Back in 2002, interviewed by his own grandson for a documentary, this is how Sam Manekshaw recounted his days of glory.
📹: Parzor Foundation
📹: Parzor Foundation
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00:00Mrs. Gandhi rang up, Sam, are you very busy?
00:04And I said, Prime Minister, the Army Chief is always busy,
00:08but never too busy to talk to his Prime Minister.
00:11I said, the girl wants me.
00:12Come on, get the car.
00:14The girl wants me.
00:16Became Sam Baradar.
00:17This is a war.
00:18My soldiers and I have received training for this.
00:21You handle the politics, you have received training for this.
00:24One evening, at four o'clock in my office, I was having tea when Mrs. Gandhi rang up.
00:39She was in Parliament House and she rang up and said, Sam, are you very busy?
00:47And I said, Prime Minister, the Army Chief is always busy,
00:51but never too busy to talk to his Prime Minister.
00:54She said, can you come over?
00:56And I said, I'm having tea here.
00:58She said, oh, I'll give you tea.
01:00I said, I have good tea here, you give me muck.
01:03She said, oh, come over.
01:05I got hold of the ADC, I said, the girl wants me.
01:08Come on, get the car.
01:10The girl wants me.
01:11I always knew I'd talk like that.
01:14So, we got into the car, went to Parliament House.
01:18She was sitting in her office, in a kidney-shaped table.
01:23She, an actress, she was sitting down like this.
01:27I walked in, in my breezy way, I said, hello, Prime Minister.
01:32You seem worried, what's wrong?
01:34She said, I've got problems.
01:36So, I said, oh, cry on my shoulder, what are your problems?
01:39And she looked me straight in the face and said, you are my problem.
01:44So, I said, now what have I done?
01:46Have I made a speech, have I done something stupid?
01:51I said, what have I done now?
01:53She said, everybody says you are going to take over from me.
01:56So, I said, and what do you think?
01:59She says, you can't.
02:00And I said, oh, you think I'm so incompetent?
02:03I didn't mean that, Sam, you wouldn't.
02:09She has a long nose, I have a longer one.
02:11I put my nose next to hers.
02:15I want to tell you, I have no intention or even a thought of getting involved in politics
02:22or taking over, as long as I command my army without interference.
02:26Okay, you have told me enough about Mrs. Gandhi and myself.
02:31So, Sam, tell me about when you joined the Gurkhas.
02:35Oh, Lord, in the Indian Army, there were ten regiments of Gurkhas.
02:44So, when India got independence, like the Pakistan people went to Pakistan, certain
02:51regiments went to Her Majesty's Gurkhas, and certain regiments remained in India.
02:57But there was a treaty between the King of Nepal and the British government that all
03:05Gurkha regiments would be officered by British officers.
03:11So, when the British officers left, there had to be some Indian officers.
03:16So, I was the first Indian to be posted to a Gurkha regiment.
03:23I haven't been with the Frontier Force Regiment, now became a Gurkha.
03:27What year was this?
03:291947.
03:32And I met a Gurkha sentry, I looked at him and I said, ask him your name.
03:40And he said, Hargabad Gurkha.
03:43And I looked at him and said, what's your name?
03:45And he thought and thought and he said, Sam Bahadur.
03:48Became Sam Bahadur.