An officer and a gentleman

NEW DELHI, June 14: It was to be a quiet family outing to savour the celluloid recap of a glorious moment for Indian military, but for one ...

NEW DELHI, June 14: It was to be a quiet family outing to savour the celluloid recap of a glorious moment for Indian military, but for one of the most promising riders of the country, the Uphaar cinema hall proved to be a death trap.

For 28-year-old captain Bhinder, who died with his wife and son in the inferno yesterday, the film was supposed to be celebration time with teammate Lieutenant Rajesh Pattu after their spectacular showing in the recent National Games equestrian event in Mysore.

They were watching the premiere of the latest Hindi multi-starrer Border from the balcony, where most number of deaths occurred, when the fire broke out.

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The talented 61st Cavalry rider, considered a strong prospect for for the 1998 Bangkok Asian Games, took charge like a true Army officer to guide panic-stricken women and children through the dim-lit and narrow stairway to safety, till he succumbed with wife Jyot-Roop and four-year-old son Ruskin.

Bhinder and the younger Pattu first tried to bring order shouting at the crowd to disperse in order, but once things got out of hand the reluctant Pattu was asked to go out to bring quick help.

“Bhinder could have easily escaped with his wife and son, but he could not stand the sight of some youth molesting women and girls and snatching their valuables,” a grief-stricken Capt Ahlawat, one of top polo players in the formidable 61st Cavalry side, told PTI as the Cavalry men paid their last respects before taking the bodies to Amritsar for cremation.

Lieutenant Pattu, with his right hand bandaged from an injury he suffered in the rescue efforts, was a picture of gloom as he went about assisting in the arrangements being made to transport the bodies.

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It was touching as Bhinder’s father Vardeep Singh, himself an ex-Serviceman, and his mother walked up to pat `Pharoah’, their son’s mount. The majestic chestnut brown horse, was brought with reversed boots mounted in its stirrups in Army fashion to indicate its rider is no more, to bid adieu to its master.

Also present today to pay their last respects at the 61st Cavalry premises were some of the grateful survivors who had got a second lease of life owing to the Armyman’s sacrifice.

Bhinder alongwith Pattu had touched a high at the National Games claiming three gold medals, one silver and two bronze medals riding for Delhi on Pharoah. The only rider to have participated in all events at the Games, he was also in the running as the best athlete.

Ahlawat, who remembers Bhinder ever since his inclusion in the elite horsed regiment after passing out from IMA in 1991, said, “he was always there to assist and help and died like a true officer,” he said. Bhinder had the distinction of leading 61st Cavalry, the sole mounted regiment in the world, in the 1996 and 1997 Republic Day parades.