AFOVA New Letter 2 of Year 2021

Section 7 – Panorama CV 2 No. 02 / 2021 Page 221 of 332 Soon after the Camp had been set up and we were settling in, Gen Bhagat decided to visit every camp, see the arrangements and address the POW. In my Camp, a makeshift PA (public address) system was rigged up and the POW stood in formation outside their barracks to listen to the General. He assured them that they would be treated as soldiers and with the dignity that they deserved. As he finished, the entire Camp broke into a spontaneous applause by clapping vigorously. Even Gen Bhagat was pleasantly taken aback by this response and he showed his appreciation to the assembled by waving to them with a big smile. This led to even more clapping. So, we began on a right note. It occurred to me later that the incident reflected positively on both, the obvious authority and charisma of the General as well as the discipline of the POW. Within the first few days a routine was laid down for the POW which approximated with what we were all used to, that is Reveille in the morning, a PT period before breakfast, some activity till lunch and again in the evening, till dinner after which there was Lights Out. It sounds innocuous, but one could not avoid the tension the POW worked under. Once again, my officers and I fell back on what was familiar to us all by organising activities which would keep them busy within the limited confines of the Camp. In our case, I set aside a major part of the morning in keeping the Camp and the cookhouses clean. There was no place within the Camp that was not cleaned and smoothened with water, every brick was coloured as one sees within military areas and this was done under the supervision of their NCOs. Similarly, one of the POW NCOs came up with the idea that each barrack should provide a drill squad and a lot of time was spent parading them, eventually leading to an inter-barracks competition. It must be admitted that they were just like our men and impressive in their bearing and smartness. A chance compliment only served to motivate them and often they would take pride in demonstrating the smartness of their squads. Games was another activity but there was no place, so only games like wrestling and kabaddi could be played. If most could not participate, they would take pleasure in cheering their team. The idea was to keep them occupied and they in turn devised their own recreational activities like knitting or embroidery and so on. Some were very good and they would embroider prayer mats on the towels they were issued and many spent their allowance on buying some of these items. The cookhouse was another centre of activity and there were many good cooks among them. Ration, which is provided to our own jawans, was also provided to the POW. And the food cooked in the langars, as they are called in military parlance, was excellent. In fact, I would invite any and every visitor to taste the food. It always brought forth compliments and the langar commander would beam with pride. As time passed, we started recognising individuals, and a soldier or NCO called by name would always respond positively. What I am trying to convey is that we treated them exactly as we would our own soldiers and resultantly, there was no general animosity between us and the POW. Some of our actions only served to reinforce this fact as the following incidents will show. Very early, there was a demand for Korans (Qurans) and