Bengaluru, Dec. 14 -- In the dusty camps of Palestine in 1918, a young ram destined for the dinner table found a different fate.
Instead of becoming meat for soldiers, he was adopted by the Maratha Light Infantry, ceremonially enrolled as Sepoy Tukeram Kadam I, and sent marching alongside men who would soon call him comrade.
This was no ordinary mascot. Tukeram Kadam I led battalion marches through Belgaum, saw action in the Third Afghan War, and patrolled the rugged terrains of Waziristan. When he passed away in 1923, he was accorded full military honours-a fitting farewell for a soldier who had begun life as a meal.
His successors carried on the legacy, each with its own quirks and charms. Tukeram Kadam II, adopted at Neemuch in 1929, ...