Idhar Udhar Ki Baat 105 – Truck Gyan (Wisdom)- Brig PS Gothra (Retd)

“I hate that smile,” my wife said sharply as I stopped answering her arguments. We were driving from Chandigarh to Delhi.

She didn’t know what I was smiling at. Right in front of us, painted boldly on the rear of a truck, were the words: बीवी से बहस, ज़िंदगी तहस-नहस (Argue with wife and life is finished.)

The biggest wisdom of the day, right there on the highway. But if I showed it to her, the drive would truly be finished. So, I pressed the accelerator and overtook quickly.

Instead, I said casually, “Open my WhatsApp gallery and look at the first photo I got today.”
She did. A labrouer wearing a Defence Services Staff College cap stared back at her. She was disturbed as she takes a lot of credit for my having done Staff College. And she never wants to see or hear anything against Defence Services Staff College. Argument over. The rest of the journey rolled on in peace.

The photo wasn’t random. It had landed at 4 a.m. from one of my gurus. And if he was disturbed, it meant something. This man is one of those rare, broad-chested Jarnails—full of fieldcraft and hard-won wisdom; a ground soldier, not just classroom theory. It was he who taught me how to spot a terrorist without a weapon loitering around in enemy territory. He taught me how to accurately assess the number of men in an enemy post from miles away. He told me how to assess that the enemy mule column is fauji or hired from civilians. How to know which enemy bunker has the night surveillance device.  Which corner of the enemy post to damage to inflict maximum casualties. When to engage the enemy to inflict maximum casualties. How to prepare for the war. How to violate the ceasefire and how to make the enemy stop firing. How to avoid being silhouetted in your own bunker. How to distract the dogs in an enemy post which you are going to raid. Every lesson came from the successful raids he himself led and launched.

While my wife scrolled through the photo, I wondered: why do people call a wife the better half? Honestly, she’s the much bigger half.

When I saw the labrouer’s photo in the morning I had replied, “Sir, faujis should dispose of their old belongings properly.”
His answer was instant: “What a pity? Someone just gave this away! I once heard  a senior officer’s wife saying that she sold all the mementos to a Kabaadi wala (scrap dealer)  because she didn’t have space to display them in the house after the retirement of her husband. The husband should have stood his ground and not allowed her to do so.”

‘The officer should have stood his ground!’ -Wow

I wondered how after retirement one can stand his ground. I myself had a bulletproof glass of Casspir vehicle. The glass saved me from two bullets fired by the terrorists. I had got the glass with those two bullet marks framed and kept in my drawing room as a prized possession. But someone told my wife that it is an ill omen to have a broken glass in the house. The next day she wanted the glass out of the house. I could stand my ground only for three months  with the glass kept in the garage. Finally, I conceded defeat and sent it to the Brigade  I commanded. The incumbent commander agreed to keep it in their museum.

I plan to call my guru one day and ask, ‘How exactly does one stand his ground with his wife?’
But I keep delaying that call.
Because I know his answer may defy all worldly wisdom.

Jai Hind.

Note:- People who have some idea as to how to stand one’s ground can share it on private. Those who agree with the wisdom written on the rear of the truck may indicate so in the comments, anonymously.