Morcha chief Bimal Gurung (third from left) at the condolence meet, along with other party leaders and ex-serviecemen. Picture by Suman Tamang

Darjeeling, June 30: A condolence meeting held here to remember Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw focused on the humane nature of an army officer who shunned ostentation to mingle with fellow soldiers down the line.

Sam Bahadur, as he was fondly called by the rank and file of the Indian Army, was not only a great general but a great humanist as well, former armymen who worked with him recalled.

The meeting was organised by the Gorkha Bhuptubra Sainik Morcha, a frontal organisation of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, at the Gymkhana Club. The Morcha president, Bimal Gurung, was also present at the meet.

Subedar (retd) Ram Prasad Baral, who served as Manekshaw’s driver for 18 months when the Field marshal was the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Eastern Command in Calcutta during 1969-70, said: “He was a humble soul. I hope that such officers continue to serve in the army. He was very jovial, yet strict. Whenever he used to visit barracks, he sat on soldiers’ beds and drank tea from a mug, not from a cup, like an ordinary jawan.” The general was fond of gardening and dogs and he used to keep aside a couple of chapatis or puris from his breakfast for the pets, said Baral.

The soldiers remembered the country’s first general as a great soul who was also humble and down to earth. “In 1978, when I was serving in Chennai, the general visited us and he still remembered me. Despite being a high ranking officer, he talked to me. It is not that I would have been sad if he had not had a word with me, but the fact that he walked up to me speaks of his nature”, said Baral.

Col (retd) R Allay, the chief of the Morcha’s ex-servicemen wing, remembered the soldier as a great tactician.

Amar Lama, the Morcha central committee member, said: “Manekshaw was a person who was also concerned about the welfare of the Gorkhas. We are confident that he would have sympathised with our movement, if we could have met him.”