Continuing with my tales about ‘the bravest of the braves’, let me share a few interesting snippets to reinforce the legend of a Johnny Gorkha. While many of these are apocryphal tales they do give us a glimpse of how the world views this breed of warriors at large. It is true that an act of bravery requires a certain degree of stupidity and a wee bit of insanity; or else, why would any rational person ever want to put his own life in peril voluntarily or deliberately, right? But, Gorkhas are neither stupid nor insane, that I can vouch for; they are simply brave.

Sometime in 1943, during the Second World War, a plan was afoot to ‘drop’ troops behind enemy lines on the Burma front - which later came to be known as ‘Chindits Operation’ - to disrupt and delay the advance of the Japanese army. When a Gorkha unit was asked to volunteer for this operation and are told that they had to jump out of the planes at 500 feet, the Subedar Major, after a quick confab with the men, agrees to volunteer but asks if they could jump closer to the ground. When told that any lower than 500 feet won’t give their parachutes time to open, he quips, “Oh! So we get parachutes, eh?” The men were relieved to learn that they would not be simply ‘jumping off’ the planes after all! Talk about raw courage, will you?! 

Miraculously, two months after being declared ‘missing in action’ during the Chindits Operation, a Gorkha soldier resurfaced and reported back to the nearest military garrison in Manipur. Apparently, after losing all his team members to the scourge of malaria and Japanese patrols, he had managed to find his way back through the jungles of Burma by map reading and navigating along the Irrawady and Chindwin rivers. Perhaps, only a Johnny Gorkha could have exhibited such amazing map reading and survival skills since the map he purportedly used was actually a map of Shimla town and the surrounding hills! (Incidentally, Shimla used to be the summer capital of British India then). As they say, fortune favours the brave....!!

During the Anglo-Nepalese War between the Kingdom of Gorkha and East India Company, the first battle was fought around the Nalapani Fort, near Dehradun, which was placed under siege by the British between 31 October and 30 November 1814. There is an interesting anecdote about this Gorkha soldier, who having sustained a deep wound in his left arm during a skirmish, went to the enemy camp at night to get medically treated (the Fort had run out of ration and other amenities) and when asked by the doctor to stay put, politely refused, explaining that he needed to get back to the Fort to fight them again in the morning! Not surprisingly, the Britishers made the historical decision to recruit these indomitable warriors as part of East India Company army soon after this battle. 

Gorkhas are famed for their deadly skill with the ‘khukri’, and one of the most popular ‘khukri’ tales relates to an incident that supposedly occurred during the Second Opium War fought by Britain and France against China (1856-60). 

On a warm summer night, a Johnny Gorkha on sentry duty ‘challenged’ a French army officer seeking entry into the camp, and asked for the ‘password’ as per laid down protocol in a battle zone. In his arrogance, the French officer, instead of acknowledging the ‘challenge’, admonished the soldier for not paying compliments. Undeterred, the sentry persisted. In anger when the officer tried to open the gate forcibly, the sentry pulled out his ‘khukri’ and swiped in a flash. The officer jumped back in alarm and holding his head in mock dismay, shouted, “Hey, be careful with that, soldier...I could have got hurt!!” The soldier politely replied, “Why don’t you remove your hands and confirm, sir?” Moment the officer lifted the hands his head just rolled over. Believe you me, as a young Gorkha officer I never ever made the mistake of forgetting the password for the day especially at night! One of the famous victories of the Gorkhas in partnership with the British was the capture of the great fortress of Bharatpur in 1825. In a display of competitive spirit they raced the British ‘grenadiers’ to the breached gates of the fort. Later, as the British soldiers cheered them on, the Gorkhas reciprocated the gesture and the senior most Subedar delivered a short speech which remains immortalised in the annals of folklore: 

“The English are as brave as lions; they are splendid soldiers and are very nearly equal to us!”  Pardon them their ‘vanity’ but as warriors these men from the hills, indisputably, are a cut above the rest. 

And lastly, did you hear this story about an ‘unfortunate’ mule that kicked a Johnny Gorkha in the head and ended up in the vet hospital with a fractured hind leg, while the soldier reported to the regimental doctor complaining of a mild headache?! So, guys, don’t ever mess with a Gorkha! God bless them and may the tribe continue to thrive! 

Ayo Gorkhali (the Gorkhas are upon you)......!!