Guest column | The quiet dignity of the hero of Bangladesh

I was standing patiently in the ‘economy’ check-in queue, when I spotted a tall handsome gentleman in a light-coloured suit and regimental tie, whose face looked familiar, a few steps ahead in the jumbled line. Soon, I realized that he was none other than lieutenant general Jagjit Singh Aurora (retd), the hero of Bangladesh.

A few years after I retired, I was invited by my alma mater, Military College of Electronics and Mechanical Engineering, Secunderabad, to share my thoughts on professional ethics in the corps with trainee officers.

Lieutenant general Jagjit Singh Aurora (retd), the decorated three stars general, who had many firsts to his credit, was considered an epitome of civilized behaviour, man of spotless integrity and a highly-rated professional soldier. He was cool and calm and waited patiently for his turn. (HT Photo)

I had to take an early flight from New Delhi to be able to address the officers in a two-hour post-lunch session. I was standing patiently in the ‘economy’ check-in queue, when I spotted a tall handsome gentleman in a light-coloured suit and regimental tie, whose face looked familiar, a few steps ahead in the jumbled line. Soon, I realized that he was none other than lieutenant general Jagjit Singh Aurora (retd), the hero of Bangladesh.

We had met very briefly at the India International Centre on an earlier occasion. The decorated three stars general, who had many firsts to his credit, was considered an epitome of civilized behaviour, man of spotless integrity and a highly-rated professional soldier. He was cool and calm and waited patiently for his turn.

After confirming my position with the lady behind me, I stepped out and said, “Good morning, sir.” Needless to say, he was pleased to meet me and also recalled meeting me earlier.

Suddenly, a self-important woman with sunglasses perched dangerously on her forehead arrived from nowhere and attracted glances from one and all. She behaved as though she owned the airport and looked down at the rest of us with an ‘I could not care less’ attitude. I saw two youngsters pushing autograph books towards the woman, who turned out to be a south Indian actor. I also realised that the staff manning the business-class counter was going out of the way to be extra nice to the passengers. I felt helpless at my plight and continued waiting for my turn till a burly Sikh at the counter rudely snatched the ticket from my hand. Normally I’d have taken objection to such a conduct, but good sense prevailed and I held my peace.

Sometime later, I observed a number of people running around in obvious excitement. It took me some time to understand the reason.

A short, fat man in his forties, with marigold garlands around his neck, was waiving furiously at his supporters who were raising slogans outside the gate. The burly Sikh at the ‘economy’ counter, who had not bothered to even look at me, while handing over the ticket to me only a few minutes earlier, had taken upon himself the responsibility of escorting the ‘neta ji’ to a safe place, away from the prying eyes of ordinary mortals like me.

People were shoving each other to shake hands with the VIP, while an important-looking lady requested someone to take her snap with the leader. He was the centre of attraction and was busy acknowledging the greetings of people gathered around him. The crowd kept adding and ‘neta ji’ seemed to be enjoying every bit of attention he was getting.

Pretty soon it was time to board the flight. However, ‘neta ji’ did not have to go through the mandatory security check and was followed by a couple of people who helped him to get to the aircraft.

The Lt-Gen and I took our respective seats. On my request, a fellow passenger exchanged his seat so that I could sit next to him. We traveled together and exchanged views, on obvious topics like our political system, governance, and corruption.

I often wonder why a small-time politician from God knows which political party who, in all probability, lacked almost every trait civilized human beings are characterized by was so important and a gallant soldier, who along with many others was responsible for helping his countrymen live free with dignity, was neglected. No one had noticed and recognised the man whose photographs were splashed in all newspapers of the world during the 1971 Indo-Pak conflict.

He had politely taken his own turn in the queue in the ‘economy’ class but a starlet and the rowdy politician had hogged all the limelight. Que sera sera!

colcheema1942@gmail.com