AFVOA Newletters of Year 2003

Page 151 of 170 Capt GA Sundaram, RIAMC 13. Born on 04 November 1910 at Tiruvottiyur (Madras), and commissioned in July 1940 into the RIAMC, he was one of the earliest members of the IMS. He served as an EC officer till he opted out to be demobilised in February 1946. After training at Lucknow (CO Col B Prasad) and BMH at Calcutta (CO Col CA Flood), he moved to Rawalpindi to mobilise a 30- bedded staging section with which he moved to Basra (Tenuma near Abadan). Later he moved to Bahrain to command 15 <Illegible> HS. Then, he moved to 37 CGS (a 1000 bed hospital) under Col Jaffry. During his Iraq days, in August 1941, the temperatures rose to 120 degrees Fahrenheit, and 49 men suffered heatstroke, out of whom he saved 43 single- handedly. His recommendation of acclimatising troops by administering them water with salt and sugar mixed was introduced throughout the area. In October 1944, Capt Sundaram moved to India, taking over as SMO of 5 Madras at Madukkarai (Coimbatore District). After being demobbed in 1946, he joined the Madras Medical Services, but quit in 1952 as he did not find the civilian set up to his liking after the discipline and dedication of life in the Services. He then set up private practice and started a nursing home at Mayiladuthurai, which he ran for 40 years. Dr MR Guruswamy Mudaliar, the most renowned physician of South India and of Bengal was his GURU Dr Sundaram still runs a limited practice. He has studied Siddha Medicine for 10 years, and has been in close communication with German, Italian and British experts in Siddha, Ayurveda, and herbal medicine, He has created two herbal medicines for the treatment of viral hepatitis ‘A’, ‘B’, and non-A, non-B. His advice to all is NEVER to feel OLD. He says that a MAN is as old as he feels, and waggishly adds that a WOMAN is as old as she looks! 14. Capt GA Sundaram stays in Chetpet, and can be contacted on tele 2661 3030. He has a son, Shri Chandrasekar. Maj MD Rajan 15. Commissioned in November 1944, Maj MD Rajan retired in November 1966. He related to the audience a striking comment made by the late Sri Prakasa to the effect that while Eamon De Valera (the Irish freedom fighter) has his yellow shirts to fight the British, Mussolini his black shirts, and Hitler his brown shirts, poor Mahatma Gandhi had no shirt! It makes us ponder that it was only Gandhi who won. 16. Col Rajan stays in Kasturba Nagar, Adyar, along with his retired Arty Officer son Col Ravi Rajan and he may be contacted at tele: 2442 0869/2445 6049. Lt Col PR Gangadharan (IC 3205) VSM, Signals 17. Commissioned in 1944 into the Corps of Signals, Col Gangadharan was born on the 11 th Decernber, 1921. He graduated with honours in Geology from Presidency College, Madras in 1943. While in college, he captained the football team. Looking much younger than his age, Col Gangadharan regrets that we generally lack both a civic sense, and a sense of humour. His description of how, when he and other officers were travelling with their CO in a jeep in the Nowshera sector in 1948, the commencement of an artillery barrage by the Pakistanis had the unfortunate effect of propelling all occupants of the jeep into the supposed safety of a nearby trench, only for them to discover, much to their chagrin, that it was a deep trench latrine, had the entire audience in splits. It not only showed that this veteran has a sense of humour, but that he is able to crack a joke at his own expense. Hilarious also was his description of how the moods of a cantankerous CO were related to his bowel movements, and how a nexus between the Subedar Major of the battalion and the CO’s batman was evolved to provide an infallible barometer of his moods, enabling all ranks to be, as they say, forewarned, and therefore, forearmed! Among the highlights of his career was the planning