KHUSHKISMAT HOON MAIN KI MAIN ZINDA HOON ISS LEKH KO LIKHNE KE LIYE ..... CHHOTISI KAHANI MERE DESH KE DO MAHAAN HASTIYO KE BAARE MEIN... BY Ali Peter John

After my mobile nearly died and having several rounds of black coffee in a cafe where young people were headed nowhere , I was lying on my bed looking lost , when my mobile , my only hope started working and I saw a message on Messenger from a friend I have not seen but know very well , Jayant Shetty .

He had written about an incident which shook up my being and dragged me out of my my hopelessness. And I kept reading Shetty's story again and again till I went to bed .....

The then President A P J Kalam was an a visit to Coonoor where he came to know that the former Field Marshall Sam Maneckshaw was lying in the military hospital sick .

He asked his staff to arrange for a meeting for him which was unscheduled . It was difficult , but his staff managed to get him a fifteen - minute meeting with the Field Marshall

During the meeting President Kalam sat with the Field Marshall and asked him if he could do anything to make him feel comfortable . The Field Marshall smiled and said he had one major grievance and that was his not being able to sit up and salute the most respected President of his beloved country .

The President was moved and finally Field Marshall told the President that he had not received his pension due to him for more than twenty years . The President was aghast and had tears in his eyes .....

He returned to New Delhi and the first thing he did was to sign a cheque for Rs 1 . 25 crore which was the Field Marshall's due and asked the Defence Secretary to take the cheque by flight to Coonoor and hand it over to Sam Maneckshaw in Wellington Hospital and the President's order was carried out and Sam Maneckshaw was thoroughly moved .....

But if one thought or felt that he would keep the cheque , he or she knew nothing about what Sam Bahadur was made of .

The extremely sick Sam Bahadur handed over the entire amount to the Army Relief Fund ...and some days later , the first Field Marshall of India died alone in that hospital and not a single minister or official from New Delhi attended his funeral .

Was someone in power taking revenge on Sam ? If yes , then for what crime ? For fighting the war of 1971 and winning it with honour for the country ?

And talking about A P J Kalam , I know I am not fit to tie the laces of his shoes , but I feel extremely proud that my name has the same initials , APJ .

And my greatest personal experience with A P J Kalam was when I traveled to New Delhi with Dev Anand who was to receive the Dadasaheb Phalke Award from the President . It was time for Dev Sahab to receive the award from President Kalam.

Dev Sahab ran up the steps of Vigyan Bhavan and President Kalam joined the distinguished audiance in clapping for Dev Sahab for several minutes , breaking protocol to pay his respects to the man ( Dev) who he felt truly deserved the award .

AISE MAHAN LOGO KO KOI KAISE BHOOLA SAKTA HAI ? YE KAHAANIYA TOH HAR SCHOOL MEIN PADAAYA JAANA CHAAIYE TAAKI AANE WAALE PEEDIYAN YE JAAN SAKE KI KABHI HAMAARE DESH MEIN BHI MAHAANTA REHTI THI .