SARDARILAL MATHRADAS NANDA - RIP

A LEGEND HAS PASSED

17 May 2009

"Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears;
I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.
The evil that men do lives after them;
The good is oft interred with their bones;
So let it be with Caesar."
                                                                               -- Mark Antony at Caesar's Burial

It was quite distressing to read the rather tepid media reports of the Admiral's passing. All they could think of was to say that he was an arms dealer gone wrong. Not a word of his outstanding achievements and naval career. Some did say that he bombed Karachi during the 1971 war but that was it.

Not a word that he was a brilliant tactician who taught the Navy how to think big and transformed it from an inward looking into a Navy of consequence in this part of the world. How he transformed the Navy's indigenous warship construction efforts so that today we build the finest naval warships. Not a word of his humaneness and how everyone who knew him loved him. His great sense of humour and his ability to make friends and influence people.

I am no Mark Antony to be able to express all the good that he did but I did notice that at the functions to pay tribute to him there were very few media, bureaucrats or politicians present. The same was the case when Field Marshal Manekshaw passed away. Perhaps it was because he retired 36 years ago. But several of us who served during his time remember him with fondness and adoration.

So my humble request to our all powerful media Moguls is simply this -- when a man of the stature of Sardarilal Mathradas Nanda passes away spare a little effort to find out his achievements and highlight those for the benefit of our citizens and posterity. I would urge them to sometimes look at the Obit pages of the Times or the Telegraph in London to see the write ups even for sailors, petty officers or Lt Cdrs, it will be an eye opener and a lesson to you. And it will tell us that you care!