SCENE
1: 12 October 1988
12 October 1988. 0300 hours (3 hours from H-hour). Somewhere
in North Sri Lanka. GHQ 54 Div
Gen.Harkirat Singh, General Officer Commanding (GOC), 54
Division, tasks Col.Gadgil and his unit, the 124/12 Deshpremis, to extract the
30 soldiers of 13 Sikh Light Infantry and 120 men of the 10 Paras from north of
the Jaffna University where they are bogged down under heavy fire from the LTTE
Back-story: A botched operation - Due to
failed intelligence, though the IPKF thought that senior leadership of the LTTE
was meeting at the university buildings that night, and planned to capture it,
the LTTE had intercepted the communications and was ready to ambush the IPKF
landing force. Though successfully inserted partially (only 30 of the 300 Sikh
LI managed to be landed, though all 120 Paras made it unharmed) on the
battlefield, the entire force came under heavy fire and was separated. The
Sikhs were misled by their local informer (who turned out to be a double agent)
and found themselves trapped in a couple of huts (a catholic mission of some
kind) surrounded, outnumbered and outgunned by the enemy. Running out of
ammunition (the ammo boxes had got stuck in their fixtures in the insertion
chopper and could not be offloaded) and having lost contact with the
headquarters but for handheld radios, the Sikhs decided to request extraction. General
Head Quarters (GHQ) decided to send in an extraction team consisting of three
T-72 tanks led by Maj.Kaul and a Deshpremi unit led by Col.Gadgil on the
ground. The armoured unit got bogged down due to heavy mining around the area
until Maj.Kaul, in a daring decision, decided to mount his tanks on the railway
tracks. Progress was slow and Maj.Kaul was a victim of an a stray shot through
the turret of his tank that took off his wedding ring finger and one of his
eyes. Pumped with morphine, he continued to lead the counter-attack and broke
through the flanks of the LTTE cadres. On the other end, the Deshpremis linked
up with the 10 Paras and proceeded to the huts where the Sikhs were entrenched
Col.Gadgil takes with him his 2-ic (second in command),
Maj.Nataraj, and 5 other officers (Capt.Abinit Singh and Lieutenants Ashfaq,
Sudhanshu, Pradeep and Fernandes)
History
of the 124/12 Deshpremis: Codenamed the ‘Mongooses’, and formed in August 1972, in
the aftermath of the Indo-Pak war, this unit draws its men from several
sources: the regular army/navy/air force, the paramilitary, the police and the RAW.
Trained in desert, jungle, amphibious, mountain, urban, counter-terrorism and
guerrilla warfare as well as small arms, heavy machine guns, helicopter &
fixed wing flying, parajumping, espionage, tracking, infiltration and unarmed
combat and CQB (close quarters battle), these men are also highly skilled in
information technology, disguise, code cracking and several languages in order
to round off their deployment potential. A crack force to be called on only in
cases of emergencies, their existence is kept secret even from their own
colleagues. Only the highest echelons in the army and the government are aware
of this unit. Used extensively in secret operations, the commandos are selected
not just on the basis of the physical attributes, but also mental strength,
intelligence, quick instincts and risk taking & decision making abilities.
These commandos typically are loners with no family ties but the strongest
patriotic sense of duty and sacrifice. All members of this unit are
commissioned officers (those from outside the army are given temporary
commissions), another first in the history of the Indian Armed Forces, and each
one is imbued with leadership qualities to take on several tasks
single-handedly. Col.Gadgil is a third generation army officer and it was his
father who raised this unit back in 1972 for use in specialised circumstances.
