From Clifton Road to Siachen Glacier

Lt-Gen Sanjay Kulkarni (retd)

I have vivid memories of spending a few years of my childhood on Clifton Road in Karachi and when we returned to Delhi it seemed quite familiar. I was admitted in Air Force Bal Bharati School on Lodhi Road and was fascinated listening to chirping of Alexandrin parrots on trees along the road. The school those days was in barracks with asbestos roof-sheets and greenery all around. There was no Habitat Centre but I have memories of Lodhi Garden, India International and Lutyens Bungalows. As luck would have it, I retired from the Lodhi Estate Bungalow right opposite the school and as Shashi Tharoor’s neighbour. 

I miss those good old days of the sounds of birds after settling down in an Army Welfare Housing Organisation flat in Noida. I have not seen a single parrot here, let alone an Alexandrine.

I graduated from Shri Ram College of Commerce and Arun Jaitley, our senior, was popular as a debater even then. I decided to join the Army after graduation after spending three years in the ‘canteen’. My dearest friend and classmate in crime is one of the most reputed Supreme Court judge today. I am truly blessed to have had the best in life. 

I joined the 4 Kumaon, one of the finest infantry battalions. I had no clue what I was heading for, but I was told that I had a glorious future if only I could live up to the high standards. The 4 Kumaon had many firsts, including first PVC and first battalion to have received President’s Colours after Independence. The Battalion had many serving Vir Chakras and Sena Medals, Officers, JCOs and Bahadur Jawans who had done the nation proud in 1965 and 1971. All this made me nervous.

The initial few months were spent at night invariably awake as I would be always at the receiving end having been granted PVC. It meant checking the alertness of the quarter guard every hour at night and to take the PT report in the morning if no senior turned up. The first five years were spent doing an Army course a year, a breather of sorts.

Attending an advanced course at the High Altitude Warfare (HAWS) School was the turning point in my life. The Battalion was moved to high altitude and I was a part of a long-range patrol to Siachen. Being qualified and reasonably senior amongst others, I was appointed the deputy patrol leader. It was an experience of a lifetime to see some of the world’s most beautiful peaks, including the Siachen Glacier. My training at HAWS came in handy and the words of the instructor, ‘Pate mein roti, Haath mein Soti aur Chaal Choti’ and the saying, ‘Don’t be a gama in the land of lama’, proved a blessing for survival in the inhospitable terrain. Bad weather days gave goose pimples and the God seemed very close and you could hear your Ladakhi buddies mumbling “Om Mane Padme Hun”. 

Blizzards of over 100 mph and the total whiteout conditions made it difficult to see more than five feet. Temperatures would go below -35°C. Such terrible conditions would carry on for days and boys would fall prey to high-altitude sickness, snow blindness, frost bite, chill blains and insomnia. We were lucky not to lose any lives. The Battalion’s ‘Izzat’ and the moto ‘Nam Namak Nishan’ kept me going even when I was appointed the patrol leader after the evacuation of my senior. Having acquainted with Bilafondla due to numerous previous trips came in handy when I was told to occupy it as part of Operation Meghdoot to deny Pakistan occupation of the Siachen Glacier. On April 13, 1984, I was at the glacier and denied Pakistan the two routes of ingress — Sia la and Bilafond la. The glacier is a wedge between Pakistan and China in Karakoram Ranges and the root cause for Kargil war in 1999. Pakistan gifted Shaksgam Valley adjoining Siachen to China in 1963.

The need to exert beyond NJ 9842, which was being exploited by Pakistan, had come to the notice of Col N Kumar popularly called ‘Bull’. General Pervez Musharraf in his book In The Line of Fire has mentioned that they had plans to capture Siachen on May 1, 1984,  and that India pre-empted them by occupying the Siachen Glacier on April 13, 1984. 

The rest is history.