AFOVA New Letter 2 of Year 2021

Section 6 - Memoirs CV 2 No. 02 / 2021 Page 116 of 332 purring and decisive growling as velocity grew, and a steady hum at appropriate speeds. It was almost midnight! A steady march into East Pakistan was going on. Air sorties punctured the stillness of the night! The General’s commanders were being airlifted on the sly, into East Pakistan to aid the Mukti Bahini. The Major's ears perked up when the General roared his orders that no one should be spared if they resisted; ‘Get them to surrender!’ was his final message. Something big was going on and this field workshop had little information except what was caught by eavesdropping on the exchanges. The Major was happy that his workshop had helped though in a very small way! By 3 am all was done with the Jonga, interiors clean as a whistle, polished dashboard, gear shaft and steering wheel attended to, wipers replaced, all dealt with admirably. Time for a nap, for daybreak would soon be upon them. The workforce downed their tools as silently as they could and slipped away to their quarters. Daybreak with Reveille and as the bugler sounded his last notes, the EME flag had been hoisted at the Quarter Guard where the store of arms was zealously guarded 24 hours of the day on by the troops on Regimental duties; hot Chai courtesy the cook Sajjan Singh was served with the usual biscuits to the General as 'Chota Hazari'. ‘Breakfast will be a tad later’ said the Major, ready for the day, at daybreak 5.15 am. As Sajjan Singh outdid himself, a breakfast of parathas and eggs brought forth genuine satisfaction from the General. The Jonga drew up, driven by the Major, as the General prepared to leave. A rewarding pat on the Major's shoulder was the acknowledgement, as the latter conveyed that the Jonga was "ticketty boo" ready and roadworthy. It started with a gentle purr and as the driver revved up the engine it growled satisfactorily and settled into a nice hum as the General took off! Later, it did stand the rigours of a road trip of 909 km into Dacca, after fording innumerable rivulets, skirting slushy roadblocks, overtaking silent convoys, into the newly minted country Shonar Bangladesh on 16 December 1971!! On 16 Dec as usual the men crowded around the Radio shack to listen to the news of the world outside! India had breached the border and captured Dacca from the Pakistanis! Naik Limbu was ecstatic that the Pakistanis, (followed by a string of cuss words) had been put in their place. Similar sentiments from the crew evinced a pride that they too had participated in this glorious war, though on a subdued note! Soon the village headman, the Apatani, came by wanting to knowwho had come by. His grapevine had more details to spill as he said that several of our troops had crossed over at night to help the freedom fighters - Mukthi Bahini.