Saturday 26 May 2018

I haven't written a blogpost for a while now and that's not because of any lack of inspiration, but only because I've been much too enamoured by watercolours lately.  But then sometimes certain experiences are so, if I may be permitted to use a bland word, "nice", that you feel a compelling need from within to share it with others.

This one is of limited appeal for its implications are something that only an Indian Army officer would understand. So here goes:-

It was a Dining Out dinner with a long guest list of officers. An officer, let's call him Col Kay, was delivering the farewell speech for his subordinate, someone I will call Lt Col Gee.
Now, as a rule these speeches are gut wrenchingly boring, filled with those standard hackneyed phrases which  are  mere  lipservice and singularly lack what I call "heart".
I, therefore tend to  either sleep with my eyes wide open during these speeches or let my mind wander, all the while shifting from one aching foot to the other.... This time too, I was dozing peacefully, oblivious to the monotonous monologue from the lectern when my sleepy ears caught someone's remark- Hey, they are coursemates!
My eyes flew wide open and interest awakened, I now began paying attention to Colonel Kay speaking at the podium.
Ah, so they are course mates, commissioned together.....And now one of them was "junior" to the other and
 working "under" him. Okkkk!

I smelt drama!

Colonel Kay was saying: He (Gee) is one of the finest officers of the Indian Army that I have come across and not only is he a wonderful person, he is also professionally excellent, one of the best in his field...' Finest officer' is a term that is very special to the vocabulary of the Indian Army and one that none use loosely. I watched Kay as he continued to laud his coursemate with a profusion of praise. Kay's speech was not a prepared one and each sentence that he spoke was a deliberate, one that came straight from his heart. Other people around, just like me, were now actually listening. I watched the man as he eulogised Gee, his voice and his expressions completely genuine and all the respect and affection that he felt for his superceded coursemate shone brightly through. The formal smattering of forced claps that normally follow these  speeches was, in his case, loud and effusive. He had finished and now it was time for Gee to speak. As Gee walked up to the lectern, a  colleague remarked, "Garry Sir looks so serious!"

Truly, the normally ever jovial Gee looked deathly serious as he paused at the lectern, his hands grasping the wooden sides for stability. He said very little in his thank you speech, very very little : the usual do-come-over-to-my-new-station-and-I-will-be-honoured-to-host-you and other just niceties but I easily caught the storm of feelings that were churning inside him. Kay's speech of straight-from-the-heart praise had left Gee overwhelmed, completely overwhelmed Overwhelmed, I think is an understatement. That six foot muscular frame was now an emotional mush but since the soldier can never cry, he stood grappling the lectern sides with knuckles that had turned white and spoke inanities that were so inane that no one heard them. I could understand very well his frame of mind and empathized completely with him. Here was a bright officer, professionally one of the very best in his sphere but for some reason he had been left behind in the career rat race. He must be feeling as if his institution had let him down, as if they had failed to acknowledge his acuity, his contribution, negated his dedication... This being left-behind perhaps had done sad things to his self confidence too, to his belief in himself, to his sense of usefulness to his institution. And now, the pure, unadulterated acknowledgment of his worth by a peer before a whole gathering of his seniors, peers and juniors had unleashed the floodgates of emotion within him. Though he had said very little, the claps that followed him as he left the stage were again effusive, heartfelt. And as he passed by me to mingle in the crowd behind, I caught murmurs of acknowledgment from the crowd- Hey Garry, Ye Ye Garry....I turned to catch the waiting Kay receive Gee with a large man-hug and then arms around shoulder, I watched the two, coursemate and friend head to the bar for that much needed drink.

All though that remaining evening, I was left with a sweetness in my mouth and a warm feeling in my heart wafts of which still linger as I type.......

2 comments:

  1. Day to day acknowledgements are a whiff of unpolluted air which keeps one going. Like I was telling my daughter we are conditioned that way. We seek approval and appreciation to set a value on our worth. We'll have truly loved only if we could break that mould.

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