AFVOA Newsletter 03 of 2020

Section 4 – War Diary CV 2 No. 03 / 2020 Page 55 of 167 I used to take my children in the evenings to the nearby park and get back before it got dark. Similarly, on 3 Dec 1971, I took the children to the colony market for getting vegetables and groceries to stock up, when I heard the blare of the siren continuously that was sounding rather unusual. The shop keeper hurriedly closed his shop and I had to virtually run back to reach the house with the children. The All Clear signal never came much to our surprise. It was still twilight and I got worried and switched on the radio which remained silent. (No TV, No Phones those days!) Only the radio and the morning newspaper connected us to the outside world. Anxious hours passed and we had candle light dinner. At about 9 PM the radio came alive with the PM Indira Gandhi’s broadcast informing about the Pakistani air strike at our Air Force bases and that War had been declared. She exhorted the Nation to rise as one in this hour of trial. The children were oblivious to the developments and had gone to sleep. Next morning, the countdown had started for the worried “Separated Wives”. We gathered around to exchange information about the whereabouts and safety of our husbands. Our Battalion Commanding Officer’s wife was one amongst us. Her neighbour was a serving officer in the Operations Directorate. About ten of us descended on the hapless officer’s house. His wife was most cordial and understanding and took down the names of the various regiments where our husbands were serving and promised to get back to us when her husband returned from the office, normally very late. We used to gather in the lawn of her house every evening for some information. It so happened that once he returned early from office. He was aghast to see so many ladies at his house. There was a hush of silence as he opened his brief case to take out a paper and said “All your husbands are safe”. There was a big sigh of relief all around and we thanked him profusely for his efforts. The newspapers and Radio gave news of the war front, about the tank battles in the Western Front the dogfights by the Indian Gnats and the Pakistani Sabers. There was only scanty news of the Eastern front. We came to know later that our forces were operating deep inside East Pakistan and the race towards Dacca was under progress from all fronts. General Sam Manekshaw urged all families to write letters to the soldiers and assured that all the letters would be delivered wherever the troops were located. We used to write daily to convey that all was well on the Home front. My young son used to doodle