Following
are three interesting instances when silence could speak louder than
voice.
Take
1:
Field Marshal Sam Bahadur Maneckshaw once was invited to address a public meeting at Ahmedabad. As he commenced to speak in English; the crowd started shouting a chant, "speak in Gujarati. We will hear you only if you speak in Gujarati." Field Marshal Sam Bahadur Maneckshaw stopped his speech. Swept the audience with a hard stare and replied, "Friends, I have fought many a battle in my long career. I have learned Punjabi from men of the Sikh Regiment; Marathi from the Maratha Regiment; Tamil from the men of the Madras Sappers; Bengali from the men of the Bengal Sappers, Hindi from the Bihar Regiment; and even Nepali from the Gurkha Regiment. Unfortunately, there was no Regiment from Gujarat from whom I could have learned Gujarati".
You could have heard a pin drop; however, some whispers came from the audience that said, "We do not kill, we make money, enjoy it while these other Indian are ready to die for the country! We are Gujarati"!
--------------------------
Take 2:
Take 2:
When Indira Gandhi visited UK as PM of India she was on one occasion shown some sets of beautiful sandals. After showing them, the sales girl said with contempt in her voice, "Of course, you Indians will not understand the use of these sandals as Indians do not wear foot wares"!
On
that, Mrs. India Gandhi retorted, "Of course, since British rule
had cut our feet so we could not put on any shoes, since we do not
have legs to ware any shoes".
"Presently,
we are trying to build legs so that we can ware sandals!
You
could hear a pin drop.
--------------------------
Take 3:
Take 3:
Soon after getting freedom from British rule in 1947, the de-facto prime minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru called a meeting of senior Army Officers to select the first General of the Indian army.
Nehru proposed, "I think we should appoint a British officer as a General of The Indian Army, as we don't have enough experience to lead this army."
Having
learned under the British, only to serve and rarely to lead, all the
civilians and men in uniform present, nodded their heads in
agreement.
However, one senior officer, Nathu Singh Rathore, of Royal Rathore descendancy of Rajasthan, asked for permission to speak. Nehru was a bit taken aback by the independent streak of the officer, though, he asked him to speak freely.
Rathore said, "You see, sir, we don't have enough experience to lead a nation too, so shouldn't we appoint a British person as the first Prime Minister of free India?"
You could hear a pin drop.
After a pregnant pause, Nehru asked Rathore, "Are you ready to be the first General of The Indian Army"?
Rathore
declined the offer saying "Sir, we have a very talented army
officer, my senior, Gen. Cariappa, who is the most deserving among
us."
This is how the brilliant Gen. Cariappa became the first General and Rathore the first ever Lt. General of the Indian Army.
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