Lt Gen K Balaram, PVSM

I would like to share a minor incident of my encounter with Late Gen Balaram with you. Being from the Corps of Signals it may interest you.

In 1989, I was commanding an Artillery Brigade in J&K. My sister and her husband were both posted in Kurukshetra University as lecturers. My sister was overdue for promotion but it had been held up. The University was going through a bad period due to mismanagement and nepotism. To sort out the affair Gen Balaram was posted as the VC. My sister asked me to pay a visit and meet the General personally to plead her case for promotion. Used to the ways of civil she thought the VC being a retired General, would certainly give due weightage to a serving officer's recommendation. I was aware of General Balaram's spoken reputation. I tried to tell her how strict he was in his commitment to fairness and his aversion to pulling of strings but she did not believe it.

Lest she drew an adverse conclusion about my reluctance, I decided to visit Kurukshetra on a week end. The next morning a Sunday I called up the VC, introduced myself and asked for an appointment. He must have partially guessed my purpose of seeing him. His reply was polite yet stunningly blunt, "You are welcome to have a cup of coffee with me but if you have come with a personal recommendation for some one, I shall send you back with a flea in your ear."

Though embarrassed by the rebuff I felt proud at the same time. There was no point in going for the cup of coffee. I explained the difference between the cultures in the civil and the armed forces to my sister and her husband, with my head held high.

Brig Onkar S Goraya (Retd)