The Dog Bite
Lt Gen Vijay Oberoi
My brief article was published in the Hindustan Times Chandigarh on 27-04-2021.
A copy of the original piece is placed below. My sedate title "The Dog Bite" was changed to "When a Dog Bit a General and the 2/LT the Bullet". A photo copy of the piece is also attached (not very readable)..
This narrative dates back to 60 years, about 10 months before the war of 1962 erupted on the northern borders of our country and deals with an episode from Operation Vijay of Dec 1961 for the Liberation of Portuguese territories of Goa, Daman and Diu.
My battalion - 1st Battalion the Maratha Light Infantry, better known by its nom du guerre JANGI PALTAN, was at Poona (now Pune) for its Peace tenure, having arrived from Poonch (J&K) only about four months earlier.
In December 1961, the battalion was especially chosen to capture the Portuguese Enclave of Daman (about 80 miles from Mumbai), in a stand-alone operation. The operation was over in 36 hours, but both sides suffered some causalities. After the operation ended, a stream of visitors started arriving to congratulate the battalion and see how the operation had been conducted.
Being the junior most officer of the Paltan, I was nominated the camp commandant of the prisoners of war (POW) camp! The prisoners were a docile lot, most of them being conscripts, but had to be kept out of any mischief. Their barrack had a mustering space in front, with their kitchen shed behind, while their accommodation was on one side.
Around the end of December 1961, the prominent visitor was the then upcoming but later to be the infamous Lt Gen B M (Bijji) Kaul, who was the Chief of General Staff (CGS) at that time. His famed rise in the army as also his closeness to those who wielded power was fairly well known in military circles. Later, he was one of the 'gang of fou'r that was primarily blamed for the debacle of the 1962 war!
Unlike most visitors, at his behest, a visit to the POW camp was included in his itinerary. The prisoners were accordingly lined up for meeting the VIP. As this was the last item on his programme, lunch for the prisoners had to be delayed. The prisoners saluted the VIP on arrival and the General said a few words, which only few could understand as most did not understand English. General Kaul then moved towards his jeep.
While leaving, he stopped near the jeep to shake everyone's hand. It was at that moment that a street dog rushed across and for no reason bit the General on the leg and scooted away. It was not much of a bite, but everyone fussed around him and our commanding officer told the General that a watch would be kept on the dog and any abnormal behaviour of the dog would be reported!
After his departure, the officers got together to delve into the probable reason for the dog biting the General. The confabulations were inconclusive about the reason why the dog chose the General for the dastardly deed. I had put forth my two-anna worth suggestions, which were, firstly, that it could be the sixth sense of dogs about disliking a person with bad vibes; and secondly, that since the lunch of the prisoners had been delayed, the dog who used to be thrown scraps of bread was very hungry! When it sensed a further delay, his ire resulted in the bite!
My analyses were torn to shreds and were dismissed as immature rantings of a 2/Lt! I was also tasked to keep an eye on the dog; ensure that such an event does not happen again: and send a daily signal to the Generals' secretariat about the dog!
For the next few days, I diligently drafted the signal stating 'dog behaving normally', till on the penultimate day I made it a slightly longer message by cheekily stating: 'Dog normal. How is the General?' All hell broke loose when the Adjutant saw the office copy, but a reply was received saying no more reports required!
(The writer is a former Vice Chief of Army Staff)
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