This unit helps out in counter-infiltration, espionage, search & destroy,
rescue and hot pursuit of terrorists and other regular infiltrators from across
the borders. Members are sent on deputation to various other units to enhance
learning and are offered rapid promotions and higher pay scales than regular
armed personnel. This unit does not differentiate on gender basis and women
fight shoulder to shoulder with men with great distinction. In fact, Lt.Fernandes
is a 23 year old lady officer originally from Goa, a second generation soldier
herself, with her father having served the Indian Air Force (IAF) as a
helicopter pilot for over 30 years. Commissioned recently, she was spotted by Maj.Nataraj
during her training and secretly inducted into the Deshpremi unit under the
ever-watchful eye of Col.Gadgil. A cool-headed sniper and a dangerous opponent
with any sharp instrument, whether a hunting knife or even a credit card, she
can hold her own in the jungles as well as in the group strategy sessions &
brainstorming. An ace helicopter pilot and an extremely well-read &
intelligent soldier, Lt.Fernandes (’Nandy’ to her unit-mates) takes no shit
from anyone. Foul mouthed but extremely caring, she is the apple of everyone’s
eye in the unit, though she never asks for nor is granted any exemption from
any task, something she is rightly proud of
The
unit’s motto is “Abhi Nidar Jeet” (अभी निडर जीत!). Roughly translated as “Courageous
Victory, Now!”, this is the unit’s war cry as they head into a battle. The
ensign called ‘The Fighting Mongoose’, consisting of a mongoose killing a cobra
in red over a black background with the unit motto inscribed in white, is the
pride of the unit and can be seen on the unit members’ berets, left sleeve and
in a special wrist-band that is worn traditionally by all Mongooses, whether
serving or retired (hence the saying in the unit: “Once a Mongoose, always a
Mongoose”). The sacredness attatched to this wrist-band is such that if a Mongoose
were to fall in action and if his or her body cannot be taken back and had to
be cremated or buried on the field, this wrist-band is taken off first and is
not allowed to burn or go under the ground. This is then preserved in the
unit’s base in a special ‘Hall of Remembrance’ which is open only to serving
and retired Mongooses who gather fondly in that room every 28th of August
(Unit Foundation Day) to pay their homage to the martyrs amongst them. In
addition, every Mongoose has the unit ensign tattooed on his or her left
shoulder. It is like an initiation rite of passage, since this is done without
the use of local anaesthesia and in the presence of all the unit members
cheering the new recruit on
The Deshpremis find themselves in a situation where the Sikhs
are not to be found (anybody living, that is). 29 bodies are strewn in the area
and the only one missing seems to be hiding so well that he cannot be
seen...or, maybe he has been taken alive. It can easily be seen that there has
been a massacre here and the Sikhs were completely outnumbered and outgunned.
The enormity of the mess dawns upon Col.Gadgil, but he steels his resolve to
make sure that he can get his own unit out as soon as possible to avoid adding
to the debacle. The 10 Paras have already been extracted since they linked up
with Maj.Kaul’s tanks and the only task remains is to get out in one
piece. Col.Gadgil takes stock of his
current position. The LTTE is closing in and he can hear the zip-zip-zip
of the extraction helicopter overhead over the rat-a-tat din made by the
machine gun fire and the zing of the tracers passing him by. Time is of essence
and speed is key
Col.Gadgil calls on his radio: “Mongoose One to all Mongooses.
Fall back to extraction area. We are going home. NOW! NOW! NOW!”
