"I am always ready, sweetie"

"...His armoured division and two infantry divisions were deployed elsewhere. To shift them would need the entire railway network, so the grain harvest could not be transported and would rot, bringing famine. And of his armoured division’s 189 tanks, only 11 were fit to fight."

In reality, Sam Hormusji Framji Jamshedji Manekshaw was hardly ever ready. He was the army chief during the independence war of Bangladesh, who recently passed away on 27th June.

I have mixed feelings about this guy. On behalf of the Indian army - Sam Manekshaw tried to liberate Bengalis under Pakistani occupation. Although, on the flip side, Bengalis would enounter another drastic famine partly because of Sam. Yet famine was not quite close to the greatest controversy of this man's career; it was suggested that he sold war plans to Pakistan during the 1965 war.

What adds to the amusing history is the fact that though modern-day India lacked to appropriately honour the cheeky man who once assured apprehensive Mrs. Indira Gandhi with, "I am always ready, sweetie", Bangladesh acknowledged the role Sam played towards the nation's foundation by paying a grateful tribute when he passed away. All in all, very fair to pay repsect to those who were doers. In this instance, however, we will continue to wonder if the tribute itself was just another 'one-up' game to India on Bangladesh's part.