The New Indian Express ·
Behind the call of duty
When former army chief General Manoj Naravane penned his memoir, he was obviously not prepared for the controversy it would generate. The book, Four Stars of Destiny, in which he allegedly referred to the 2020 Galwan Valley standoff, was not cleared for release by the Ministry of Defence. The matter snowballed into a major political storm when Congress leader Rahul Gandhi acquired a copy of the book and sought to put the Modi government on the mat in Parliament on its handling of the build-up of Chinese troops on the Ladakh border.
Finding himself in the eye of a storm, it was widely expected that the general would be wary of putting pen to paper again. However, the row over his memoir failed to deter the former army chief, who came out with another book after his earlier one created a stir. Titled The Curious and the Classified, this one promises to “unearth military myths and mysteries”, but steers clear of controversy. Contrary to its title, no military secrets are divulged in this book, no classified information shared, and no mention of how battle strategies are drawn up. Instead, The Curious and the Classified provides a peep into the quirky rituals, beliefs and customs of the country’s armed services which have their roots in the India’s military past but continue to shape the everyday life of the men in uniform. The book is a compilation of 25 essays, each one focused on a particular little-known story or a widely accepted tradition, part real-life event, part folklore.
The result is a delightful, engagingly written book, shorn of jargon and easily accessible to an ordinary reader. And that’s precisely what General Naravane has set out to do. “The purpose of each story is to bring to life momentous events or characters, to bridge the gap between the armed forces and civilian society—while giving a glimpse into our world,” he writes.
