😎THE OBSERVER-M(9)😎
15 July 2020
11:41
CHIWDA EDITION
Just received a call from Manjit Singh Sidhu who rejoined the group today after a long absence. So far,i somehow managed to resist the temptation of writing about this remarkable character from Naushera-8,a platoon full of stalwarts. Tall and lanky, a student union leader from Punjab University Chandigarh, the staff at OTA espescially the Drill and PT ustads had a lot of hopes in this cadet.But very soon they found that although he was good in swimming, his left hand moved out automatically with his left leg while marching and during PT, he had two long left legs which went totally out of control when he tried a front roll. A reverse roll was out of the question. Used to having a Platoon-full of freshers helping him in his activities during his Univ days, packing his Pack-08 and correctly folding a map-sheet were Herculian tasks for him. To top it all, he had S Murali, H Murali and Kuldeep Brar as room-mates. Even if he forced himself somehow to wake up early in the morning, there was S Murali telling him - " Sleep man, sleep.Lot of time is left." More often than not, he would be late and try to sneak in just as the report was being given.For all his size and experience as a Student's Union leader,he was an extremely gentle and amicable soul at heart and simple to the core.Never saw him lose his temper or raise his voice.
i still remember the way he came to CME Pune during my YO's and with great feeling, over drinks, he disclosed how his unit had unfairly detailed him for PT Course and he was being asked to perform extraordinary feats during the course. The next time we met, i was posted in Chandigarh and Manjeet came on leave. This time he complained about how he had innocently filled up the form for Part-B exam, and not being prepared for it adequately, he had left his unit on leave. Only to discover that there was some kind of absolutely unfair system in place, that made it mandatory for him to appear in the exam at Chandigarh. i sympathised with him. The very next day, he landed up at my unit during office hours and excitedly told me that the Law Exam was an open-book one . What could be simpler than that? The only hurdle was that he did not have the required books and neither did i. I left Sidhu in the Coy office and went to check out in the unit library. When i got back without the books or any solution of where to find them, i found Sidhu in high spirits. He had got the books from my Coy Cdr ! That is quintessential Sidhu for you. When he really required something, even a total stranger felt that he had taken birth on tbis planet just to help Sidhu out. Now all that remained was to teach Sidhu in a day or two how to use the books . And i still had to find law books for myself. Last i remember is the sight of Sidhu poring ovet the books and wringing his hair trying to solve model question papers. Cannot exactly remember what happened after that.Any tale of my OTS days would be incomplete without mention of Manjeet Singh Sidhu. Today, when he has rejoined the group and after just speaking with him, i'm feeling emboldened to write about him in this closed forum of stalwarts. i am quite sure he will forgive me for taking this liberty and for any innacuracies in my account.
15 July 2020
11:41
CHIWDA EDITION
Just received a call from Manjit Singh Sidhu who rejoined the group today after a long absence. So far,i somehow managed to resist the temptation of writing about this remarkable character from Naushera-8,a platoon full of stalwarts. Tall and lanky, a student union leader from Punjab University Chandigarh, the staff at OTA espescially the Drill and PT ustads had a lot of hopes in this cadet.But very soon they found that although he was good in swimming, his left hand moved out automatically with his left leg while marching and during PT, he had two long left legs which went totally out of control when he tried a front roll. A reverse roll was out of the question. Used to having a Platoon-full of freshers helping him in his activities during his Univ days, packing his Pack-08 and correctly folding a map-sheet were Herculian tasks for him. To top it all, he had S Murali, H Murali and Kuldeep Brar as room-mates. Even if he forced himself somehow to wake up early in the morning, there was S Murali telling him - " Sleep man, sleep.Lot of time is left." More often than not, he would be late and try to sneak in just as the report was being given.For all his size and experience as a Student's Union leader,he was an extremely gentle and amicable soul at heart and simple to the core.Never saw him lose his temper or raise his voice.
i still remember the way he came to CME Pune during my YO's and with great feeling, over drinks, he disclosed how his unit had unfairly detailed him for PT Course and he was being asked to perform extraordinary feats during the course. The next time we met, i was posted in Chandigarh and Manjeet came on leave. This time he complained about how he had innocently filled up the form for Part-B exam, and not being prepared for it adequately, he had left his unit on leave. Only to discover that there was some kind of absolutely unfair system in place, that made it mandatory for him to appear in the exam at Chandigarh. i sympathised with him. The very next day, he landed up at my unit during office hours and excitedly told me that the Law Exam was an open-book one . What could be simpler than that? The only hurdle was that he did not have the required books and neither did i. I left Sidhu in the Coy office and went to check out in the unit library. When i got back without the books or any solution of where to find them, i found Sidhu in high spirits. He had got the books from my Coy Cdr ! That is quintessential Sidhu for you. When he really required something, even a total stranger felt that he had taken birth on tbis planet just to help Sidhu out. Now all that remained was to teach Sidhu in a day or two how to use the books . And i still had to find law books for myself. Last i remember is the sight of Sidhu poring ovet the books and wringing his hair trying to solve model question papers. Cannot exactly remember what happened after that.Any tale of my OTS days would be incomplete without mention of Manjeet Singh Sidhu. Today, when he has rejoined the group and after just speaking with him, i'm feeling emboldened to write about him in this closed forum of stalwarts. i am quite sure he will forgive me for taking this liberty and for any innacuracies in my account.
