AN INCIDENT IN GENERAL CARIAPPA’S LIFE
Dr. Mula Ravi Kumar
(This is the incident narrated by a senior army
officer while he was addressing a student gathering as chief guest)
In 1975 (or so) there was a function in a defence
organisation for which late Field Marshal K.M. Cariappa was the chief guest. By
that time Cariappa had already completed 20 years as a retired army chief and
he was 80 years old. While he was delivering his address, the power went off.
The organisers were not prepared enough to restore the light immediately by
alternate means and they ran in search of petromax lights. The entire
auditorium was dark when the first light appeared from where Sri Cariappa was
speaking. He could restore the light immediately because he had a candle and match
box in his own pocket which he brought with him from his house. That much was
the foresight he had 20 years after his retirement. It was, neither his
responsibility nor his need to restore the light and the responsible people
failed.
Matchbox and candle are too cheap, small and trivial
things to be discussed. But it is his foresight that matters so much. The
incident must have strongly inspired all the young cadets in the auditorium.
Otherwise the military officer wouldn’t have recalled the incident 20 years it
and narrated later in a gathering attended by more than thousand University
students, many senior professors and university officers.