The Brave: Param Vir Chakra Stories Read Online Free PDF Page B

married. Before that he asked me if he could change my name to Rajeshwari. He told me that during the PVC felicitations that were happening for him around the country he had once been invited to a maharaja’s palace and there he had seen the maharani whose name was Rajeshwari. She was really beautiful and had impressed him thoroughly.
    ‘When he came back home he had prayed to god that he should also get a girl who was as beautiful as she was. When he saw me for the first time, I reminded him of her and he felt I was the one for him. “Kya aapko Rajeshwari naam pasand hai?” (Do you like the name Rajeshwari?) he had asked and I had said yes. Hum sadharan log the. Unhone mujhe maharani ka darja de diya,’ (We were ordinary folk. He elevated me to a queen) she says shyly.
    She recounts many stories of his brave and fearless temperament, some of which she heard from him or his colleagues, others that happened in front of her eyes in the years that they lived together. She tells me how when he was serving in Kashmir, a girl once fell into a well; he jumped in without a thought for his own safety and brought her out.
    Another time, when they had been married just a few years, he had taken her for a movie at Bhanuvilas Hall in Pune. A fight had broken out in the crowd waiting outside the hall and it had taken a very violent turn. When things started getting uncontrollable, Rane leaped into the fighting mob and brought it under control by shouting at the crowd. Again, he did not think about his own safety even as his extremely worried young wife watched on quietly.
    Then, in 1962, while Rane was posted in Calcutta, Hindu-Muslim riots broke out. Detailed to contain the riots, Rane would walk often right inside deeply communal mohallas, while Rajeshwari would spend her time next to the phone, sick with fear, waiting for calls that could tell her if her husband was safe.

    Rama Raghoba Rane came from a martial race, the Ranes, who had migrated to south India. He belonged to the Konkan Kshatriya Maratha community of Karwar. Bravery seemed to have been in his genes. He served in the Army for 21 years and had the distinction of getting five Mentioned-in-Despatches for his bravery and enterprise. Not only did he earn a name for himself during the trouble with Pakistan in 1947-48, he was also known for his acts of bravery during his tenure in Burma during World War II. He is said to have shot down an enemy plane with his medium machine gun.
    Rane was born in Chendia village, in Karnataka, on 26 June 1918. His father was a head constable of police. He studied in the district schools, moving frequently with his father because of his transfers. He was interested in sports, outdoor activities and adventure right from when he was a small boy.
    When World War II broke out, 22-year-old Rane decided to join the Army and was recruited into the Bombay Sappers in July 1940. During the passing-out parade, he stood very high in the order of merit and was presented with the Commandant’s Cane for best recruit.
    He remained in 37 Field Company till August 1950 after which he was posted to the Bombay Engineer Group centre. He got his PVC in 1951. In July 1954, he was awarded the Chief of Army Staff’s Commendation Card for devotion to duty for his work during the Maha Prabhu Mela in Kashmir.
    Rane went on to command a bomb-disposal platoon and retired as a Major on 25 June 1968. But his love for the Army did not let him leave and he sought re-employment; he continued to wear the uniform till April 1971.
    After retirement, he settled down in Pune. He passed away at 73, in 1994, after undergoing an operation where the doctors were not able to stop his bleeding. He is survived by his wife Mrs Rajeshwari Rane, who continues to live in Pune.



Jadunath Singh
Tain Dhar, Kashmir
6 February 1948
    Dawn has not broken, but all signs indicate it is going to be a cold and grey February morning. There is frost on the grass, masking the green with translucent