Don't be surprised if you spot your Generals singing For he’s a jolly good fellow at the Battle Honours Mess in Dhaula Kuan this Wednesday. Because he is and so say all of us.Cheering for Old Blood and Guts Sam Manekshaw, one of India’s most loved faces, who turns 90 on Thursday, the Army’s going all out to ensure the Field Marshal remembers this birthday bash.Polite but firm instructions have gone out from Army Headquarters asking top generals, including the five Army commanders, to be in Delhi for the celebrations starting Wednesday at the Battle Honours Mess.Army chief Gen N C Vij is hosting cocktails and dinner for the top brass. Already two Army commanders — Lt Gen R Nanavaty from the Udhampur-based Northern Command and Lt Gen S S Mehta from the Chandimandir-based Western Command — have confirmed their attendance.South Block sources say that the Army Commanders were due to arrive in Delhi on April 6 for their bi-annual conference. It’s learnt they were told to advance their visit to be there for the dinner and a formal function on Thursday.Manekshaw, who became part of Indian folklore after the 1971 war against Pakistan, will be honoured at the Air Force auditorium in Subroto Park on Thursday by the ParZor Foundation, a Delhi-based Parsi NGO, which will be screening a film documenting his life. There will also be an exhibition on snatches from his life, Zoroastrian culture, its talents and, of course, Parsi culinary delights.Former vice-chief of staff Lt Gen (retd) A M Sethna of the ParZor Foundation met the three Services chiefs requesting them to ensure attendance. The IAF and Navy top brass too will be there for the formal function. Sethna drew on the fact that Air Chief Marshal S Krishnaswamy and Navy Chief Admiral Madhvendra Singh were ‘‘Sam’s students’’ when he was Commandant, Defence Services Staff College in Wellington. Says Sethna: ‘‘This is to honour one of the greatest heroes of the country.’’Born on April 3, 1914, Manekshaw was among the first 40 cadets to graduate from the Indian Military Academy in 1932. During World War II, he was wounded in action against the Japanese in Burma. He recovered, and after a course at Staff College in Quetta, returned to Burma to join the 12 Frontier Force Rifles in the 14th Army under General (later Field Marshal) Slim.Wounded again, he survived and rose to become the country’s eight army chief in 1969. Then came the 1971 war which made him a hero overnight as East Pakistan surrendered. In 1973, 15 days before his retirement, Manekshaw became India’s first Field Marshal.
