THE recent demise of Gen Claudio Graziano, Italy’s former chief of the defence staff, sent shockwaves within my battalion, 15 Punjab. He was our force commander in Lebanon when I was leading the battalion on a United Nations mission in 2007. The Israel-Lebanon war had just wound up; however, violations by Israel of the ‘Blue Line’ (border between Israel and Lebanon) were the order of the day. He helped our battalion get a grip on the situation amidst frequent clashes between Hezbollah fighters and the Israeli Defence Forces. 15 Punjab comprises Sikh soldiers. They admire officers who lead from the front. Gen Graziano was one such officer.
No violation by Israelis went unnoticed by our force commander. He always rushed to the ground seeking a briefing from me and my company commander to brainstorm how best to handle the situation. 15 Punjab was his favourite unit. One late night, I got a call from him. He said: ‘I am getting the UN Secretary-General to visit your battalion tomorrow. He has time to visit just one unit out of 18 here. Don’t let me down.’ He sent five of our soldiers, the best in drill and military bearing, to Italy to march on the National Day parade, where they turned out to be the cynosure of all eyes. He never missed any chance to get photos clicked with Sikh soldiers. Our troops were happy to oblige him.
We had one special mess cook named Manphool. Somehow, he came to know that the favourite dish of our force commander was pasta. The cook spent an entire week on the Internet, learning the intricacies of this dish. And lo and behold, during one of the force commander’s visits, he gave a pleasant surprise to Gen Graziano by serving him pasta. He was so impressed by our cook’s culinary skills that he called for him and made a magnanimous gesture by awarding him a hefty sum from his pocket.
A few weeks after this incident, I was in the middle of a high-profile operational briefing in a very tense war-room environment. He called me aside, winked and said with a naughty smile: ‘My dear, don’t be serious; I come to the Indian battalion to have my pasta made by your cook Manphool, not for these briefings.’ While being a true professional to the core, he never lost his sense of humour. With a heavy heart, we, the soldiers of 15 Punjab, salute him for the one final time.