” I don’t talk about my life a lot. But, I am happy when I think about how eventful my life has been. I compare myself to Forrest Gump. I was a small part of some of the most important moments in history. I was a child when partition took place. I was 9 years old.I remember that my younger brother and I were on my uncle’s shoulders while crossing Ravi River, which had very less water. Suddenly the current of the water increased and my father was swept by the current. One of our buffaloes was on the other side of the river. My uncle made a loud noise and the buffalo ran along the bank towards my father. My father caught hold of its tail and managed to reach the riverbank. I joined army in Air Defence in 1957. In 1960, I was at Goa for the Operation Vijay. We fired just one round and Portuguese Goa fell. Next day Goa was with us. We roamed all over Goa and went to beaches. We went back to Punjab and the unit moved to Himachal Pradesh. During 1962 operations we moved from Himachal to Srinagar and were constantly on move. We did not fire. Soon in 1965, we were again deployed and extensively fired on aircrafts coming from Nainakot Sector in Pakistan. In one operation we fired directly at the enemy and taking the cover of our fire, an infantry battalion moved in for the attack. Again few years of peace and in 1971 once again we were deployed in Punjab. I had been promoted by then but other than the allotted task I did not know anything else. We fired all the time. I retired in 1974. At 82, I remember most of the incidents but mix up operations. I think age is getting to me. I have trouble eating a samosa, but remember how to load, aim and fire an air defence gun!
In short, I was part of 1947, joined the army in 1957, and in my 17 years, was a part of 1960, 1962,1965,1971. Nice way to live your life right? “
Served the country for 17 years