He was a great soldier and more than that he was a very simple and friendly soul. I had the previlege of meeting him on a couple of occassions. The first time it was in the Cochin Airport and he was in company with a Retired Army Colonel who was the Chairman Managing director of the company in which I had worked a few years earlier. My ex-boss had the simple courtesy of remembering me by name and inquiring about my welfare. Incidentally he introduced me to Uncle Sam casually as one of the ex-employees of the company where he was the CEO.
After three or four years I had already changed a few more jobs and I accidentally met up with FM Maneckshaw at the Coimbatore Railway station where he had come to board a train to some place. Surprise of surprises he remembered me by name and was very courteous in asking about the welfare of both myself and the Colonel. In todays "I-Me-Mine world, it would be too much to expect even about your close friends in the past if you are out of touch with them for a decade or so. For this to happen with a casual acquaintance in the airport transit it is just impossible. That possibly epitomised the generation to which the Field Marshal belonged. May God grant him peace, health and relief from his present illness.
