[14:07, 18/08/2020] Malathi Chidambaram Ramachandran: Greetings to the Rhino family! My sisters and I feel very privileged to be a part if this wonderful regimental family from the time we were born. I am Malathi and together with my sister Indu we have been trying to put together information on our father late Maj Gen N Ramachandran for Know your Veterans. As my mother also passed away some years back,we now have very little source of facts and dates. We have tried to rely on memory, and stories told and retold in the family!
So please do correct us if we are wrong.
My father was born in 1925 and grew up with no other passion but to serve in the Indian Army. At the age of 17 his desire to join the fauj was so strong, that he tried secretly applying, but was rejected as he was underage. At 18 he joined the IMA and passed out as Emergency Commission in 1943 or 1944.
He was commissioned into the Assam Regiment 3rd Battalion and remained a dyed in the wool Rhino till the end.
The next few years are unclear but we know he had a stint at the Centre in Happy Valley as he would talk about how he would walk miles cross country to play golf every evening. The joke was that his partners were two very senior officials…(one was the Chief Secretary) and he was just a Second Lieutenant!
He was also in Poonch sector but not sure of when….probably when the unit was posted there.

He got married in November 1950 but being still in field area in Kashmir, my mother Mangalam stayed on with her parents in her home town Nagpur. We have heard stories of my father trying to put in a trunk call to speak to his new bride, but most of the precious time would go in niceties with his in laws!

He was posted to Military Police in Calcutta in 1952 where my mother joined him and they had a wonderful year and a half there till my mother left for her confinement to Nagpur.
Meanwhile, my father passed Staff College and joined DSSC in Jan 1955. My mother joined him with my sister Indu as a toddler.
After Staff Course, my father was posted to 3rd Assam in Ferozepur. Papa Pande was the CO. I think my father was the adjutant then.
In 1958, he was posted to AHQ in MS Branch. He stayed there till 1961. We have heard of how my parents would welcome and enjoy the company of regimental officers passing through Delhi or coming to Delhi to request for postings. My father was never very happy in staff appointments and longed to be back in the unit.
In 1961 he was posted back to 3rd assam in Dharamshala as 2 iC . The CO was Lt Col HS Kochar. The Chinese aggression had started in NEFA and the unit had to move forthwith….within 48 hours. Families were sent to hometowns.
Even as the unit reached the North East, the peace treaty was signed with China but the unit was posted there for next three years. Don’t know the exact place. My father became Gaon Budha.
In 1965, the unit moved to Gaya in Bihar, where we families thoroughly enjoyed unit life for a year. End of active regimental life for is!
In 1966 my father went to Jhansi as GI in the Division there.
In 1967 moved to DSSC as DS. In 1969, a new appointment was created called HOTT ( inter service) and he became the first HOTT.
In 1969, he was posted as Brigade Commander in Sikkim ( non family stn) and we family stayed on in Wellington.

In 1971, my father was posted to Delhi in AHQ as DCD till 1973 when he took over a GOC of the Infantry division in Sagar.
In 1976, he was posted back to Delhi AHQ as DSD.
He did a second Div Command from 1977 to 1979 in Mizoram at a time when the mizo rebels uprising were at their peak.
In 1979, he came back to Delhi as GOC Delhi Area and retired from this post in July 1981.

1985… Post retirement job as a Senior Manager at Paper Mills in Dandeli, Karnataka.. He brought many reforms, and a disciplined work culture to the company. We remember employees stopping We remember employees stopping to talk to us when our paths crossed.. they said that Daddy was truly Lord Rama who had come there, to bring about Ram Rajya by improving the company’s prospects, and the working conditions for them.

 

After my father passed away at just 60 of cancer, our mother lived independently in Chennai for about 10 years amidst extended family close by, then divided her last years amongst us. Till the end, her indomitable spirit kept her going inspite of failing health.…

[14:07, 18/08/2020] Malathi Chidambaram Ramachandran: Now for some anecdotes! There are some incidents I can recall about Brig Pande, two involving my father and two my mother.
One story is about the first time my father reported for duty and had to meet the Commanding officer Papa Pande in his office.
I think this was when Papa was Centre Commndnt and my father was second Lt. ( please correct me if I’m wrong!)
When my father entered Papa’s office and stood to attention, Papa did not ask him to stand at ease or to sit down. He kept him standing for over an hour as he talked. Of course,my father was furious, but it set a high standard of discipline for him and also great respect for his senior! From that day on, he was a Rhino in thought, word and spirit!
When my father finished Staff College and his posting came, he was shocked to know he was posted to Punjab Regiment! As a true-blue ( or should I say green?) Rhino, he sent an SOS telegram to Papa Pande who was CO of 3rd Assam in Ferozepur. Papa Pande immediately waited him back, telling him not to move out of Wellington till he got back to him. So even as all student officers and their families left, my parents stayed on in Circle Quarters, fully confident that Papa would do something.
As it happened Papa Pande took the night train to Delhi and stayed there,meeting people in MS Branch until my father’s posting was changed to 3rd Assam. He only returned to Ferozepur after the new signal had gone out. That’s how my father the Rhino came back to his unit! This story about Papa Pande has been in the family ever since.
Papa always treated my mother like a beloved daughter in law! Whenever he visited us in Delhi, he would bring her a saree from Poona or Mhow or elsewhere. They had a great bond.
In Dharamshala, when my father was 2iC, Papa visited the unit. There was a dinner party in the unit mess for him. As my little sister Radhika was running a fever that day, my mother could not go. Papa would not hear of my mother’s absence and insisted she join. The next morning,he called home to ask my mother how my sister was. This was so typical of him!
In 2004, during the Platinum Jubilee of the Regiment in Shillong, Indu and I had taken my mother to attend the celebrations. My mother was overjoyed to meet old friends like MRS Shishupal, Brig and MRS Lama, Gen J Mukherjee, Gen Sushil Pilai etc etc. That was the last time she met Papa.
At the Regimrntdl dinner, Papa took the stage and asked for attention. Then he called my mother up and putting an arm around her shoulder saud to everyone, ‘ You know ..this little girl, I know her from the time she was a young bride.I’m so happy she’s here today!’ It was priceless to see my 74 year old mother standing like a meek little girl with Papa!