Col Uday Naik Priti's younger brother and so my brother-in-law, knew that Pankaj Joshi and we had done Staff Course together and had been in touch off and on .Also that We took the liberty of calling him & Prabha our friends .
This morning Col Uday rang up Priti and told her about a mail he had received from one of his friends about Pankaj Joshi and forwarded the same .As a rule I would not put any0ne else's mail in my blog but this mail was such a fine tribute to one of the most solid citizens we had the proud privilege to know that I felt I must put it on my blog .
"BANDE MEIN THA DUM
CLIMB EVERY MOUNTAIN
When Lt. Gen (Retd) Pankaj Shivram Joshi PVSM, AVSM, VSM, The first Chief of Staff of the Integrated Defence Command passed away in an Indore hospital on July 1, 2009 a cloak of sadness enveloped the small cantonment town of Mhow where he had settled after almost 41 years in the Indian Army. He will continue to be a source of inspiration for for all his compatriots. , writes Dev Kumar Vasudevan
Jen Joshi’s wife Mrs. Prabha Joshi was kind enough to give me some time when I requested her. She talked to me in detail about Pankaj Joshi the soldier, husband and father. He was born on Sept 9, 1943 in Peshawar where his father, a civil servant, was then posted. They shifted to Delhi in 1947. Pankaj and his brother Kuldeep joined the Nutan Marathi Vidyalaya, Pune. After his schooling Pankaj was selected for the 21st course at the National Defence Academy, Khadakwasla. After passing out as a Gentleman Cadet of the 30th regular course, IMA, Dehra Dun, he was commissioned in the First Battalion of Eight Gorkha Rifles in December 1962. He served in Ladakh and participated in the 1965 Indo-Pak war. It was in 1967, while on a mine-clearing operation in Sikkim, that he lost one of his legs. The other leg was also amputated soon.
A normal man would have accepted defeat but Pankaj Joshi was made of sterner stuff. He fought back. It was a painful journey but he had the support of his wife, family and friends. Within eight months of his loss and nine operations later he was fitted with a pair of artificial limbs at the Artificial Limb Centre, Pune. He was cycling to the Centre within a fortnight.
He was soon walking upto eight kilometers a day. His activities included walking, swimming and mountain climbing. He had also participated in the Himalayan Car Rally and in a 42 kilometres cycling marathon in Delhi.
It was in 1968 that Pankaj met a young lady named Mukta Kale. In due course they decided to become lifemates. It was not smooth sailing. Mukta’s mother was not very comfortable with the idea of Mukta marrying a man in Pankaj’s condition. “She was not sure whether Pankaj and I would be able to have children. So I went to our family doctor who was like an uncle to me. He convinced my mother of the soundness of my decision. In any case I had decided that if we didn’t have any children of our own we would certainly adopt a child.” Pankaj had got an equally brave life partner for himself. After marriage Mukta became Prabha and within a few years she and Pankaj became the proud parents of a daughter Unnati, who is now a US based architect, and Sameer, who is a teacher of French. “The children were allowed to choose their own careers,” Prabha Joshi told me, “we never imposed our will on them. The only thing Pankaj ensured was that they grew up as normal middle class children. So there was no staff car to drop them at school or a sahayak to polish their shoes or make their beds.”
After completing a B.A. degree in Russian from the Jawaharlal Nehru University he was selected for the Staff College at Wellington. This was a turning point as he decided against leaving the Army. In 1978-79 the Army changed the rules for medically categorizing officers. “My husband was then posted in the College of Combat and the then Commandant General Sundarji once overheard him speaking in fluent Gurkhali to a JCO of his battalion who was visiting Mhow. He was so impressed by the fact that Pankaj had totally merged himself with his Paltan that he went all out to help him prove that he was fit to command the same battalion.” Pankaj Joshi was able to prove to a medical board that he was as fit as any officer without a disability. He had also played eighteen holes of golf with the Army doctor who had to check his physical fitness.
He was then given command of his battalion - the 1/8 Gurkha Rifles. “When he took over command of the Paltan,” said Mrs. Prabha Joshi with tears in her eyes, “he told his men that he was returning to the battalion after fourteen years of banishment the way Lord Rama returned to Ayodhya after fourteen years of vanvaas.” He also had instructional stints at the Higher Command Wing of the College of Combat (now Army War College) Mhow and the DSSC Wellington. He had also attended the Higher Command Course of the United States Army War College. His career graph kept rising after that. He commanded an Armoured brigade, an Armoured Division and 12 Corps. He was the second officer with a disability after Lt. Gen Vijay Oberoi to attain the rank of Lieutenant General. In 1998 during the Prime Ministership of Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the Pokharan nuclear blasts were conducted under his command. He held the appointment of Additional Director General Mechanised Forces at Army HQ and the Commandant of the College of Combat, Mhow. He went on to become the GOC-in-C of the Central Command, Lucknow, and was then chosen as the first ever Chief of Staff of the Integrated Defence Command.
When General Joshi was once interviewed by the Indian Express he had said, ‘‘There is only one thing that stops a handicapped person from doing things normally - society. It makes you feel handicapped by perpetually offering you help. In my home no one does that. If I have to change a bulb or get something from a high shelf I do it myself.’’
Even in death he taught us all a lesson as he willed his body to be donated for medical studies and research. A wish which his brave family fulfilled. “Both of us had decided to donate our bodies,” said Mrs. Joshi. A multi-faceted personality Pankaj Joshi’s interests included Indian classical music, bird watching, environment, pottery and writing."
YES !!! Truly bande me tha bada dum !!!!
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