweat and blood, not only in the official routine but till wee hours of the morning and late through night. We would curse but Panchu would smile even with a ‘Bajri order’ on. His never give up attitude motivated us always.

 

In that milieu, a person like me, who barely managed a CGPA of 2.8, Panchu emerged as a ‘torchie’ that too being a ‘techy.’ Sala, kuch to tha bande mein. Panchu could beat us hands down with his brains. Then one realised he had ‘Dimag.’ We were sans that commodity.

 

We struggled together in PT. PT ustad would send us round a goal post for a short sprint. Squad, goal post ko dahine chor ke ayega, go… pahla teen. How hard I would struggle but there were better runners. Panchu would invariably come last. Ustad would send us back again.

 

The logic Panchu would give was what is the point in sprinting and coming fourth, when you can jog and come last and go again. He had a point which we guys understood late in life due to lack of ‘kidneys’.

 

‘Drill’ definitely was his waterloo. For him, ‘Dahine’ meant left and ‘Bayen’ meant right, after all the Tambi genes were in play. We would go on ‘liberty’ to Pune while Panchu would dig on the drill square. Mind you, that training made him so strong that he led the ‘Engineers’ marching contingent on the Republic Day Parade soon after we passed out from IMA and proved all the drill ustads wrong.

 

Whenever Cheetahs met, we always remembered Panchu fondly, his sweet smile, and his subtle sense of humour. He was never seen, never heard kind. Very rarely did he speak his heart but sincerity ran deep in every RBC and WBC of his.

 

His loving nature could melt anyone’s heart. I am sure, all those in uniform who served with him, would have loved him. I was wating to hear the news of Panchu taking over as the ‘Engineer in Chief’ of the Indian Army. Never mind, you can help the ‘Almighty’ in his new Engineering projects and keep the Drill Ustads to Dig-Dig-Dig.

 

Our association took roots in the summer course of 1981 as 66 NDA at Ghorpuri and shall continue till eternity. My hands tremble as I key in these words. Shock and grief make me shudder. My heartfelt condolences to your family dear Panchu. The whole course stands with the family in this testing time.

 

Rest in Peace my brother Panchu the Great. Adieu & Au revoir, till we meet again.

 

In grief, Noel.