Circa 2003 , I was waiting in the harsh sun of Jaisalmer outside our so called Officers’ Mess, so called -for we were only three officers in the unit and had a ramshackled place for a Officers’ Mess and for some guests of the Unit. The guests, this time around, as we were frequently visited being the most popular tourist town of Rajasthan, were Col & Mrs Moorthy, then Col MS of Army Ordnance Corps (AOC) ,the Officer incharge of Officers posting of AOC officers’ posting, alongwith Col MI Hussain. The guests were on time and after the initial greetings the lady asked “Deepak how long have you been here ?” and before I could reply the husband said “ Deepak has been here for 2 yrs 8 months and he is itching to move out’’.
He knows his job I thought slightly impressed with the fact that the Col MS on a vacation bothered to find out details of a young Capt.
His visit went off well and he was apparently happy with efforts of the unit and of the young Adm Offr in me. During one of the get togethers he made me an offer I could not refuse , he offered to give me the next posting as my choice posting . After discussing it for some time, since initially I was totally taken aback, he asked me to further discuss with my wife and inform him when he gets back to Delhi.
Well after his visit was over I threw the idea outside the window and got into rigmarole of Unit life going by the general perception of how the MS branch functions. Few days later my Officer Commanding called me to his office and said that Col MS Col Gautham Moorthy wanted to speak to me. I was shocked but I managed to mumble my choice of posting when he asked and he responded by saying okay you are going to Jalandhar and soon I headed for Jalandhar.
This time around I was really impressed with his diligence and his ability to keep his word , a rare quality in Army now
That was my first interaction with the person who was to become a friend and later the senior most officer of AOC.
Time flew and I heard that he became Brigadier and went on to command COD Jabalpur while I was sweating it out in a hard pressed appointment , in Jalandhar. I guess I was too lost in my life, like always, and besides my laid back attitude stopped me from making a congratulatory call on his promotion , Command or even stay in touch.
Time flew fast and in no time I was stuck in a situation where I was to go on posting next day and neither my leave was sanctioned from next unit nor was my posting postponed and I had not even packed. I was truly at sea and sometimes the Army hierarchy just pulls away all the support and this was one of those times.
I made a call to then Brig Moorthy, Dy MS , he was back in posting department after finishing his command as a Brigadier in Jabalpur,and said “ Morning sir, this is Deepak here”. He recognized and asked enthusiastically how are you and how have you been?. There was that distinct warmth in his voice which I always associate him with now.
After the initial greetings and before coming on to main point I sheepishly told him that I once I tried to contact him in Jabalpur. He smiled over the phone “ I didn’t receive any message, but tell me”. I explained my problem to him and he said “ your posting stands postponed by one month and you can treat this conversation as an authority, rest will follow”, which did, by evening.
That was him, in his element again
Time like always again flew and I was again lost in my life without bothering to stay in touch and this time life took me to Pune in Staff at Command HQ. Around the same time I made friends with a couple who were also friends with him and they mentioned about one Brig Moorthy of AOC doing National Defence College (NDC), a prestigious course, with them which ensures your promotion to General’s rank and the lady suggested that I should congratulate him. I shied away. Soon Brig Moorthy was promoted to General’s rank and I was again told to wish him on his promotion And again I shied away.
One day when I was sitting in my office and I got a call ‘Good morning Col Bhatt” I said .
“ Morning Col Bhatt I’m Brig Moorthy and I am getting posted to South Comd as MG AOC”, Major General of AOC in Command HQ ‘ practically my Boss’ boss, said the voice on the other end.
“Morning sir, this is Deepak” I said excitedly and he replied “ Oh Deepak you are there its nice to know my old friends are around in Pune”.
That was him again, considering me as a friend, never keeping in heart that I never stayed in touch.
He joined soon and the initial hustle bustle started. Since his style of working is known to many I was called to his house one afternoon , to go through some official letters which he was writing. He was in the guest house then and in the back ground some rock music was being played I think it was’ The Boss’, Bruce Springstein. Before I gave him my frank opinion which was different from his and my superior’s I was thinking why is he listening to my kind of music , he is an a old man, it must be his son’s music collection for I knew he had a grown up boy.
Few weeks later there was a party at his house and I noticed a music system with lots with cassettes of Pink Floyd and Dire Straits indexed with his own handwriting. I asked him slightly amused,“Do you listen to all this ?”, he said “Ya Ya they are all mine. I take lot of pains to docket and maintain them”
Right away I knew I am allowing myself to be friends with a good guy. For anyone who also loves pink Floyd can’t be bad.
