Something must arouse suspicion with this picture in the military cantonment of Pune: 3 young people walking towards a statue of Field Marshall Maneckshaw. The first looks like a northeasterner (although she's Russian), the second could have Arab roots and speaks with a North African accent and the 3rd would fit the prototype of a Dravidian but has a large camera around his neck.
An armed soldier walks in parallel with the trio, who try to stay unnoticed. Then comes a polite question.."Where are you guys from?" Bombay, I say, and my friendly tone warms up the soldier and he wishes all of us a Happy Diwali. The soldier from Jhansi in Uttar Pradesh was just making sure that no one was eyeing the cantonment for an attack.
One may laugh at the above notion but there's a road in the city named after General Arun Vaidya, who was the 13th chief of staff of the Indian Army. The general was assasinated in Pune in 1986 by Sikh terrorists, who wanted to avenge Operation Blue Star, one of the ugliest incidents in modern India. General Vaidya, who was a hero of the 1965 and 1971 wars, planned and executed the operation on the Golden Temple in Amritsar, when it was under seige by terrorists. There is a monument in honour of General Vaidya, at the same spot where he fell to the bullets of assasins.
An armed soldier walks in parallel with the trio, who try to stay unnoticed. Then comes a polite question.."Where are you guys from?" Bombay, I say, and my friendly tone warms up the soldier and he wishes all of us a Happy Diwali. The soldier from Jhansi in Uttar Pradesh was just making sure that no one was eyeing the cantonment for an attack.
One may laugh at the above notion but there's a road in the city named after General Arun Vaidya, who was the 13th chief of staff of the Indian Army. The general was assasinated in Pune in 1986 by Sikh terrorists, who wanted to avenge Operation Blue Star, one of the ugliest incidents in modern India. General Vaidya, who was a hero of the 1965 and 1971 wars, planned and executed the operation on the Golden Temple in Amritsar, when it was under seige by terrorists. There is a monument in honour of General Vaidya, at the same spot where he fell to the bullets of assasins.
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