Nikhil's Father@100...Ramesh Sakharam Benegal

 Ramesh Sakharam Benegal on meeting Netaji in 1944:

"We were made to stand in front of our rooms as Netaji had expressed his wish to meet each of us individually. We all had photographs of Netaji in the INA uniform in our rooms and took the golden opportunity of having them autographed by him. Signing forty-five photographs on a visit like this was time-consuming, but he did it patiently and with a smile.Netaji spent at least two minutes with each cadet and asked about each one’s welfare. When he came to my room, he astounded me by telling me that my brother Sumitra was in the Rangoon Headquarters and was quite well. He then asked me if I had received any letters from him and when I replied that no one had written me any letters, he said that he would remind Sumitra to write to me. He then signed my photograph and moved on to the next room. I have since held responsible posts as a commanding officer and I know what it means to an individual when a superior officer remembers his name and anything about his family…"

 

 Benegal’s MVC citation reads:

As the commanding officer of an operational reconnaissance squadron, Wing Commander RS Benegal carried out a large number of missions over enemy territory and obtained vital information about enemy air force and other installations. The missions entailed flying deep into enemy territory and to heavily defended targets. The information brought back from these missions facilitated the planning of Army, Air Force and Naval operations and thus directly contributed to the attrition of the Pakistan war machine. It is further to the credit of Wing Commander Benegal that he never returned from any of these innumerable missions without having achieved his objective in full measure. While flying repeatedly deep into enemy territory, Wing Commander Benegal displayed conscientious devotion to duty and professional skill of a very high order.

 

अंजु आणि माझे आसाम मध्ये १९८९-९२ काळात मित्र असलेले इंदिरा (माहेरची कल्याणपूर) आणि निखिल बेनेगल... इंदिरा बाळंतपणासाठी हुबळी ला गेल्या नंतर निखिल कित्येक संध्याकाळी आमच्याकडे घालवत असे... 

 

उग्रवादी उल्फा आम्हाला केंव्हाही मारतील असा तो काळ होता ...

 

पुढे निखिल "टी इस्टेट" ह्या निलगिरीतील कंपनीत परत गेला ... 

 

मी बंगलोर मध्ये त्याला एकदोन वेळा भेटलो पण आसाम मधील स्पार्क आता गेला होता ... 

 

एका संध्याकाळी मी हर्षा हॉटेल मध्ये राहत असताना , बहुदा डिसेंबर १९९२ मध्ये , मी त्याच्या वडलांच्या बंगलोरच्या घरी गेलो होतो , ती संध्याकाळ संस्मरणीय आहे, कारण त्याचे व्वडील आझाद हिंद सेनेपासून ते १९७७ पर्यंत भारतीय सेनेत होते आणि ते महावीर चक्र होते!

 

इतका नम्र, साधा, संभाषणचतुर, प्रत्यक्ष योद्धा आणि कर्तबगार मनुष्य मला कवचितच भेटलाय ....