LIVE MUSIC & REAL DRAMA

LIVE MUSIC & REAL DRAMA

(continued from my last blog "V-For Victory")

 

"I think I'll just run away!" Lieut Rao said in a low monotone as we were sitting in his room in Comilla Officers' mess. After noting the disbelief in my face, he repeated his statement "I think I'll just run away if they don't give me leave! If I rush out early in the morning, I should be able to catch the evening flight to Calcutta from Silchar airport. No one will be able to stop me once I reach Calcutta" he continued. I stared at him in disbelief and wondered if this was the same docile guy I knew, classmate in college, brother in arms and sharing internship with me in the same hospital! 

"Do you know what you are talking about, Rao?" I said. "We are in an army unit in an occupied territory. Any move you make, any orders you flout, will make you a traitor and you may be court martialled and jailed!" I said.

My friend looked at me silently for a few minutes but his mind was elsewhere. I looked at his unkempt appearance, the dark circles around his eyes and wondered at the drastic change in his personality in the last one week!

Rao was always a simple hardworking doctor who preferred to remain silent in any crowd! People assumed that this was due to the language issue as he was from south India but I knew from college days, that he was always this way, silent, honest& introvert. 

Soon after joining internship training at Command Hospital (EC) in Calcutta, he was assigned to work in the family wing (for female patients) and had to learn Hindi to communicate with the patients. I was working in Barrackpore (outside Calcutta) and we met occasionally. When we met once (about 4 months earlier) he took me aside and whispered that he wanted to speak to me in private. He told me that he had met a young probationary nurse from Kerala, who has been helping him improve Hindi vocabulary and that he  had became extremely fond of her. Knowing him, I suspected that it must've been his first encounter with a young member of the opposite gender and he was blown off his feet. Accordingly, I had advised caution and told him not to get involved with any serious relationship at this stage since we were just interns and likely to be shifted to a new place very soon.

But he continued to be drawn in to the vortex of human emotions and over the next few weeks, after a flurry of exchange of gifts and long conversations over cups of coffee, one day he professed his Love to the young lady. 

Soon thereafter, we had got our posting orders and Lt Rao & me had to travel together to the forward areas by train. As we waited for the train to leave Sealdah station, Rao's lady love was there to bid him a tearful good bye. He told me that they had mutually agreed to wait for the war to be over to see how things turn out. She made him promise that he will post her a letter everyday till they meet again! 

In those days, there was no communication among people except a hand written letter but with strict military censorship in place, writing a letter every day was a difficult task. We got used to watching Rao spend hours every day struggling to compose his love letters (while trying to avoid all forbidden subjects like weather/ terrain/ people and places)! Rain or shine, day or night he had to post his letter each day before joining us for dinner! He endured many friendly barbs and jokes but kept his word to his girl!

After the ceasefire and conclusion of hostilities, many army personnel wanted to go on leave to visit their families and only few people at a time were permitted the privilege, depending on merits of their case. Lt Rao was one of the first applicants for leave, but was denied leave as he was junior officer and a bachelor. Slowly the pain of separation was apparent on his face and body language. He had stopped shaving and skipped meals citing poor appetite. Me and my friends could understand his problem but were powerless to help. When he confided to me that he wanted to runaway if he was denied leave, I assessed the situation as desperate and called my other friends for urgent consultation.

Next morning, I and Lt Pradeep went to see the Commanding Officer along with Rao. The administration did not like the idea of collective appeal regarding leave and told us that in the army everyone has to present their own case. However we explained the situation to the CO in a humble manner and voiced our concern for Rao's state of depression. We pleaded for his urgent leave and offered to do any extra duties during his absence. Finally the CO relented and sanctioned Rao's 7 days leave and told him that his leave starts immediately. Rao was ecstatic, but found himself short of cash for air travel. We all pooled whatever cash we had with us and were happy to see Rao rush to catch his Indian Airlines flight for Calcutta. I thought the climax song of the picture 'Mughal-e-Azam' would've been apt here if played in the back ground "Zindabad, Zindabad, Aye Mohabbat Zindabad!"

