“Heroic, humorous, humane”

In the article on the launch of our book on Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw ("Heroic, humorous, humane,” Parsiana, May 21, 2014) errors have crept in.
Our write-up had said that we intend to donate the major portion of the royalty to the War Wounded Foundation and the War Widows Association. Our push is to sell the book to collect funds for these charities.
In one photograph, Maj Gen (Retd) Ian Cardozo is erroneously addressed as Lt Gen. Further, he is the current vice president of the War Wounded Foundation (not Army Wives Welfare Association which is run by Army wives and not by officers, especially not retired ones).

The next page refers to instances of how "Gorkha soldiers cut off their legs with kukris.” The only incident of this happening is when Cardozo cut off his own leg with a kukri. Since the medical stores and surgical equipment had been blown up due to heavy shelling, Cardozo asked his Gorkha orderly to cut off his leg with his kukri. The soldier could not get himself to do so to his own officer, whereupon Cardozo took the kukri and cut off his own leg. This was related very clearly.
There is another photograph of Col (Retd) K. K. Puri who in the article has been incorrectly referred to as Col K. Kohli.
Please note there is no "Gorkha Regiment of the Army Band.” Army bands belong to different regiments and the sentence should have read: "The band of 4/8 Gorkha Rifles regaled the guests.” The same goes for the caption to the photograph.
There is another photograph where the caption should read: "Manekshaw at the wedding of Behram (not Sam) and Zenobia Panthaki.” The statement, "This officer, in spite of being a Parsi, has all the qualities of a Gorkha!” applies not to Manekshaw but what Manekshaw said about Behram in his first report. The write-up mentions that Sam was "religious.” He never wore his religion on his sleeve, never went inside an agiary and never wore a sudreh kusti, but he was a practicing Zoroastrian because he lived by the values of the religion. The slide show was not set to Manekshaw’s favorite music. It was set to military marches of which one, Sam Bahadur, was composed in his honor.
Some other statements that may convey an incorrect impression concern Fali Nariman making a "tongue-in-cheek” remark when in fact he very seriously recommended that the book be essential reading for all Parsis and especially for the next generation.
Manekshaw’s advice to Ian Cardozo was on three counts of "love, fearlessness (not fear) and willpower.”
To say that "he took me shopping so I could dress like him” is not really correct. He wanted his ADC (aide de camp) to dress like him and when Behram said that his captain’s salary did not allow him that luxury, Manekshaw took him to the Bombay Dyeing showroom and asked him to help with the selection of material for a blazer and a tweed jacket which he presented to him and followed it up thereafter by gifting him suits every year or every other year.
Manekshaw’s advice to Panthaki was "the higher you go, the humbler you should become. Always remain a lad at heart.” Further, it says Manekshaw urged Cardozo to speak Nepali. It is a regimental tradition that all Gorkha officers (and their wives and children) are expected to speak Nepali. The officers have to give Nepali exams.
BEHRAM AND ZENOBIA PANTHAKI
Delhi
behrampanthaki@hotmail.com