1. Even since my childhood I always wanted to meet a hero or a legend. As I grew up this desire diminished with age and the acquisition of the knowledge that heroes and legends exist only as myths in fairy tales and the like. That was until I met Capt Choudhary or 'Chou Sir' as he was fondly addressed by all his junior officers, including myself. There were a great many reasons for me to grow closer to him. Firstly, we were of about the same seniority of the same age both being 'Dogras'and most importantly because we shared the same thought process. Besides, his constant minor injuries sustained during various operations and other 'mischievous' activities ensured our constant interactions, myself being the RMO of the unit. The fact that he was extremely petrified by injections but was unabated by bullets or other ballistic projectiles baffled me to no extent.
2. Yet, fearless he was, this was one thing I understood for sure. He would always come to my MI Room like a tornado riding on the wind. Like most enthusiastic persons, patience was not one of his virtues. He would rush into the MI Room ransack my cupboards and trays scavenging for medicines, crepe bandages other emergency essentials for his men. When I would question him about the requirement of the same, he would smilingly quip 'Arre Doc CI hai bhai!! Pata nahi kab jaroorat pad jaaye !!! , and sure enough, his company was the highest consumer of medical supplies. He never wanted a single tablet for his personal use but was always, insistant to provide the best medical aid to his 'Boys'.
3, I remember him giving away two of his five injection meant for him to one of his men just because the soldier had received a fresh yet minor injury, who would have managed comfortably without the antibiotic. On being confronted he calmly replied "Doc yar us bechare ko jyada jaroorat thi ! mujhe to waise bhi sui se dar lagta hai !! This would be followed by the memorable sly smile, which would leave even the most vicious prosecutor speechless.
4. He had a knock of picking up a new one lines every now and then, the most memorable being 'Bela Gulab Juhi Champa Chameli' which seemed to have been extracted out of a Doordarshan National Integrity Animal from the 1980.
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