From fb wall of an army officer
"I was a Captain in 1991, and we were married for 10 months, while posted in Tenga Valley, and were looking forward to celebrating our first anniversary. But good things were not easy to come.
One day the Adjutant told me that I was to replace an OP officer at a Post in Tawang Sector, and I was to leave in two days. Disgusted and cranky that I was, knowing that we would be separated on our first anniversary, I went and climbed up the post after acclimatisation. My wife also being in the army, we had the advantage of having access to the fauji phone in Tenga (a rare feat). So, a standing order was given to the Inf Company operator to connect me to Tenga from the post every night after the CO Inf Bn had passed an all OK report to the Cdr. .
The tele exchange connection was from forward post to company HQ to Bn Hq to Advance exchange to brigade Hq in Tawang to Sela to bomdila to Rupa exchange to tenga div hq exchange to MH exchange to my wife. So 9 exchanges and most were connected by cable JWD in those days. So, we could barely hear each other in stregth 1. And on those days, when we could not hear at all, the operators were over a period of time trained to relay our messages over different exchanges. Like, I would say, mem saab ko bolo main theek hoon, so each operator will pass the message mem saab ko bolo saab theek hai. And, she would respond, saab ko bolo meri chinta na karein . They would relay, mem saab ki chinta na karna till the message reached me.
One night I dreamt that we are blessed with a daughter and had named her Navya.. Now this was big and had to be told to my wife. I anxiously waited for mid night for the operators to connect the call. The call came through, but as usual we could not hear each other. So the message had to be relayed.
I told the operator, mem saab ko bolo, sapna aaya hai, beti hui hai, naam navya hai.
The operator said roger sir, and I kept waiting, but there was no response from my wife. I was anxious for her response but the call went dead.. Disheartened, I slept off.
Next day early morning, the Inf CO called me and said that your CO had called up from Tenga and I had to speak to him urgently. Not knowing why, I placed the call and within minutes Tiger 167 roared on the phone.. You a****le, *b*****d, how dare you do this to Abha ( my wife). You will be court martialed, you a*****e. I didnt know what hit me and why was I being treated to the choicest of his vocabulary. Very meekly, I said, Sir, but what have I done ?
The tiger shouted, you bloody chap, you have a cheek to ask me that question, speak to your wife and get your No 1 dress ready for court martial.
Scared like a goat, I said ok sir and he gave the phone to my wife, who obviously was crying ( she was always pampered by the CO's wife). Online now, I said Kya hua? Abha says crying, tum dhokhebaaz to ho he, besharam bhee ho. Apni pehli biwi Sapna ke saath beti hui aur uska naam Navya hai, ye kehne ki itni himmat kaise aayi tumko!!
Lo and behold, somewhere from the first to the last operator my message got corrupted and Abha was conveyed, Saab aur Sapna memsaab ki beti, naam navya! I was like burning furious..but i knew Abha was at the COs place and I couldnt say anything.
That night, I asked the Bn operator to speak to each night operator and check my message from their log book. Rightly so the 4th operator s*****d up the message and here I was to be court martialed.
This incident became a huge story and I became a laughing stock in my regiment. This anecdote finds a small place in our regiment diary as humour in uniform...."
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