Our friendship continued with his being a Maj General and me being a Lt Col during the tenure at Pune and there were many instances where he got to know me more and I got to know him more. I remember getting a whacking from him once when I allowed a guy from one Unit actually learn the kind of tea the General liked. Army is a funny organization imagine one guy came all the way from a different city to learn how the General likes his tea. We have this solid colonial hangover . We also love to address Brigadiers and above in third person. He once frowned at me and said -are we in the Mughal Army ?? when I addressed him in third person. I was quick to respond by saying “point noted sir” and after that I never repeated it again.
I have always believed that every challenge is an opportunity , so one day I a challenge presented itself in form of me being detailed to be a part of a Study Team where Gen Moorthy was the Presiding Officer , where initially he was looking for a Staff College pass officer, a prestigious exams in Army almost a must for career conscious Officers with a debatable notion that they are high IQ officers.
I tried to escape this challenge, I am ex NDA after all, making an attempt to escape challenges is in our blood, I did not succed and later it proved to be an opportunity as I got to know him more and spend more time with an army officer who among very few had impressed me, in my life
I spent one and a half years with him as his staff officer and it was really a privilege working with him. After my dining out dinner which was organized in a restaurant of my choice, he called me over the next day to his house and briefed me on how to go about my first trip abroad in detail and later took me out for lunch where I remember we had fish, mutton andchicken dishes, i.e all available meat.
From Pune I moved to Jorhat and this time around I stayed in touch with him. I also remember telling him once when I was touring with him that rumours are rife that that he is going to be the next DG OS and I also remember his concern when he called to enquire about my safety when I was in the North East and there was a bomb blast near my location.
There have been many instances when we interacted and every time I realized that I was growing fond of him. I am also reminded of one such incident when after regimental dinner he and I were involved in an intense discussion which must be leaving the other guests wondering as to what the General’s ex staff officer is talking to him so enthusiastically about, when actually we were discussing tattoo designs.
This was him and I.
Soon there was another challenge when my promotion board for Lt Col to Col was due and it turned out that he was also a member of my promotion board. I spoke to him about it and he said that he can’t make out as to who is who but nevertheless he advised me to have a drink, whatever the result be. So I followed his advice to the tee and opened a bottle of Black Lable for my unit officers the day I got non empanelled. On that score I think I must be the only officer in the Indian Army to do that , I followed it up with informing him too about this . Later I came to know that the reference of opening a scotch bottle on missing a promotion board was mentioned by Comdt College of Materials Management Lt Gen Gautam Moorthy in one of his lectures .
I have had very interesting interactions with him which made me see a different side of a man whom people know as DG OS and I say he is a fine guy, irrespective of my confirmation bias that any one who listens to pink Floyd can’t be a bad guy.
He was also instrumental in removing my disillusion on certain occasions including the one when I sent a note to him which I wrote after getting disapproved.
With an aim to go to Delhi on posting I called him up.
“ Morning sir ,Deepak here”
“Bad news Deepak”
“ I am over it sir but I now wish to go to Delhi in AHQ’’, I replied.
“Ok, you will go to OS-6, ”he said., OS 6 is a section in Ordnance Directorate in AHQ with substantial work
“No sir, I don’t think I will be able to justice to OS-6 after my non empanelment”.
“Shut up, you are going to OS-6” he replied .
That’s how I reached Delhi . Getting posted to Delhi gave me more opportunity to interact with him, like in the official parties when he looked at me and seem to say that because of this hierarchical distance between a Lt Gen and Lt Col we can’t talk much here. I also found him to be extremely available to friends and focussed on what he wanted to do, continuous streaming of rock music in the background in the office helps I guess.
We had decided to party often but his schedule did not allow that but we could eke out time one evening and I still remember what he typed for me on my phone after being high on beer since you can hardly talk in pubs because of loud music, he later confessed that he had this much beer after a long time.
He wrote “I will do anything for my Corps, my family, my Army, my Country , not necessarily is that order, above all for my own happiness because if I am not happy I will not be able to do anything of the above’’.
That is Gen Moorthy, who is rated as the best DG OS seen by almost all of the Ordnance offrs that I recently interacted with and I consider myself lucky to have found a friend like him.
WRITTEN: 2014 , On his retirement, and gifted him .He later surprised by inviting me and wife , just after our marriage ,for lunch. We stay in touch till date , with him helping me every now and then . I got motivated to resume running in 2019 ,when he started running , which was to be one of the factors to survive a near fatal attack of Covid in 2021.Touched base with him last in Pune in Jan 23, over drinks and Mutton Biryani from Blue Nile ,our favorite
No comments:
Post a Comment