AN EPISODE AT WELLINGTON

 Wellington in the Cooner hills is the cradle of the Officer corps of the Indian Armed Forces.  Here amongst salubrious surroundings lies the Defence Services Staff College.  Officers of the three arms and a host of foreign officers including the USA and France also train at this College for a course covering one academic year.  Its academic pursuits for the officers, but for their wives there are a host of physical activities including riding.

Horse riding is a demanding sport and demands a high degree of physical fitness.  The horse’s supplied by the Army’s Remount and Veterinary corps are of excellent pedigree quality.  In the early eighties the Chief Trainer was Subedar Bakhtar Singh.  He was a Sikh with a trimmed beard and a tall and muscular body.  He towered over all and sundry and was a perfect specimen of a fit and virile male.

 The wives who volunteered for riding in one of the courses were about twenty in all.  Most, if not all were in their early or late twenties.  On the first day Bakhtar Singh addressed the young equestriennes in a booming voice.

“Ladies” he said “Riding is a tough and demanding sport, but thrilling indeed”. He paused dramatically for a moment and continues “I shall teach you all to ride, but before that you all must get your bodies into shape for the riding lessons.  Your bodies must be toned up, for you must be strong to handle a horse.  Remember ladies that the riding classes start at sharp six in the morning.

 One of the wives was Payal Khanna.  Her husband was a Captain and she had been married for just over a year.  She was slim smart and athletic, having been a basketball player while in college. She had attained some degree of proficiency, having represented the college and her district in this game.The ladies lined up on the first day.   There were two foreign wives among them.  Irene was French while Anne was a Canadian.  Bakhtar put them through their paces.  The exercises to begin with included jumping over small obstacles as well as bending and stretching their bodies.  It was strenuous work and Payal felt the sweat trickle down to her riding breeches.  She did the bending, stretching and jumping exercises with ease.  Though she was panting, yet she enjoyed the physical conditioning.  But some of the obese wives found all this physical workout very difficult and lay down on the grass completely spent.  However Irene and Anne who had some riding experience earlier completed the routine with ease.  Within a week of the lessons commencing, six of the lady wives dropped off and another two found the going so tough that they just vanished.  Payal and eleven others including the foreigners were the final survivors.