Dehradun, Feb. 28 -- Bhumesh Bharti

It is not every day that one meets real-life legends. I had the good fortune of meeting one such on the eve of his 90th birthday at his residence in Vasant Vihar, Dehradun. His name is Major General OP Sabharwal (Retd), SM.

The man who was CO of the elite 9 Para Commando unit that successfully carried out Operation Mandhol inside Pakistan territory, destroying the enemy's strategic artillery gun positions, was in conversation with me. He comes from a family that has produced four generations of soldiers for the Indian Army over a period of 100 years. He was commissioned in the Indian Army in 1955, took active part in counter-insurgency operations in the North-East, saw action in 1965 against China and...