“I drove Indra Gandhi for 15 minutes in 1971 when she visited our battalion where I served in Kashmir. When I first saw her I was scared and surprised too as she was the Prime Minister and impressed by her simplicity. It must have been an official visit as at that time there was a war going on between India and Pakistan and she encouraged all the soldiers to fight with bravery in the war.

What to tell about the war. In war you have kill or you have to die. I remember when I was young in my village I would see soldiers who would come on holidays. They used to have a different lifestyle and money too. My parents were not so rich and I would not get money to spend, so I decided to join the Indian army as many young people would join in those days. I joined the Indian Army in 1962 and spent one year training in Gorakhpur as a rifleman. I fought the war of 1972 between India and Pakistan. I was lucky nothing happened to me but few of my friends were killed and few were wounded. A few times I saved my friends from bullets and they saved me too. Some I had to leave them to die as there was no option. I would never know who was going to shoot from where. All the time I had to be alert and there were sleepless nights in the forest. When my bullets finished I used mu Khukuri to protect and chase enemies. Everyone would be scared of Gorkhalis. All of our friends in one voice would say “Aayo Gorkhali” means “Gorkhalis Coming” and would fight with bravery. They would say us Gorkhalis are fools because we would use whatever we see in front of us and nothing would control our anger. That’s how we earned bravery. From my childhood I used to use khukuri for household purposes so I know how to play with it.

During war I would miss my family thinking if anything happened to me, what will happen to them. If I want to see my family I need to be alive and with that thinking I would get courage within myself. We would not tell our family if we going to war as we were not allowed to. I spent 15 years in India and after that I came back home and I still play with my KHUKURI for daily work.”

Dambar Bahadhur Gurung, 76 years, Sikles