Ablaze in a Blizzard

Readers may be aware that a Division in the Indian Army is the first self sustaining all arms composit unit. That means it will have elements of all arms and services and is capable of taking an assignment independently as situation demands. So serving in a Division in any capacity is a prestegious thing for Army officers. 4 Engineer Regiment was the Divisional Engineer Regiment of 5 Mountain Division which was given the responsibility of guarding the Kemeng sector of Arunachal pradesh-Tibet border. The General officer who are selected to command a Division is generally a high flying officer and aspires to become the Chief of Army Staff. He expects that all sub unit commanders in his Division are also of high caliber officers. Under these circumstances Ganesan had established that he is not a "yes master" and takes care of his men under his command very seriously.

Tenga valley where the HQ was located on the banks of "Tenga chu" often gets flash flood and some times it is so severe that even bridges gets washed away. In such cases the bridge is written off and new bridge is constructed. So all along the river one can see plenty of steel girders and other materials. Ganesan had ordered his troops to collect usefull such items and construt foot bridge for the benifit of local civilians. When one such foot bridge was constructed Ganesan went to the G O C and requested him to inaugurate the Bridge. The G O C said"Ganesan , I dont like buttering. Please get the bridge opened by one of your men" Ganesan was shocked as the G O C misunderstood his intention, Without any hesitation he replied, Sir.I am a non psc (passed staff college) officer who has come to command a Div Engineer Regiment. This out of shear merit and not due to buttering. This you may come to know as time passes.Sorry for disturbing you. Ganesan saluted and walked away. He served under that G O C for about a year and not even once he had gone to G O C for any such courtesy calls . More to come.