The Tribune: ON LINE EDITION
Monday, January 4, 2010, Chandigarh, India
An institution called Subedar Major : by B.K. Karkra
It is difficult to describe the position and prestige that a Subedar
Major enjoys in a unit. Whatever you say about him would fall
short of the parameters of his personality. He is rather an
institution in himself. His commanding officer often falls back
on his advice in difficult situations-specially, those related to
the morale, welfare and discipline of his men and the image of
the unit.Most of the clout that he commands comes out of the
position of trust that he enjoys with his commanding officer who
regards him as a repository of wisdom, sagacity, sobriety,
maturity, loyalty, cool-headedness and above all, a sort of
farmer’s horse-sense. But, this is not all. Let me try to explain
this phenomenon more properly through a couple of incidents.
An Army unit was on an operational exercise in a highly
Major General, came to oversee them. When being escorted to
the exercise area, he slipped and fell on the ground. Seeing
the plight of the embarrassed General, the Subedar Major of the
unit, following behind his C.O. lost no time in slipping himself
in an equally ungainly thud. He then stood up smartly and
said, “Saab, yahan to hum roz bees bees bar girte hain (Sir, we
fall here scores of times every day)”. That put the General at
ease instantly, though he did not fail to notice, rather
approvingly, why the Subedar Major had enacted all this. Here
was a typical S.M. discharging one of his multi-dimensional
roles to perfection.Some 32 years back, the 51 Battalion,
C.R.P.Force that I commanded was doing training under an
Army brigade at the peak of summer. Our men then did not
get any ration allowance. So, their messing had to be managed
within their own meagre resources.Something affordable was
needed to be done to save them from heat stoke. I directed that
they would be served daily two glasses of diluted milk beverage
(lassi). Almond, rose and other essences were to be added for
flavour. This worked well, in that none of my men was laid with
heat stroke and they enjoyed the drink also.
Encouraged with this, I got another brain wave. The summer
was now over. I briefed my faithful S.M. that the sub-units
would prepare ‘kanji’, a black carrot based beverage that also
works out cheap and is quite tasty and invigorating.
Thus, massive ‘matkas’ (earthen pots) were promptly procured
in the unit to brew the beverage for the men. After a few days
I checked with my Subedar Major how the idea had done. With
his usual sense of obedience, he stated that the men were duly
being made to drink it ‘hukamiya’ i.e. under orders. On my
prodding, he came out that otherwise the men did not like it.
The incident explains yet another facet of a Subedar Major’s
profile —there are, of course, many more to it.
Veteran Prabhjot Singh Chhatwal PLS Retd.
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