What would you say to your doctor on being asked, “What happened?”, after getting pierced by 9 bullets in the battlefield?
He said:
I was kicked by a donkey.
Badass, no?
Once a politician asked him if he is ready for war, he replied:
I’m always ready sweetie.
Oh, I forgot to tell you, the politician was the Indian PM Indira Gandhi. Anything but “sweetie”.
Still not badass?
Once he was sent to command a retreating unit during the 1962 Indo-China war and this was his first order:
Gentlemen, I have arrived and there will be no withdrawal without written orders and these orders shall never be issued.
Do or die, always! Certainly, hardass if not badass, yeah?
Okay, this will convince you.
One of his soldiers got hit by 3 bullets in the 1971 Indo-Pak war and this is how he motivates him:
You received 3 at this age. When I was your age, I received 9 bullets and look today, I’m the Commander in Chief of the Indian Army.
Absolute badass. There have been badasses in history but no one comes even close to this man. He is the Snoop-Dog-Tara-ra-ra-ra kind of badass.
If you haven’t guessed it yet, I’m talking about Field Marshal Sam “The Bahadur” Manekshaw, the former Commander in Chief of the Indian Army and one of the only two 5-star Generals the Indian Army ever had.
(Source: thebetterindia)
He was so badass that he once sent bangles with a note to the Commander of a battalion in the North Eastern state of Mizoram who was trying to avoid contact with the enemy. The note said:
If you’re trying to avoid contact with the hostile, give these to your men to wear.
Needless to say, the NE battalion carried out a successful operation after that and Manekshaw sent one more note:
Send the bangles back.
That’s one heck of a thing to do. But that’s normal when you’re Sam, The Bahadur.
But my favorite badass line of Sam Bahadur was what he said about the Gorkhas.
If anyone tells you he is never afraid of dying, either he is lying or he is a Gorkha.
Needless to say, the fearless Sam “The Bahadur” Manekshaw was a Gorkha[Regiment], which probably was the source of his badassery.
What a life, what a journey!
What a man, what a personality!
P.S. – “Bahadur” means brave. He was popularly known as Sam Bahadur (Sam, The Brave).
