Having been one of the three people who had done the job of putting addresses and name slips in the plastic bags, bagging the medals being returned and logging the name and address of the veteran in a register, I was asked to be one of the eight persons asked to escort the Medals Carton to the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
We loaded the carton in a Police Gypsy and the eight of us nominated to escort the carton got in the two Gypsies that were to take us there, unfortunately, one Veteran – name unknown, but who had identified himself as being ex-Bombay Sappers – also got into the Gypsy when his name was not there! It took a considerable amount of cajoling, requesting and persuasion to convince him that only those so nominated would be allowed inside the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Once that was sorted out, we proceeded to Gate No 2 of the Rashtrapati Bhavan. After the carton had been removed from the Gypsy, we were told that it would need to be Security checked and cleared. We informed the Security people there that it was, obviously, full of metals since all the medals were there! So, they promptly summoned a 'sniffer' who carried a rather sophisticated looking sensing machine on his shoulder. The gentleman rubbed a small round piece of paper on the sides of the carton and then offered it for a 'sniff' to the machine. Almost instantly, he declared that the carton was 'safe' and did not carry any explosives. My mutter "Just some explosive emotions" did not elicit a smile, unfortunately!
We then trooped into the Reception, where we were duly met by the Deputy Secretary to the President, Mr Rana, his assistant and the person Incharge of Security. We requested this latter gentleman permission to take a photograph or two of the handing over of the medals. This was firmly refused. I then requested that we be allowed to take a picture of the eight escorts with the carton outside the reception, at least. This permission too was refused, with the Security gent unwittingly telling me that he has clear instructions to not let that happen. We then requested them to kindly call their in-house security cleared photographer so that we could request him for a picture or two. At this, we were informed that as today was a Sunday, there was no photographer available. Mind you, this when there were at the very least about fifteen other Rashtrapati Bhavan staff floating about!
We were then offered a cup of tea and some snacks – which we courteously refused to partake, informing Mr Rana that this was not a moment of celebration for us Veterans but rather a very solemn and unhappy moment, akin to us being at the Nigambodh Ghats for our last rites as that is how much these medals mean to a Veteran or a serving person!
We all sipped a glass of water that was then offered to us and after making a detailed list of the eight escorts, we were ferried back to the Jantar Mantar site by the Police Gypsies. The people who escorted the Medals Carton were:
1. Mrs Shiksha Bhardwaj, mother of Shaheed Capt Umang Bhardwaj, Shaurya Chakra
2. Col Kirit Joshi
3. Wg Cdr CK Sharma
4. Col Kanwar Bhardwaj, SM
5. Lt Col AK Saxena, Vice President IESM
6. Capt Om Prakash
7. CPO RS Chauhan
8. Cpl Jaswant Singh Kumbra
Warm Regards
CK Sharma
Wg Cdr CK Sharma, Member Steering Committee, IESM
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