Bangalore Stories. About a Lt. General who hailed from Sheshadripuram!

Amazingly, as if he had read my mind, Prasanna Kumar had a suggestion: ..  Nidhi. ....Do you think "Bangalore Iyengars in World War II and / or served in the Indian Armed forces" would be a good subject for a blog?!! Just a wild thought. 

His suggestion widens the scope of my blogs on Bangalore!  Prasan's research could find Iyengars' role in the armed forces significant!

 Lt. Gen. Narahari, elder brother of my friend N.S.Ramakanth fits in well with Prasan's idea. An Iyengar,  he grew up in Sheshadripuram and a short distance from where I live. 

I have blogged about Ramakanth and Lt. Gen Raghunath both Iyengars!  Lt. Gen. Narahari as alumni of Sheshadripuram high school reminds me of two Iyengar’s who are noteworthy alumni of the school. Both are dear to me. B.R. Prasad who retired as Chairman and MD of Coal India and Major General N.I. K.Murthy. 

I would like to add here, it is not my intention to get into caste politics! In fact, in one my rare conversations with my father, I asked him why 'Iyengar' was dropped from our names? And why my name didn't even mention 'Grama' the town of our origin? He said he felt that there was no need for either in our new independent India! He surely was a dreamer!

I am thankful to Lt. Gen. Narahari’s daughter, Rama Chawla, for the nice write-up about her father. 

Narahari was born 18th October 1932 and one of the nine children of Nuggahalli Srinivasa Iyengar. He was the third surviving child born to Srinivasa’s second wife- Ranganayaki Amma. 

 

He completed his schooling from Sheshadripuram High School and his Mechanical Engineering from Government Engineering College.  Through school and college he had a great degree of interest in varied sporting activities like Cricket, Football or Swimming. In many of these he excelled especially in Cricket and later in Squash and Basketball. He was also greatly interested in adventure sports; taking on cycling and trekking expeditions in and around Karnataka and rest of India.

 

His entry into the armed forces was by chance and also motivated by his maternal Uncle- Maj Ranga whose second daughter Shashikala was betrothed to him. Maj. Ranga, his 'mama' served during the second world war in the British Indian Army before Independence. A fiery officer from the Bengal Engineering Group, he inspired Narahari to follow his footsteps.

 

Narahari had an illustrious career in the Armed Forces and rose right up to the rank of Lt General. He was commissioned into The Bombay Sappers in 1955. After his initial training at College Of Military Engineering, he also trained as a Paratrooper. The reason why he was always seen proudly wearing the signature ‘red beret’ of a paratrooper. As a young Capt. he held pivotal positions at Bombay Engineering Group Center, as well as an Instructor at College Of Military Engineering.

 

As a Major he completed his Staff College at Wellington and went on to serve as a Brigade Major which is a key operational position in an Independent Para Brigade for nearly two years. Narahari was a keen paratrooper and would regularly parachute-jump through out his career in the Army and finally well beyond  his retirement till he was past 70 years of age.

 

As a Lt Col, Narahari commanded an Engineer Regiment that played a pivotal role to defeat the enemy, in the Chicken Neck area in J & K during the Indo-Pak war. Well known for his leadership skills as well as his professional competencies, he was respected and loved by his peers, seniors and soldiers. Regimental lore talks about how when the enemy planes were bombing Chicken Neck, Narahari's regiment was tasked with the clearing of an enemy mine field under incessant fire. As a leader of his men, rather than giving orders from the relative safety of bunker, he stood among them each day in midst of the firing, thus motivating his men to fearlessly clear the mine field. 

 

He was known not only for his professionalism but also for being a keen competitive sportsman.  He was at the forefront of all Regimental sports besides his favorite Squash and Basketball. Rare was a basketball match when you would not see Narahari at the Center shooting maximum baskets and helping his team win the match. In Squash much younger opponents found him a formidable opponent. 

Known as an ideal role model, officer and gentleman, Narahari held many important Operational and Leadership positions within the Army. He grew steadily and eventually rose to a rarefied position in the Indian Army as a Lt. General and Commander of a critical Corps in the North East of India bordering China.

 

It was during this time Narahari masterminded Operation Falcon that stopped Chinese transgression into Indian territory at Sumdorong Chu Valley in Arunachal Pradesh. This was a daring manoeuvre that goes down in the annals of Indian Military History as one of the few instances that the enemy was contained without an all-out conflagration into a full scale war.

  

Lt Gen Narahari’s final posting was that of  Commandant of the prestigious, College Of Combat at MHOW. He retired or 'hung up his boots' as they within the Military after 35 years of distinguished service on 31st October 1990.

 

While for many a job or a career is to make a living, for Narahari, military and all that entailed was the very breath of his life. He walked, talked and lived the ideals of the Indian Army.

Awards

 Narahari undertook each role with total dedication and sacrifice. Lt Gen NS Narahari was awarded PVSM (ParamVishisht Seva Medal ) on 26th Jan 1987 . It is awarded in recognition to peace-time service of the most exceptional order.