 

Two days after Lt Rao proceeded on leave, we woke up in the morning to a great day with nice sunshine. I knew that this was the big day I was waiting for. It was the day the film artists of Mumbai (under the banner 'Ajanta Troupe' led by Actors Sunil Dutt & Nargis dutt) were supposed to stage a performance for the Indian troops stationed in Comilla, and everyone was very excited. I was eager to attend the function with my little camera and was hoping that there would not be any emergency at the hospital to spoil our plans. At last, all of us gathered in a local stadium around 4PM and I could feel the excitement and anticipation among thousands of troops and officers collected there, all of them patiently waiting for a glimpse of the Bollywood stars! Soon, a large helicopter hovered over the stadium for a while and landed in a big cloud of dust. A small bus carried the filmy entourage to the make shift stage complete with colorful decorations and huge speakers. A huge round of applause went up as actor Sunil Dutt and Nargis Dutt came to the mike and waved to the sea of olive green  clad soldiers sitting in neat rows. As each artist went up to the stage to be introduced to the audience, a big round of whistles and applause reverberated across the stadium as the battle weary soldiers had their first evening of entertainment and relaxation. Here was Mahendra kapoor the singer and here was Mala Sinha the popular actress, in flesh and blood, singing and joking at the mike! Lataji sang some beautiful numbers and left everyone mesmerized at her mastery over music! What more could a simple Indian Soldier ever want, in a field area far from home!

I was up on my feet and slowly pushing my way up to the stage and surprisingly, no one objected to my advance to the vantage view point close to the stage to click the stars as they flashed their smiles from the stage. Perhaps the camera in my hand gave an advantage and no one seemed to mind a young 2 star lieutenant go closer for a good shot. The military police guarding the stage area did not mind when I decided to explore the tents behind the stage, and I suddenly found myself face to face with the great singer 'Lata Mangeshkar' standing there in her trademark white saree! I was totally taken by surprise and could only fold my hands to the great artist and said "Namaste, Lataji!" "Namaste!" she acknowledged with a smile and I wanted to touch her feet! We spoke a few sentences before some more artists joined her and I requested her for a photograph with me and she consented kindly. I became bolder and looked around the area and found other big artists (Waheeda Rehman, Sunil Dutt, Nargis Dutt and Mala Sinha) relaxing in the sun and they were kind enough to get clicked with me! For the film folk, photographs with fans was nothing new but for people like me it was the chance of a life 

time! 

Lt Sitaram with Lata
Mangeshkar

After the function was over and the Ajanta Troupe with the film stars departed for their return flight to Calcutta, my friends in the officers' mess crowded around me to hear about how I managed to be within touching distance of the popular stars. That night, I felt as if I had reached out in to the sky and touched the twinkling stars themselves. 

The pictures I had taken were still in the little roll of film, waiting to be developed, but there was no local photo studio which could develop the film. I had to send the roll across the border to Agartala in India and got the contact (small) prints after 2 weeks. We all had fun over next few days, poring over the pictures and reliving the musical evening over & over again.

Lt Sitaram with Waheeda
Rwhman

The next few weeks went by in a blur as troops were pulled out of the combat zone to be flown to the western border as the threat from our unfriendly neighbor persisted. Lt Rao returned after a second spell of leave and and gave us a bombshell news that he got married to the love of his life at a simple function in Arya Samaj in Calcutta, attended by a few close friends. Since it was an inter caste marriage, the bride had to change her name (from 'Laila' to 'Lalita'). We were all left open mouthed, at the courage of the young couple and the rapid turn of events even as we discussed the repercussions of the alliance when the parents of the couple would come to know of the secret wedding. None of us could imagine that Rao, (such a quiet simple person) could take such a bold step!     

The troubles for the young couple were not yet over! Lt Lalita (now Mrs Rao) applied to be released from the army after marriage and promptly she was released from her duties and asked to vacate the nurse's quarters in the mess within 7 days. She had nowhere to go and obviously did not want to return to her parents in Kerala. The couple requested a number of close friends and families to give her shelter for a few days till an alternate accommodation was made available but all his friends (who made promises to look after her), refused her shelter in their homes! It was sad to see the struggle of the newly weds and I wondered at the sweet endings of romantic stories on the silver screen while the real life drama unfolding before us was the exact opposite! Somehow, Rao was moved to a different hospital elsewhere (ostensibly to attend a short course in Anaesthesia) and managed to take his wife there!

    

Soon all the interns and other young MOs received posting orders to the Western Front and we bid good bye to each other in true soldierly fashion of a simple hug & handshake. I flew out of Agartala airport by an Indian Airlines flight bound for my home on a month's well earned leave. As we flew over, Bangladesh (the newly born nation) I looked out at the greenery everywhere and was proud that I had also played a small part in the country's liberation! 

(To be continued)

Watch out for the next edition of the 'Dusty Dairies' as 'Trouble & Truce in Srilanka' take centre stage!

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