AFVOA Newsletter 03 of 2020

Section 5 - Memoirs CV 2 No. 03 / 2020 Page 139 of 167 him going was Old monk rum. Without that he would have been a psycho. I salute men like Tiwari. I hope he is safe somewhere – I would like to just shake his hand again. God will surely bless him. Our light helicopters mounted LMG’s on their light frame, thanks to Wg Cdr Unni Kartha’s ingenuity, to be able to help our troops extricate themselves from tight ambushes. In one particular incident, after CO 12 JAT had got shot up trying to break a road ambush and was being evacuated to Vavuniya by a cas evac, the second chopper piloted by Capt Jay Poovaiah who had the LMG mounted, tried to break the ambush from the air and was hit on his right hand. With his Perspex shattered, he kept his cool and was able to make it back to Vavuniya airbase. I saw his badly injured right hand and his calm landing that took a lot of courage and experience. Many years later, I met him at Madikeri, after his launch of Air Deccan with Capt Gopinath and shook his hand once again. We owe men like him big time. I steered clear of all controversy while on the Island. I didn’t have the time to indulge in smuggling or bootlegging, that many were doing and discrediting the sacrifice of our soldiers. Such guys are found everywhere anyway. I moved out on promotion to Lucknow just before the IPKF deinducted to India. I had learnt many lessons during those tumultuous two years and I used them in my service life thereafter. They enrich my life even today. My Family’s Ordeal Through thick and thin, Teresa and children kept that stiff upper lip, and were firm in the belief that I would always be safe and get back. I do grieve for so many who did not get back, but lay on a foreign land. That caring hand from up above, kept Teresa, Amit and Aditi in a safe embrace, not only during my time on the Island, but during my many tenures in the valley. A big salute to them too, for their courage and fortitude. I was able to plan and organize a trip down memory lane to the land of palmyra’s and IED’s. Those from our course who had operated there, made our pilgrimage to Northern Sri Lanka and spent a momentous few days reliving our young lives there. We paid homage to all those souls who could not make it back to their motherland and lay buried or cremated there.