 

He was appointed Colonel Commandant of Bombay Sappers in August 1987. This is not an operational role but that of the ‘conscience keeper’ of the regiment. One who is a guardian of traditions and helps foster esprit-de-corps. He was also conferred with the honour of ADC in 1989 which is a ceremonial position entailing the wearing of a braided gold cord on the shoulder of uniform.

Lt.General Narahari has also authored a book, with insightful suggestions to foster peace and prosperity to a very sensitive part of India!

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Synopsis:

The North-East region is a crucible where Aryan, Dravidian and Mongoloid races are intermixed. This region is about 2,65,000 sq. km. in area with a population of forty million. It is enveloped by Bhutan, Nepal and China in the North and North-East, and in the South by Bangladesh and Myanmar.This region is therefore very sensitive from the point of view of national security and national integrity. The remoteness of this region and its ethnic mix is further complicated by the influx of refugees and illegal Bangladeshi Muslims in large numbers. It has created socio-ethnic tensions, identity crisis and dilution of political power to indigenous people. These factors, coupled with under development, have resulted in serious discontentment, insurgency and demands for secession. Some of the neighbouring states have aggravated this problem that has now been raging for four decades or so. Security Threats To North-East India traces the genesis of the problem that each state of the North East is going through and how they impact on national security. Certain options have been suggested to bring peace and prosperity to the region.

The news report below is fascinating!

https://theprint.in/opinion/for-operation-falcon-maj-gen-jimmy-asked-for-mules-but-army-chief-sundarji-gave-helicopters/421730/

Maj. Gen. J.M. Singh with his corps commander, Lt Gen. Narahari and other officers, surveying the area | Photo: Special arrangement/Lt Gen J.M. Singh (Retd)

Jimmy was fortunate to have a supportive corps commander in Lieutenant General N.S. Narahari, who was commanding the Tezpur-based 4 Corps.  Despite the cautious advice from Eastern Army Command and New Delhi not to provoke the Chinese, the duo went about their immediate task of deterring the Chinese with speedy outflanking deployments. This was when General Krishnaswamy Sundarji, the Chief of Army Staff, responded to a personal outreach from Narahari, where the latter urged him to visit the area and gauge the gravity of the situation.

"...Recollecting vignettes from that briefing, Jimmy recalls telling Sundarji bluntly that he could not defend Tawang with his existing posture. Sundarji responded by saying, ‘Then I will sack you.’ Narahari then jumped in and requested Sundarji to hear Jimmy out. When Jimmy suggested a forward posture in the Zimithang sector, Sundarji responded, ‘Who is stopping you? Why don’t you go forward’? When Jimmy suggested that he needed 1,200 mules to maintain his troops and that it would take several months to build-up positions, Sundarji interjected, ‘Why are we talking mules in this era? Let’s talk about helicopters.’"                                  

On a personal note:

I met Gen. Narahari  briefly once in Pune. However I have watched him play cricket in what was then known as Pipeline grounds! He was the captain of Jolly Cricketers and also of his Engineering college cricket team. 

There are many connections with Ramakanth family, his uncle Raghu and I were in the same class! His younger sister Pramila was my younger sister Srilatha's classmate! His eldest sister Nalina and my mother and mother-in-law both knew each other well and were active in the Sheshadripuram women's groups of those days. It was a small world those days!

Ramakanth's anecdote is typical of those days!

 My father, N.R. Srinivasa Iyengar, was one of the earliest veterinary surgeons in Karnataka, then Mysore state.. He graduated from Bombay G.B.V.C  as there was no Veterinary college in Bangalore. He served in almost all districts of  old Mysore till retirement and shifted to Bangalore after retirement. My eldest brother Ramaswamy also served in the Army during Second World War and was based in Rangoon in Army Supply Core. My father also served in Mysore Lancers for few years after retirement. 

 In my opinion serving the dumb animals as doctor is a very noble profession. He never charged any fee for his services after retirement! He was the doctor for all dogs,cows,buffaloes, especially  in all Iyengar homes, mainly C V Narasimha Iyengar in Majestic and Dr. Prahlad in upper pipeline road. Once a cow developed pain in the midnight  and my father was summoned and he promptly and successfully delivered the calf.  He returned home with all clothes bloodstained and got prompt scolding from my mother who was really worried till he returned home! 

He always used to travel by cycle for calls as a vet after retirement and we forcibly sold his cycle when he was 80 years old. He liked sports and would keenly watch Jolly Cricketers play!

I have blogged about Ramakanth twice. One of the most hard-working environmental activists I know.

https://nidhibengaluru.blogspot.com/2014/12/segregation-is-real-solution-for.html

https://nidhibengaluru.blogspot.com/2014/12/the-bangalore-garbage-saga-conversation.html

And also of  Lt. Gen. Dr. D.Raghunath! 

https://nidhiramblers.blogspot.com/2017/03/a-fine-balance-between-career-and.html

Both as contributors from Bangalore, not as Iyengars!