Ninja who loved ciggies and adventure

Ever since he heard about the martyrdom of E.K. Niranjan, the Leiutenant Colonel who died during the combing operation at terrorist-hit Pathankot, Major Kishore’s mind has been racing back and forth, a hundred memories flooding it every minute. Stuck in Mumbai with the shooting of a Bollywood film, the officer-turned-actor can’t make it to the funeral of his close buddy in Palakkad on Monday and that only increases his agony.

As a batchmate of ‘Ninja’ – that was the nickname friends gave him – Kishore used to hang out with him a lot, one of the reasons being that they were both ‘Mallus’. “Also, our wavelengths matched. We were both gentleman cadets at the officer training academy in Chennai though we were in different companies. There will be punishments, irrespective of whether one does or does not do things. We would always be together undergoing these punishments.”

Both were commissioned to Engineering Corps and they had occasion to do short-term courses together at various times in different centres. Once they were together for a six-months training stint in Pune when Kishore broke his hand and had to be admitted to the military hospital in Kirkee. Niranjan scolded him that he should have been more careful while carrying out the task.

“Two days later, there he was, arriving at the hospital with a smile and an injured leg. We were the only inpatients and spent around a month there. I was the one who got him the cigarattes as he was completely immobile. I would go out to get them and he would keep a watch. We were not supposed to go out and he would alert me if there was any chance of a check. But our plan went bust when there was a surprise check one day.” Kishore remembers visiting him and his family once in Bangalore. Both were made Majors around 2006 and Kishore took voluntary retirement three years later while Ninja volunteered to join the elite NSG.

“He was a chain smoker and used to speak Hindi with a thick South Indian accent and people used to love it. He was very adventurous, brave, confident, used to speak his mind and stand by what he felt was right. Even if he got punished, he would not change his stance. As officers, if we run into any sort of trouble, instead of worrying too much about it, we would simply laugh.”

Kishore says some of the reports that said the officer died while diffusing a bomb are misleading. “While dealing with IEDS, you don’t know their size or shape or where they are. It is no ordinary grenade. As Officer Commanding, he could have deputed his men to do the job. But he always believed in leading by example and made the supreme sacrifice for the country.”

Words fail as Kishore speaks emotionally, “I spoke to him last in December but could not take one of his last calls. I wanted to wish him Happy New Year…”