At Zest For Life, an exhibition to honour the centenary of the late Lt. Gen, Adi Sethna, PVSM, AVSM, which can conclude on Thursday on the Indian Worldwide Centre, New Delhi, one is greeted with a faint marching tune from World Warfare I:
And smile, smile, smile
You’ve bought a lucifer to mild your fag
Smile, boys, that’s the type!”
Very similar to the tune, Sethna’s life was a exceptional tapestry woven with the threads of historical past, tradition, and repair, upheld with heroic optimism. Born in 1924 right into a Parsi household in Bulsar, his journey was formed by transformative experiences and defining moments of the twentieth century. On the exhibition, the room is lined with a number of life-size panels which have photos from Sethna’s life and descriptions of that point that are knowledgeable by his diary entries.
Shernaz Cama, Sethna’s daughter and one of many organisers of the exhibition, stated, “The 100 years of father’s life gave the impression to be in some ways a pathway to the 100 years of trendy India. His story will not be merely that of a person however a mirror reflecting the tumultuous and triumphant evolution of a nation within the twentieth century. ”
From the experimental corridors of Doon College in 1935, to studying English beneath the literary large Harivansh Rai Bachchan at Allahabad College (1941-1943), Sethna’s early years had been steeped in an training that ready him for the extraordinary. His braveness and resilience had been examined throughout World Warfare II, when he served in Java, witnessing the dramatic fall of Surabaya in October 1945.
Sethna’s Parsi upbringing instilled in him a deep sense of duty and motion, mirrored in his diary entries from Doon College. On January 1, 1940, as a senior, he started chronicling his ideas in Scratches of My Pen. The pages reveal a younger man of mind and curiosity—debating concepts with methodical professionals and cons, skipping a swimming competitors to chase uncooked mangoes and lychees, and proudly owning as much as mischief earlier than his housemaster, Jack Gibson.
“His diaries are extraordinarily detailed from his time in Doon College. He was one of many first batches of Doon College. Doon College did change my father’s life rather a lot as a result of it taught him independence, mountaineering and plenty of different issues. However most significantly, it taught him the worth of India. Jana Gana Mana was a faculty anthem a lot earlier than it turned the Indian Nationwide Anthem. (Rabindranath) Tagore was mentioned in nice element. It was Shantiniketan with out the trimmings of Shantiniketan. And the idea of working together with your arms was one thing which all these Englishmen inculcated within the Indian college students. So it turned a builder of recent India in miniature, “ stated Cama.
His later diaries seize profound moments of India’s historical past, from witnessing the horrors of Partition exterior the Muir Hostel in Allahabad to analyzing the Attlee-Truman Notes on Kashmir with the sharp eye of a future strategist. These reflections paint a vivid image of an India present process seismic change and a younger man poised to navigate it with readability and dedication.
A brand new chapter started in 1949 when Sethna turned ADC to Governor-Normal C. Rajagopalachari and later, Dr. Rajendra Prasad, India’s first President. This position supplied him a front-row seat to India’s early post-independence historical past. As one of many uncommon Commonwealth officers chosen for each the Military Workers Faculty in Camberley, UK, and the Royal Faculty of Defence Research, London, Sethna epitomized the qualities of an officer and a gentleman.
Sethna was not only a witness however an lively participant in pivotal occasions of recent India. He stood current as Dr B.R. Ambedkar signed the Structure at what’s now Rashtrapati Bhavan. As Commanding Officer of the fifth Battalion, Rajputana Rifles, he bore witness to the turbulence of the 1962 Sino-Indian Warfare. In 1971, through the Bangladesh Liberation Warfare, he flew alongside Normal Jagjit Singh Arora in a helicopter that got here beneath enemy hearth.
“Dad began writing his memoirs, however he solely lived lengthy sufficient to put in writing the primary chapter, which can be incomplete. So, one all the time felt a fantastic lacuna as a result of he lived a really attention-grabbing life.
We all the time wished we had made a film just like the one about Area Marshal Sam Manekshaw… This was all the time enjoying in the back of my thoughts. Dad handed away 20 years in the past. However for his centenary, we determined that he nonetheless had folks like Dr Karan Singh round who knew him. After all, we had his diaries. We wished to place collectively the very attention-grabbing life he had led. Secondly, the 100 years of Dad’s life gave the impression to be in some ways a pathway to the 100 years of recent India,” stated Cama.
His life was additionally a testomony to India’s cultural renaissance. In a small room on the Ashoka Lodge, he noticed Pt. Ravi Shankar compose Swagatam, the enduring tune of the 1982 Asian Video games—a second that symbolized the merging of custom with modernity.
Sethna’s management prolonged past army service. As Chairman of the India Tourism Improvement Company (ITDC), he spearheaded revolutionary initiatives, introducing journey tourism with the Himalayan Rally (1980-1990) and Himachal heliskiing in 1987. His co-founding of Kaleidolndia, a movie manufacturing firm devoted to showcasing the sacrifices of the armed forces, ensured the nation by no means forgot the contributions of its defenders.
From Poonch to Wellington, Ahmedabad to Tawang, Adi Meherji Sethna embodied the essence of an Indian unafraid to embrace the most effective, whereas striving to enhance the remainder. Whether or not it was his strategic insights throughout essential junctures or his cultural contributions that celebrated the soul of India, Sethna’s life was a bridge between custom and modernity, between obligation and creativity.
“Dad’s life is the lifetime of small-town India. By training having the ability to attain the skies. If one household can do that, any household can do that. So, I believe that’s inspiring. He did have a fantastic zest for all times. Whereas he was in hospital (Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, Delhi), in 2003, he stated goodbye to us as a result of the physician stated it received’t be lengthy. The following morning, I used to be coming in and I met the physician. He smiled and he stated that he had by no means seen a person like this. He opened his eyes and noticed the physician and stated, ‘Oh, I’m nonetheless right here. I’m glad to be alive.’ How can a person dealing with demise speak in such a way? A way of humour is a vital factor and self-deprecating humour is vital which all of us must study,” stated Cama.
