It takes a lot to get the taciturn Joshi to speak of
this long journey, which began on August 1, 1967. A graduate
of the National Defence Academy in Pune, Joshi was commissioned
as an officer in the 8 Gorkha regiment and posted in
the northeastern state of Sikkim. During a landmine clearing
operation, he inadvertently stepped on one. While one
leg was blown to bits on the spot, the other was amputated
ten days later. He was all of 24 then.
Joshi was evacuated to Pune's Artificial Limb Centre.
Within eight months and after nine operations he was
fitted with the first pair of limbs. Barely a fortnight
later Joshi refused to be wheeled to the limb centre,
which was a kilometre and a half away from where he was
staying, and decided to bike it. Within a month he was
on the dance floor.
But
his memory of walking on artificial limbs is of sheer
pain. "Because the first fit is never correct
and when you start walking it is as if one is walking
on a pair of stilts. But it was just a matter of time
to get used to it."
"Rehabilitation," he says, with a justifiable
sense of pride, "was entirely on my own." But
friends were a great help. "Everyday someone was
there to ensure I am not getting into depression, generally
I would not anyway, but still it is good to have friends
and support that time."
As he shuttled between the limb centre and his official
duties, volunteers were sought for a degree course in
Russian in Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University. Joshi
signed up and did a part-time course in Spanish as well.
That was 1971.
Around that time Joshi contemplated leaving the army
because he felt it would not be possible to serve in
the infantry.
"I met somebody who suggested that I should do
the Staff College (course, considered a must in the services,
particularly the army). That proved to be a turning point
because I came back to the mainstream," he says.
He subsequently became an instructor in the College
of Combat at Mhow, Madhya Pradesh.
In
1978-79 the army changed the rules of medical categorisation.
Now the emphasis was not so much on physical condition
but physical capability. That was all he needed. Joshi
promptly argued his case. He says, "I said I would
like to be physically tested. I was doing all that was
considered essential to be considered capable -- such
as walking five kilometres, cycling, swimming on a daily
basis. There was also a condition requiring you to stand
for two hours, but I used to stand for four hours at
a stretch while taking classes. So they put me through
a special medical board." The surgeon on the board,
who incidentally played golf with him regularly, said
because of his will power and self-training, Joshi
was equal to any job.
Joshi
then got the command of an active battalion. Fourteen
years had lapsed since his injury and from then onwards
there was no looking back. His battalion later became
a mechanised infantry, so "one did not have to walk
and climb hills like a standard infantry. But even then
I have undertaken arduous climbs in Jammu and Kashmir," he
says.
Joshi went on to command a brigade, battalion and a
core. Not just that, he has taken part in the Himalayan
Car Rally in an army vehicle and cycled 42 kilometres
in Delhi. His example has proved to be an inspiration
for many others. A commando, who lost a leg, was on the
verge of quitting when Joshi boxed his ears. He is now
a colonel commanding a regular standard infantry.
On 27th September 2000, Lt. Gen. Pankaj Joshi was appointed
General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Central Command
at Lucknow. Before the appointment he was Commandant
at the College of Combat in Mhow. On 1st October 2001,
Lt. Gen. Pankaj Joshi was appointed as the country's
first Chief of Integrated Defence Staff(CIDS). He reports
to Army chief Gen. Sundararajan Padmanabhan, the current
chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee.
Source: http://www.geocities.com/siafdu/pjoshi.html
