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        As a young boy of five years, I was fascinated by the swift movement of Army personnel in the area where I lived in Lodi Colony in New Delhi in September 1947. The Army was deployed to enforce law and order during the riots between Muslims and Hindus soon after partition of India on August, 1947. In the light of this personal background, I was quite delighted to meet a person who was in the thick of things soon after independence in 1947 at Delhi and New Delhi, an Army officer in the rank of a Major at that time, who was responsible for restoring law and order and ensuring communal peace in the trouble-hit areas of the capital of India. He is none other than Major General Aban Naidu, AVSM, PVSM.

Major General Aban Naidu escorting Prime Minister Indira Gandhi at the Red Fort on Independence Day.

He was christened as Abanendra Naidu by his father P R Keshavalu Naidu, who belonged to the Brahmo Samaj and who served as secretary to the British Resident in Mysore. Maj Gen Aban Naidu is now 83 years- old, a straight man, with a straight back and a straight head. Age might have wrinkled his skin but it has not wrinkled the enthusiasm of his soul. His passion for different types of community and social service has made a deep impression upon me. Now leading a retired life, Maj Gen Aban Naidu is a shining example to the young generation today.        He was born on 27 January, 1923 at Bangalore. He was commissioned into the Indian Army on 8 November, 1942 after the completion of his training in the Officers Training Academy at Mhow in the old Central Provinces. He joined the Walajabad Light Infantry of the Madras Regiment. Famed in martial song and military legend, The Madras Regiment is the oldest regiment in the Indian Army. The headquarters of the Madras Regimental Centre at Wellington near Ooty in the Nilgiris is named after Duke of Wellington of Waterloo fame. So much for the grandeur and the glory of the Madras Regiment of the Indian Army, which Maj Gen Aban Naidu joined as a Commissioned Officer in 1942.         Maj Gen Aban Naidu then served in South East Asia Command, fighting in Burma against the Japanese. Soon after the end of the II World War in 1945, his Army Unit Fourth Madras Bn (WLI) was shifted from Rangoon in Burma to Fort Sandamen in the North-West Frontier of India which is now in Pakistan. When independence was round the corner in August 1947 and when the Armed Forces of India and Pakistan were being divided between the two countries, his unit was shifted to Poona. Maj Gen Aban Naidu today recalls with great emotion the midnight of 14 August, 1947 and his tuning into the radio to hear the words of Pundit Nehru 'Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny.. at the stroke of the midnight hour when the world sleeps India will awake to life and freedom'.

        In September 1947 his unit was shifted to New Delhi in the wake of communal disturbances in the capital. As a young Major and Company Commander, Maj Aban Naidu played a key role in ensuring law and order and communal harmony in the areas of Paharganj, Karolbagh, Subzi Mandi and Saddar Bazaar in New Delhi which were witnessing loot, arson, murder, rape and dacoity. During his tenure in New Delhi, he was able to come into personal contact with Mahatma Gandhi, Pundit Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Vallabhai Patel, Moulana Azad, Rajaji, Indira Gandhi and others.

In 1948 his unit was moved to Jammu and Kashmir for 'The Poonch Link-up' against the Armed Forces of Pakistan. From 1950 to 1960 he held several distinguished staff and institutional appointments in the Indian Army. From 1960 to 1962, he commanded a Battalion of the Gorkhas in the U P-Tibet border (Milim Pass) against the Chinese and also against the Pakistanis in the Jammu sector.         He joined as Assistant Military Secretary at Army Headquarters in 1962 and served in that position till 1965. His exceptionally distinguished service earned him a double promotion from the rank of Lt Col to that of Brigadier.        As a Brigadier, he commanded a Brigade in the Sialkot sector during the 1965 war against the Pakistanis. In 1969 he was posted as Defence adviser in the rank of Major General to the Embassy of India, Washington DC in the United States and to the Office of the Indian High Commissioner in Canada. He served as Defence adviser in U S A and Canada for three years from 1969 to 1972.         On his return to India in 1972, he took command as General Officer Commanding in a Division in the desert of Rajasthan on the Indo-Pak border. In 1974 he was posted as Chief of Staff, Srinagar, and later was posted as General Officer Commanding, Maharashtra and Gujarat areas in 1976. In the last months of 1977 he was posted as General Officer Commanding, Delhi. He retired on 31 January 1979 after nearly 37 years of glorious service. Maj Gen Aban Naidu told me with glowing pride and joy that he had the unique distinction of escorting two Prime Ministers of India from two opposing political parties, Indira Gandhi and Morarji Desai, on to the ramparts of the Red Fort for hoisting the National Flag on Independence Day.

