The world is a fine place and worth
fighting for - Ernest Hemingway
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Varanasi : Army Cantonment and the Ganga
The
Indian Army has a large Cantonment area in
the holy city of Varanasi (or Benaras, or Kashi). This Cantt., established in
the last century, is the training Centre for the 3rd and 9th
Gorkha Battalions and hence known in the army
terms as 39 Gorkha Training Centre (39 G T C). it is a huge complex, most
beautifully kept and efficiently managed. It houses all the facilities to train
the new Gorkha Recruits arriving raw from Nepal and India. In 42 weeks of
intensive and thorough training these recruits are turned into well disciplined
and trained soldiers of the Indian Army. The process is supervised by the
Battalion Training Commander under the Commandant of the 39 GTC. 3rd
Gorkha Rifles was Lt Nawang’s Regiment. After being commissioned a an officer
he reported to the 39 GTC and spent 21 days here before proceeding to join his
unit, the 4th Battalion. He had spent some memorable time with
officers here, played tennis, enjoyed in the Officers
Mess and became familiar with the Gorkhas. We visited the 39 GTC as
guests of the army, and were warmly received at the airport by Major Vinay Pant,
the officiating Adjutant of the Centre. Every
officer we met had some fine words for Lt Nawang. He had participated in
the Dusherra celebrations which are rather important to the Gorkhas. Goats are
sacrificed to the deity and all participate in the festivities. There is a
firing range and various training areas which Lt Nawang had familiarised himself
with. We
visited the centre, specially
escorted by Col. J. S. Yadav, SM, who very enthusiastically showed us the
facilities are areas with great pride. Commandant of the Centre, Brig. Anil
Malhotra and the Deputy Commandant Col. Lalotra paid special visits to us. The
centre organised
special religious ceremony on Asi Ghat, on the Ganga. The priest from the
Centre performed a small puja, performed by Sonam and attended by many soldiers
from Lt Nawang’s Regiment. After the brief ceremony we rowed in a small boat
on the holy Ganga and immersed flowers in Lt Nawang’s memory. Senior Junior
Commissioned Officers from Lt Nawang’s regiment, all hardened veterans, had
wet eyes, specially Subedar Suresh Rana who was assigned to look after us for
all the days. They all had met Lt Nawang during his stay and proudly stated that
they will never forget their ‘sahib’. In
the Officers Mess the army has a tradition to maintain a Visitors Book
which has a silver cover. Lt Nawang Kapadia was asked to write an entry
in the same, which will be preserved for posterity. He wrote: “
Proud to join and be part of the
Gorkha Brigade” He
was equally proud to die for it, and become a part of its history. | ||||||||||||||
