NEED OF THE TIME

 

 

Today, the very concept of warfare has changed. There are no ethics left, no rules and regulations of engagement are followed. War is no more a conventional war as we knew it Weapon systems, ammunition and warheads have changed. Civil industry now has to step forward to pitch in to make war machines.

 

I remember the industrial belts of Ludhiana and Bhatinda. They could invent, reverse engineer, modify and manufacture anything, provided you paid them, gave them time and electricity to run their machines. That man in a grease smeared outfit could produce wonders.

 

It was during Op-Vijay, I witnessed their brilliant minds. The story goes this way.

 

Every company had a generator those days. My company was a little detached from the battalion. The battalion headquarters needed that generator. It was withdrawn one fine day.

 

We kept waiting for the war to start but the balloon never went up. It got limited to Kargil. However, we stayed deployed in the summer heat.

 

Kerosine was a ‘controlled store’ but diesel was no dearth in a Mechanised company.  However, we needed electricity to run our ‘diesel bhattis’. We had bought fans and coolers for troops from the local market to keep cool during the day by then. Without a generator, running them was out of the question.

 

We contacted the Sarpanch in whose cotton fields we were deployed. He generously gave us a connection from the transformer. Due to the distance from the village the voltage would drop. A 100w bulb would glow like a 10w one. Those days the electric supply used to be so erratic that we would get the supply for just two hours in a day. If war broke out then fans and coolers didn’t matter.

 

One day, while in the market, I visited a shop selling farm equipment. They had modified a tractor. Its shaft had been connected to a dynamo to produce electricity. An apple fell on my head. That piece was manufactured in ‘Malut Mandi’. I latched on.

 

CHM Gurdev Singh was with me. He got the drift immediately. “Appan v banva liyye saab”. “Hor ki”, I replied. Gurdev got the address and asked me for a day’s leave. “Tussi jao saab, chuti-shutti vekh lavange. Pata kar ke ayo, kiven banuga, te kinne da bannuga eh jugad”. I assured him that his absence would be covered if he finds out can a generator be made and how much would it cost?

 

Gurdev evaporated and returned after two days. “Ho juga saab”. It would be done. “Ek three-ton chahida va, te Rs 2500/- Baki rum-shum kar laange”. By the way Gurdev never touched a drop. I gave a thumbs up.

 

The dilemma was sending a vehicle with a driver and CHM to a far-off place during operational deployment without the CO’s permission. I took my chance to cut off the bureaucracy. In the middle of the night the three ton disappeared. “Cheti to cheti vapas auna hai saab. Je assi aithe na mile taan taali thalle parchi milugi, kitte auna hai”. “Jai Hind Saab”, said Gurdev and left. (We had earmarked the biggest Shisham tree (taali) where we would leave a secret message about our next move).

 

Two days later, Gurdev returned with a 3-ton modified with a generator. The terms of reference given to him were that its loading space should not be reduced. There was a Patta (belt) linked to the dynamo between the gap of the driver's cabin and the body. A switchboard was affixed to the body. The Shaktiman would be jacked up and started. Its propeller shaft would give motion to the dynamo and voila, every tent of the company and our diesel Bhatti in the langar could be run with much electricity to spare.

 

During the CEME inspection, we stood first. This contraption was dismantled and reassembled after the inspection team left. Even the old tires of our vehicles shone like new, which was a compliment given by the inspecting officer.

 

By then, the cotton crop had been harvested and we had a pile of dry cotton bushes to use as firewood with the permission of the sarpanch. I asked him if he could help us make tandoors and train my cooks to make tandoori rotis for the jawans. The sarpanch got them ready in a week. Imagine on issue days, we would eat tandoori rotis and make merry. Surplus atta would run short.

 

I and a selected platoon used to enjoy tandoori tittars and fish. That story for another day.

 

Let me confess that Indian minds are very fertile and innovative. Give them the time, money and resources, we can have missiles manufactured in Bhatinda. It is the need of time. Will the government understand that? I wonder!!!!!!

 

JAI HIND

© ®NOEL ELLIS