SCENE
2: A Hero Is Born
It was a boy...in
fact, two boys, one half dead and silent, the other alive and crying
When Nandy heard
the crying from the burning hut, her first instinct was to ignore it. She was
too trained and too experienced in the battlefield to change a set unit-wide
procedure of orderly extraction to deviate from the process. But she was human,
and a baby’s cry was not something she could easily disregard
Nandy entered the
hut. The first thing she felt was the heat. The tremendous heat hit her like an
upper cut delivered by a professional boxer in the ring. She expected it, of
course, having been trained in fighting through fires, which was just as well,
since the first thing someone finding a fire has to cope with is not the heat,
but the smoke: the blinding, eye-burning, asphyxiating, nauseating smoke; once
again, something she expected, and was prepared for. With watering eyes, she
looked around. On the far side of the hut, already in flames, she saw the body
of a woman, charred beyond recognition, probably the mother...dead. Next to the
mother, a half-burnt, silent boy, about 5 years of age, probably dead, with his
eyes staring dead straight at the doorway. On her right, she saw the crying
infant, untouched by fire, and wrapped in white and red. Instinctively, she
reached out and picked up the baby in one swoop, and ran out of the hut, just
in time to see Capt.Abhinit Singh frantically looking for her. He spotted her
exiting the hut. “Nandy, where the hell
were you? Move! NOW!” he shouted and signalled to a clearing in the bush. A
couple of bullets whizzed past her head as she ducked & weaved and ran for
the opening...the baby, now quiet, cradled in her arms
Running through the
underbrush protecting the baby from getting hurt from any thorny or hard
objects, Nandy came to the extraction site, about 100m from where she entered
the bush. The experimental ICH-v3.0 helicopter gunship, christened The Flying
Mongoose (the Indian Combat Helicopter version 3, a secret DRDO project not yet
launched but issued only to the Mongooses), a large machine with open doors and
mounted LMGs, looked safe and inviting. The large Deshpremi insignia on it
shone in the dark, as a warning to others to stay away. The pulsing blades cut
through the air thick with smoke and seemed to rotate in slow-motion for some
reason: Z-I-P...Z-I-P...Z-I-P. The
whirlybird was hovering about 2 feet from the ground and she saw her colleagues
extending their arms to her. Lt.Ashfaq was already manning the on-board LMG,
firing in bursts at the fast-approaching LTTE while Lt.Pradeep was still on the
ground giving covering fire. In one leap, she was on board and in another split
second, Lt.Pradeep followed
Col.Gadgil shouted:
“All in?”...to be answered by Maj.Natraj
with “Affirmative”...followed by a “GO! GO! GO!” by Col.Gadgil to the pilot,
Wg Cdr Sapre or 125 Helicopter Unit (HU) who wasted no time opening throttle,
pushing his cyclic stick forward and pulling the collective lever up in a
smooth motion to lift the bird into the sky and towards safety
No one spoke. The
mission was something the unit had trained for...nothing unusual, but the
sadness in not being able to save a single life was apparent in the lack of
conversation. Nandy looked at the baby. It was silent too, but looking at her
with wide open eyes. Nandy felt a twinge of regret for him. Not being able to
save his mother or his brother, she did not know what the future held for this
little guy. But she was a firm believer in destiny and thought, “Well, if he is here, there must be a
purpose. Instead of trying to figure it out, let me be thankful to God. The
important thing is I could save a human life. For me, that is the silver lining
to the otherwise dark cloud.” She smiled at the baby. The baby did not smile
back but stared at her fixedly, and she decided she was right in feeling
content about the day’s action
Leaning back on her
seat, Nandy thought back to the burning hut and the haunting eyes of the
half-burnt boy...staring at her. She closed her eyes, as if to shut that image
out. She looked at the baby she had in her arms and suddenly felt sorry for the
one she left behind
The Flying Mongoose
set itself down at the forward base of the Deshpremis. It was beginning to get
light, with the sun-rays slowly poking their way tentatively on the deep green
jungle horizon, as seen below from the rocky ledge on which the camp was set.
The Deshpremis filed out, not really tired, but a bit demoralised for the lack
of having saved anyone. Col. Gadgil walked to the ledge to see the sunrise,
contemplating the night before
Standing on the
rocky cliff, Maj.Nataraj looked at Nandy, then the baby. He raised his
eyebrows, in the universal gesture of questioning. Nandy shrugged...and smiled.
Maj.Nataraj smiled at the baby. The rest of the unit were already playing with
the baby. The dawn was quietly creeping over the green cover below and the
chopper’s blades were winding down, slowly creating a serene silence, with not
a bird chirping, nor a single leaf rustling in the dead wind
Col.Gadgil turned,
and asked, “Seems he is our baby now, a Mongoose.
A Deshpremi. What will we call him, chaps?” Just then, the baby reached for
Nandy’s ensign on her left sleeve and clutched it. The baby yanked and the
Velcro gave way. The baby was holding the unit’s badge and looking at it
intently. Someone shouted, “Abhi Nidar
Jeet”
