FOR REMEMBRANCE

Col. Arun Bhagra (TA) ’67

 

1.        The cruel hands of fate have snatched away, prematurely one of the brightest stars of the fraternity of IR officers and a jewel among the tribe of SAMs.

2.        Sh. Vij will always be cherished in memory for his infinite friendliness and understanding. He had the power of endearing himself to people without any effort on his part, simply by being himself and warming the atmosphere around him with his sheer magnetic presence.

3.        One vividly remembers the first encounter during the turning out of our batch in the quadrangle on return from OC on Club Day ’69; the introduction to Radio Kuwait while attending a diesel course from Tata; the dazzling brilliance on the hockey field, the hilarious conversations, a memorable dinner at MGS, Club Days ’94 & ’97 at SP Marg et al, subsequently.

4.        He groomed an entire generation of young SCAs during his tenure as Princie of the Alma Mater. Like a later day Spartan he stood at the vanguard in Themopylae when Sh. Jaffer Sharif tried his worst to disband the the SCRA scheme:-

“Their shoulders held the heavens suspended,

  They stood, and earth’s foundations stay .

  What God abandoned these defended.

  And saved the sum of things for pay.”

5.        One was blessed to have been considered a friend at the formative stage of life at JG. These words of Hilaire Belloc:-

“From quiet homes and first beginning ,

Out to the undiscovered ends,

There’s nothing worth the wear of winning,

But laughter and the love of friends.”

seemed to be the whole truth, during those halcyon days.

6.        The tragic and untimely passing away of Smt. & Sh. Vij has left an aching sense of bereavement. They are mourned for their talent of for living life, worthily and for helping others to do, likewise. They made the world immeasurably the better, by their presence.

7.        Perhaps, from the Heavens above, Sh. Vij’s soul is telling us:

 

“I am free……………………..

Don’t grieve me for I am free

I am following the path God laid for me

I took His hand when I heard Him call

I turned my back and left it all.

 

I could not stay another day

To laugh, to love, to work or play

Tasks left undone must stay that way.

 

If parting has left a void

Then fill with remembered joy

A friendship shared, a laugh, a kiss

Ah yes, these things I too will miss.

 

Be not burdened with time of sorrow

I wish you the sunshine of tomorrow

My life’s has been full, I savoured much

Good friends, good times, a loved one’s touch.

 

Perhaps my time seemed all too brief

Don’t lengthen it now with undue grief

Lift up your heart and share with me

God wanted me now, He set me free.”

8.        The shadows are lengthening for all of us. When our turns comes to cross the River, will our last conscious thoughts be of JMP, I wonder?

9.        Dear Sir and Ma’am, may God be with you, in Heavenly abode.

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