President Sanjeeva Reddy decorating Major General Aban Naidu with the Param Vishisht Seva medal.

        Milton, the great English poet, had this to say about his wife: 'Sole partner, and sole part of all my joys, dearer thyself than all'. Maj Gen Aban Naidu also feels the same way about his wife Jaya Rukmini Naidu. If Major General Naidu has had a successful career in the Indian Army for 37 years, to a large extent he owes it to his devoted, graceful and charming wife Jaya Rukmini Naidu who is also in her early 80s today. During Maj Gen Naidu's days in the Army, she played a very dynamic role in welfare activities at all the Military Stations where they were posted. During Indo-Pak war in 1965, she served as an active member of the Women's Voluntary Service in New Delhi. When her husband was posted as Defence adviser at the Indian Embassy in Washington, she had the unique opportunity of interacting with Mrs Nixon, wife of the President of the United States and Mrs Bradley, wife of the United States Chief of Army Staff. She came in for special mention at the YWCA International Fair in Washington in 1971 when she played a key role in presenting India before the audience. After her husband's retirement, she has involved herself actively in all the welfare activities of the Probus Club of Chennai. They are indeed a model couple.

Major General Aban Naidu with wife Jaya Rukmani Naidu.

When I asked Maj Gen Aban Naidu about his views on the great Indian Generals of the Indian Army, after independence, he said that he admired Gen Cariappa who took charge of the Army from the British for his qualities of leadership. He praised Gen Thimmiah as a dedicated, balanced, courageous General who was always in a state of combat-readiness to take up all challenges. He paid his tribute to Gen Chaudri as an artful planner for having played a key and strategic role in re-organising the Indian Army after the debacle in the Indo-Chinese war in 1962. Finally he was full of praise for Gen Maneckshaw for his charismatic qualities of leadership, his in-born ability to rally all his men to a commonly focussed purpose and exemplary character that inspired confidence among his officers and men.        His message to the youngsters is as follows: 'A stint in the Armed Forces, will do a lot of good to the wavered youth today, who apparently lacking a proper motivation, are adrift in the ocean of life without suitable goals or aims.

         An Army exposure and experience will widen their horizons and make them more patriotic and nation-conscious'. He further told me that in order to create a casteless and creedless society in India, every child must be made to undergo a compulsory military training for six months between the age of fifteen and eighteen.

        As I was leaving Maj Gen Aban Naidu after completing my interview with him, I asked myself what are the qualities that enabled him to distinguish himself as a great officer in the Indian Army for nearly 37 years? Bang came the answer and I could see in him and on his face the shining qualities of valour, a spirit of selfless sacrifice, fairness and honesty, discipline and integrity, dogged determination, a cosmopolitan attitude marked by non-discrimination among individuals regardless of their status, a spirit of comradeship and brotherhood and above all fidelity, honour and courage. What is special about him is that he never sought sensational effects or courted popularity. Inflexible, rigorously pedantic in his assertion of the professional point of view, yet he always treated the Civil Power with respect and loyalty. The nation is justifiably proud of the dedication and devotion to duty of all infantrymen like Maj Gen Aban Naidu. No one can ask for anything more in a public servant.