AFVOA Newletter August 2020

Section 5 - Memoirs CV 2 No. 02 / 2020 Page 156 of 237 Delhi in 1955. Pappa was Director Personnel amongst other posts that I fail to remember. He was at Kashmiri Gate E-in-C’s Branch and worked under Gen Aserappa, the first Indian Engineer in Chief. Pappa was promoted to Colonel in 1957. I recall an incident when he came home rather upset, informing my mother that there had been a major disagreement in discussions with his boss. My mother was quite troubled by this, however, the following day he returned from work to say he had been called to the boss’s office and was told that he had been right after all. He had stuck to his guns and his plan was the one they would take forward. It was a reflection of two great men. Delhi leaves me with wonderful memories of the magnificent Republic Day Parade, the army tattoos, horse shows and everything military. 1959 took us to Poona where Pappa was DCE briefly and then took over as Chief Engineer Southern Command. That was when we grew aware of the different services, and their training such as the College of Military Engineering, the National Defence Academy, Yerawada and later the Armed Forces Medical College. Pappa was promoted to Brigadier in 1961 and deployed to NEFA to become the first Chief Engineer for the Border Roads Organisation. It was a non-family station and we stayed back in Poona with our mother to continue our education. The “Sewak” Project with HQ in Kohima was one of the earliest of many projects of the BRO. The Director of the BRO was Gen. Harkirat Singh in Delhi and later Gen. Dubey. BRO was created to build a network of roads, bridges and tunnels to set up infrastructure to facilitate access and transport to and within the Indo-Chinese border areas. Pappa was constantly on the move between Kohima, Jorhat, Siliguri, Tezpur, Gauhati, and Dibrugarh, always C/O 56 APO! The terrain was difficult and his mode of transport was mainly by jeep or helicopter often having to cross the wide Brahmaputra. His accommodation was mostly in tents or “bashas”. His Chai was ‘Madhu”, the fermented rice water offered to him as a gesture of friendship and acceptance by the local Nagas and therefore, not to be refused. He adapted to the Naga people and their culture with sensitivity and diplomacy and won their support and loyalty. Today the BRO has so many more projects and has constructed a phenomenal number of miles of roads, bridges, dams and tunnels. My father would be so proud of its achievements and certainly amused that BRO is even on Facebook! In 1964 Madras was Mummy’s reward for being so patient till Pappa completed his time in Nagaland. Through all that time she remained his strength, his support and his ally. Madras was one of his earliest postings as GE and he was back in his last posting as Chief Engineer Southern Zone, [Madras, Mysore and Kerala] at Fort St George. His most significant undertaking remains the Tank Factory at AVADI, the Armoured Vehicles and Ammunition Depot of India. This is where the