The Unforgettable Field Marshal Cariappa

- Sunanda Jain

India’s first post-Independence Commander-in-Chief, and one of two individuals ever to be appointed Field Marshal—the Indian Army’s highest attainable rank—Kodandera ‘Kipper’ Madappa Cariappa will always remain a legend in the history of our country’s armed forces.

During a tour of south India, my husband (then an army Major) and I were passing through Mercara, Coorg (now Madikeri, Kodagu). Hearing that Cariappa, then a General, had let it be known that any army officer in Mercara was welcome to visit him, I asked my husband if we could visit the great man we both admired. “Why not?” he said. A quick call later, we were on our way to see the General at his villa where he stayed alone on a sprawling estate. It was late evening and pouring with rain by the time we reached our destination.

A member of the domestic staff appeared on the porch holding a big umbrella for us. The General was standing on the verandah. He gripped my husband’s outstretched palm in a firm handshake and smiled at me, “Welcome to my house.” He stepped aside with typical, old-world courtesy to let me enter first. The room was filled with antiques and mementos. A sandalwood chariot drawn by seven horses with figures of Lord Krishna and Arjun in a huge glass case dominated one corner. The General poured my husband a drink from a bottle labelled ‘specially bottled for General K. M. Cariappa’, and then some coffee for me.

The men spoke and G eneral Cariappa answered my occasional questions with great care. I asked him if he had considered writing his autobiography. His eyes suddenly clouded over with pain. He leaned towards me with great intensity and, in his highly anglicized Hindi, asked, “Meri