From a lion at sea to the Gir

Lt Gen Baljit Singh (Retd) 

Paradoxical as it may sound, but here was a man who could not swim even in a bath tub and yet he ‘missed by a whisker to be the Naval Chief’, as he mused with a chuckle to my wife during a brief visit to our home in 2012. When we met for the first time in 1969, he was the Chief Instructor (Navy) while I was a student at Defence Services Staff College, Wellington. He was among that last generation of officers who had no inhibitions in striking lasting friendships with junior officers. 

He was the happiest taking his watch on the ‘bridge’ of a Naval ship and perhaps even more so, tugging guide ropes of a sailboat. But he was truly on cloud nine astride a horse, come rain or sunshine; and faster the gallop so much the more invigorating! Six-foot-plus, broad shouldered, not an ounce of flab, ramrod upright and dressed in the traditional striking red coat, snow-white breeches, full length black riding boots, he was the epitome of  ‘Master of Hunt’, anywhere! 

There was a strange contradiction here, because he never wanted the quarry to be run down as he hated the idea of ‘blood sport’. I think he simply loved the thrill of speed as he was also a qualified pilot. And in his younger days, he owned a chrome yellow  sports MG car, which in the 1950s was the fastest automobile in India. He got a severe tongue-lashing from General Shrinagesh once when he took Mrs Shrinagesh (his cousin) on a spree in the MG and in the process they had got delayed for an official function. 

His hour of professional glory dawned in the 1971 Indo-Pak war, when in fulfilling the mission of blockade of the Bay of Bengal, he was conferred the Vir Chakra and a decade later was appointed the Flag-Officer-Commanding-in-Chief of the Western Naval Fleet. In between, he had the most fulfilling two years as Commandant, NDA, Khadakvasla, where with his imposing personality, he influenced countless young minds in the creed of ‘Gentlemen Officers’. The present Army Chief is one among his cadets.

He was also a very well versed and committed amateur naturalist. On October 28, when I felt convinced that unless the PM personally intervened and immediately, the Gir lion may go extinct, I got this mail: Dear Baljit, I will write to the PM. Please help by drafting a letter from me to him which I can print on my letterhead. To help, I will send him a copy of my book on the Gir lion, which was published in 1998, titled, Of Homo Sapien and Panthera Leo. Warm regards. 

That was Vice-Admiral MP Awati, PVSM, VrC, who on November 4, 2018, passed away, aged 93. 

RIP, Sir.