Khurana’s inexperience and exuberance of youth one day resulted in my nearly being shot, but for luck and chance coming to my rescue. Officer couriers from lower formations carried personal arms when detailed to collect the cipher documents. One such officer on temporary duty was the guest staying in the main building of the mess. As I recall it was a Sunday morning when Khurana and I after breakfast thought it fit to greet him out of courtesy and walked in his room.Courier officer on duty had inadvertently left his service pistol on the mantelpiece. Unable to resist the temptation of examining it, Khurana quickly picked the pistol after giving it an admiring look and perfunctory examining it from various angles, he cocked the pistol and pointed it at me.
Looking straight at the barrel of the pistol in close proximity was no comfort and I shouted "What are you doing it may be loaded?". Ignoring my desperate plea and frantic waving Khurana gave a wry smile and the next thing I heard was a bang; he had pulled the trigger with the bullet just missing me and getting embedded in the soft plaster of the mantelpiece; thanks to the soft plaster luckily it had not ricocheted. Had it hit the hard cement wall its trajectory and consequences both would have been unpredictable.
Every one was stunned perhaps Khurana more than any one else. There was a commotion all those having late breakfast including the mess staff ran towards and trooped en masse in to the room. Fully aware of the folly and carelessness and failure to follow safety precautions, the Cipher Officer and Khurana were totally dumbfolded. The redeeming feature of the incident being that I was still hale and hearty though a bit shaken. Lesson learnt never take chances with a firearm and refrain from being trigger happy, safety precautions must be adhered at all times.
Brig Lakshman Singh, VSM (Retd)
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