OUR COMRADE COLONEL SATINDER PAL SINGH RAHEJA

The camaraderie is always the most evident in Defence Forces. So has been the case with our Army Course SS 34, passed out from the portals of the training academy on 26 Aug 1982. We all trained together, ate together, crawled out the OG rut together, suffered together and then cursed the training staff together while at the same time taking liberties with one another to the extent unimaginable in any other organization. That, then, is the beauty of Army. We were all equal, though all had come from different locations all across the country and were drawn from much varied backgrounds. Nothing mattered but. All that mattered was that we were together, just one, through thick and thin. It is no wonder that the bonding under such circumstances is the strongest. As Napoleon once said, “There are only two forces that unite men – fear and interest." We had both the factors going for us – fear of our instructors and common interest of wriggling out of the vice like grip of instructors and their training doctrine. Instructors, all of them, seemed like stone faced guillotine operators to us. And then after what seemed like an age, the day came when we were unshackled, commissioned into different units and despatched to hundreds of different locations to serve.

I wonder at times that even after over 31 years of leaving the training academy, what keeps us together like a well knit team, a close knit family rather. Perhaps we would never know. I think what sums up the reason for this unity is the punch line flashed across the advertisement targetted at attracting youth to the profession of arms – “Do you have it in you?" Yes, to be a soldier you have to have it in you. Not everyone has that substance and not everyone has the gumption to make a good soldier. Only a soldier, whichever Army he might belong to, can understand what exactly is that "it". No one else does.

One of such tough, brilliant but golden heart veteran was our very own Satinder Pal Singh Raheja. Commissioned into the ASSAM Regiment, he literally lived and displayed his Regiment’s salutation “Tagra Raho“. As a matter of fact he almost wore it on his sleeve. Always cheerful, always happy to help and always a treat to meet and talk to. There never was a time when Satinder was down. His infectious smile lifted morale of his friends who were stressed out or feeling low. This is one quality almost all of us wish to have but unfortunately very few actually have. He was blessed in that sense. After our basic training, I had the opportunity to undergo Young Officers‘ Course (Infantry) at Belgaum with him again. And then we both did a stint together in the Northern Sector and met on some more occasions. Satinder was always the same; level headed, cool and fully resolved.

We all plan to grow old together, well connected and networked to the maximum extent possible. However, we were struck with tragedy and Satinder was snatched away by destiny from amidst us on 08 Dec 2013. He died due to Pancreatic Cancer. We take solace in the fact that whatever life Satinder lived, he lived like a real man. The tragedy of life is not death but what we let die inside of us while we live. He did not allow that to happen to him. He was a strong man. He still lives; in our hearts and in this world. To make up for my failure to descibe the situation aptly, I will have to borrow these beautiful verses:

“Do not stand at my grave and weep, I am not there, I do not sleep.

I am a thousand winds that blow, I am the softly falling snow.

I am the gentle showers of rain, I am the field of ripening grain.

I am in the morning hush, I am in the graceful rush.

Of beautiful birds in circling flight, I am the star shine of the night.

I am in the flowers that bloom, I am in a quiet room.

I am in the birds that sing, I am in each lovely thing.

Do not stand at my grave and cry, I am not there, I did not die.“

We, the very fortunate Course, have the satisfaction of having known a good soldier and a wonderful human being in Satinder. We pay our heartfelt tributes to him and pray the Power above to grant him eternal peace and give strength to his graceful wife and two beautiful children to accept the destiny and live as strongly as Satinder did.

“Gham-e-hasti (life/existence) ka 'Asad' kis se ho juz (other than) marg (death) ilaaj,

Shama har rang mein jalti hai sahar hone tak.“

Asadullah Khan Mirza Ghalib

(Life is all suffering, Asad. Its cure is only death,
The candle burns in many colours till the morning comes.)