GUESS THE SOUVENIR

 

LT COL NOEL ELLIS

 

03/II/2025

 

Sometimes when you dig into your old Fauji boxes, certain things fall out of it and bring a flood of memories. That is what happened the other day. If I ask you to take a wild guess, I can assure you none of you would be able to guess it.

 

So, think and answer and don’t change your guess. Even if your answer doesn’t match, you can let me know what you guessed but be fair.

 

Most of our ‘black boxes’ have been given away. People in the civil world have a fascination for them. The first trunk which came into my life was the box one got made when joining NDA. It was a long journey by Jhelum express from Jalandhar to Pune. The longest journey by far was when it moved from Kangan in J&K to Maram in Manipur.

 

That box is a very precious one. Though now there is no attachment but still when I look at it, it feels good. What it contains is a mystery too. Poor thing had been lying unattended for many years. The contents survived by a miracle.

 

One thing which caught my eye was my Mech YOs diary. Being from the Mech Infantry, (which is a hint) we had to read a lot, especially about vehicles and engines. Those complicated hand drawn diagrams like the ‘Rotary Wankel’ engines were a pleasure to revise. ‘Planetary Steering Mechanism’ I gave my TP (teaching practice) but all my life I could only “paida karo choos” or do the “shuck-shuck drill” in the 1-ton engine.

 

BMP-1 and BRDMs were the mainstay of our Recce and Support Battalion. We were not identified as Tracked and Wheeled then. Two BRDMs still stand proudly at the entrance of the Mech Centre and School.

 

Being posted in the desert, the tracked BMP-1 was the ultimate ship of the desert. We traversed every possible dune in our Area of Responsibility. All night one would dream of getting hold of a Paki armoured regiment and play merry hell with the 73mm main gun and total annihilation with the wire guided, first generation ‘Malutka Missiles’.

 

We used to have numerous 84mm Rocket Launchers authorised to the battalion. They were used more to fire ILL (illumination) rounds, the technique of which I had mastered. RL detachments became my first love and my babies.

 

The poor RLs firers used to come to the fore on PFFR (Pokhran Field Firing Ranges) when no one could see the target till we illuminated it. We could light up the target with the very first round. Those 20-21 seconds of light on the target were crucial for the Pilot gunners to aim and hit the target.

 

That diary is of no use now as those vehicles have been scrapped. As I flipped the diary over, I remembered old friends. A few of them had left a handwritten note. One could still recognise their handwriting. I wish I was writing this piece with a pen or an ‘extra dark’ Natraj Pencil to jot down notes.

 

As I was shuffling through the box, I came across a neat bundle of some kind of string. It was white in colour. The bundle was quite heavy. Initially, I thought it was some kind of extra strong string but could not recall what it was and what was it doing in my box.

 

Eureka, it was the wire which used to guide the Malutka missile. 3500 meters of wire was bundled up so nicely that it could be opened without a knot. I didn’t have the heart to straighten it but held it in my hand for a while to ruminate.

 

We used to cut it off from the launcher and throw it away to mount a fresh missile. The scrap hunters gathering lead and pieces of metal used to wind the wire as it was made of pure copper. It used to send guidance signals generated from the ‘joy stick’ being operated by the ‘gunner’ sitting in the BMP.

 

There were two reasons why I had kept this wire. One was to fly kites. Those days, we used to do a lot of ‘Pechaas’ or kite fights during leave. To lose a kite was painful. No one could ever cut this string. Second, was to catch big fish from a rivulet near our home. No way could the fish snap the line and escape.

 

The days of kite flying and catching fish have long gone but this wire still remains with me as a souvenir. In the mid 80s there were no restrictions on keeping such things. Malutka missiles have become obsolete but the long tail still lives with me.

 

Could you now guess what I asked you? I wonder!!!!!

 

JAI HIND

©® NOEL ELLIS

Yours truly with a BMP 1

BRDM RECCE