Tuesday, February 18th, 2025

There will be coffee in that shop and…what is the plan of Army Chief Upendra Dwivedi? Tell me why a mind like Chacha Chaudhary is needed

New Delhi: Indian Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi, while talking to the students in NBT Samvad, said that today’s youth are running very fast. They do not have time to stop for a while, think about life, introspect and then move forward. General Dwivedi said that I have bought a small shop in Bhopal, which I will name Ahista Zindagi. There would be just coffee and I would sit and there would be lots of books. I would tell everyone not to run in the race of life. If you keep running, then when you stop and look at the end of your life, you will think what have I achieved? What is the achievement in my life, when was I happy? That’s why pause is very important. Think about life comfortably and then move forward.

Like Geography, find Chemistry difficult

The Army Chief told that my father was a mining officer. he/she always talked about diamonds, coal, minerals mines, forests, so geography became my favorite subject. My two elder brothers used to maintain a library of books, used to publish books on history and mother also used to tell old stories. That’s why I started liking history. At first I found Maths difficult, then my elder brother told me a little about Vedic Maths. Then I felt that Maths is an easy subject. But Chemistry, I still think is very difficult because it has to be crammed.

In response to the question of Abhinav Singh, a student of Mayur Public School, Delhi, the Army Chief said that my father struggled a lot in life. he/she was from a village and he/she took a risk and came out from there to study. he/she used to pay his/her school fees by giving tuitions. But seeing their struggle, I felt that I should do something in life in which everyone would feel proud. My father always used to bring me books about the World War and stories of heroes. Mother always used to tell me the story of Mahabharata and Ramayana. Whenever I asked for a copy to write, uncle used to give me a copy with a soldier’s photo.

When he/she said something to the seniors in NDA…

In response to the question of Punjab student Gurjant Singh, the Army Chief narrated an incident from the time of NDA training. he/she told that a hockey match was going on. The job of the junior most course is to cheer, so we got excited and in the same enthusiasm told the senior batch too – Come on you also cheer up. Everyone stared like this… Our Charlie Squadron won the match but I remember very well that the hockey field was one and a half kilometer away from my squadron and the batch that followed us kept rolling for one and a half kilometer.

You can imagine how much my mates who were rolling with me would be praising me (laughs). But when I stood up after rolling one and a half kilometer, I said, if I can roll one and a half kilometer then I am very fit. So why don’t I become a PT Captain? After that I concentrated on physical training and passed out as PT Captain in NDA. Took PT Blue which is a very high award there. After that, when I did PT course after commissioning, I got gold medal in that also. So whatever you do in life, that thing does not go away.

family worth 1.3 crores

In response to the question of Arpita, a student of MM Public School, the Army Chief said that as of today my family is worth Rs 1.3 crore. There are 12 lakh of my soldiers, then there are 24 lakh of their families. Registered ex-servicemen are 25 lakh, their dependents are 28 lakh, seven lakh widows are registered. Similarly, 36 lakh people who live with them are not dependent on them. All this together is my family. I cannot meet this family of mine alone. My wife also joins me. My wife has also been to all the difficult areas, be it Pangong Lake, Kibitu or Longewala. I have two daughters. We try to talk on video call for just a few minutes every day. I also tell my soldiers that wherever you are, connect with your family at least once a day.

Strong relationships are formed in difficult situations

On the question of engineering student Shivam Gupta, the Army Chief said that the more difficulties we face, the more our body and mental strength increases. This is the biggest strong point of the army. The temperature in Siachen remains up to minus fifty. But in difficult situations everyone’s relationship becomes stronger. Name, salt and mark, it connects everyone. Acclimatization is done before going to high altitude like Siachen. There is complete training and everyone helps each other.

he/she said that to increase mental strength, we should keep talking among ourselves. Yoga is very important. Similarly spiritual. Whatever relationship you believe in, whether you believe in Guru Granth, believe in Allah Taala, believe in Vaishno Devi, trust God and take out 15-20 minutes to remember him/her. Wherever you are in any condition, you will always be safe and you will get the right solution.

How did Jugaad work in Kargil?

Talking about Jugaad, the Army Chief said that Jugaad means low cost high technology solution. he/she told that during the Kargil war, our army was fully deployed. At that time there were some shortcomings in our tanks because repairs keep on happening. For repair one had to go either to Chennai or Avadi. But there was not so much time then. Then we directly gathered local people from Sangrur, Nabha, Ludhiana and told them the problem. he/she said it will be done. So India made arrangements and within three days prepared all the tanks of that division of the army for march.

reality and border

On the question of Hyderabad student Shivani, General Dwivedi said that I have seen every war movie but I would like to mention two war movies. The first movie is Haqeeqat, which is made in 1962. Two things are very clear in that, if the leader is good then he/she can bring freshness even to a group of disappointed people. The second lesson learned was that if there is good coordination with the civilians in the border area, then they will pretend to be better soldiers than you. The second movie is Border. It also tells about family relationships.

It also tells how BSF, Army and Air Force can work together. Also, when there is a fight, there is no king or pauper, everyone is equal. You must have seen that the cook also takes charge of a front.

The Army Chief said that he/she had not gone to the theater to watch a movie for two-three years. But recently, on the request of Anupam Kher, watched the movie Vijay69 on OTT. Referring to it, he/she said that if there is a goal in front and if the partner is with you then nothing is difficult. Referring to his/her training days, he/she said that I was not very good at cross country. But my friend was from Air Force and was from Gujarat. We both used to run matching our steps. The journey is better when you run together.

Army opportunities for all school children

On the question of Delhi student Ronit, the Army Chief said that it is not the case that only the children of Sainik School go to the army in large numbers. It is fortunate that today two Chiefs (Army Chief and Navy Chief) are from the same class, same section and residents of the same city. But this happens very rarely. Currently only ten percent officers come from Sainik School, Military School or Rashtriya Indian Military College. Everyone else comes from different schools. Most importantly, are you preparing yourself to join the army since childhood?

The mind should work like Chacha Chaudhary.

On the question of Pune student Atreyi, the Army Chief said that whatever plan you have made in the battle, when the first bullet is fired, that plan fails. Because when new situations and new challenges arise, new solutions have to be found. This means that your brain should run at the speed of Chacha Chaudhary, that is, it should run faster than a computer. This will come when you know your people well, know the habits of every young man, have complete information about the place you are in, have complete information about the enemy. Different terrains have different challenges, weather is a challenge, there is enemy action, all these challenges can be won well only when people have full faith in you and keep their lives in your palm. This will happen only when you are selfless and your people have love for you.

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