General's foresight

Lt Gen (retd) S.P.P. Thorat's autobiography is a fascinating account of the 1962 war

- NACHIKET KELKAR

We were eating together when the phone rang. Dad asked me to pick it up. I was in college at the time—it used to be trunk calls then. When I asked who was on the line, the answer came, 'the defence minister,' recalled Yashwant Thorat, son of late Lieutenant General S.P.P. Thorat.

The call, sometime in 1962, was from Yashwantrao Chavan, who had become defence minister in Jawaharlal Nehru's cabinet following India's debacle against China.

“Dad took the call. We were listening from behind. We heard him ask, ‘The prime minister has so many generals better than me—why is he inviting me for advice? In any case, he may not want to hear what I have to say,’ said Yashwant Thorat.