Retd Colonel flies from Canada for wedding of sahayak's son
Amid recent allegations against officers and their families entrusting menial duties to sahayaks, a retired Army officer recently flew from Canada to attend the wedding of his former sahayak's son. "He is family...I had to attend his son's wedding," Retired Colonel GS Ghuman said. Havildar Balagowda Raigowda Patil had worked as the Colonel's buddy for two decades.
Amid the controversy over an Army jawan describing the menial duties a sahayak is entrusted with by the Army officers and their families, comes the tale of a senior Army officer flying all the way from Canada to attend a wedding in his sahayak's family.For Colonel GS Ghuman, all it took was a call from his former 'buddy' - as sahayaks are known in the Army - inviting him to attend his son's wedding.Havildar Balagowda Raigowda Patil worked as the Colonel's buddy for almost two decades, before the two retired from the Army around 10 years ago."He (Patil) is family. How could I say no. I had to attend his son's wedding. So here I am, in India," Col Ghuman told PTI.The feeling was reciprocated by Patil, who said, "Saab's (Col Ghuman) mother treated me like her fourth son. Saab also never treated me as a junior but like a brother.""I was with saab since the IPKF days in Sri Lanka. I never felt humiliated as a 'buddy'," Patil, who retired in 2006, said.Col Ghuman retired the next year. Both were in the 25 Madras Regiment, where Patil's son, who got married recently, is posted as an Army jawan.The wedding took place at Patil's native place, around 50 kms from Belgaum.Col Ghuman also used this trip to reconnect with former jawans in his unit, and travelled to places like Mangalore, Kochi and Hyderabad to meet them and their families, before flying back to Canada.Col Ghuman's gesture comes amid reports that the Army is contemplating withdrawing combat soldiers working as sahayaks from peace stations across the country and post them back to their field formations.