It is always wonderful to visit Dehra Dun.This time the occasion was unique. It was the fiftieth anniversary of the commissioning of the Ninth Regular Course of the IMA. The world has changed much since June 1952. Lives have added a new generation and, perhaps another half, to the sum total of beings on this planet while some have been extinguished during the passage of the years. But the charm of Dehra Dun remained undiminished in its stateliness.

Three months of meticulous planning enabled twenty of the Gentlemen Cadets of June 1952 to come together again. It may seem like a small number but it was actually about one third of those commissioned. The strength of the course was only 63 including the first NCC Course. A few of them could not be traced, ten were dead; of the twentytwo who agreed to come, two pulled out. Maj RS Pathe from Pune and Col RT Chacko from Bangalore would have liked very much to be there but had to decide otherwise. Of the twenty, there were four or five I had never met.

To me it was even more surprising that for a fair number of the officers themselves, it was their first meeting since they were commissioned. It brought home to me that the Army is truly large and, in a sense, amorphous. The north was well represented and the south by one officer – Lt Col Nainan Kaveer from Chennai, Lt Col RE Colombowalla and his wife kept the flag flying for Mumbai in the west. We gave them all a specially warm welcome.The course produced four Lieutenant Generals, three Major Generals and six Brigadiers.

The reunion was planned over two full days. There was an informal dinner at Thimayya Mess the day we arrived and checked into our allotted rooms in Collins Block after having collected our nametags, instructions and the scheduled programme. Old friendship was renewed and a great many greetings. "My goodness! you have not changed at all"— this despite balding and greying heads, venerable white beards and some potbellies. But, as my husband says often, basic character does not change much. Maj Gen Amarjit Singh, armed with a digital camera, decided that the occasion was worth diligent recording.

On June 14, we collected, after breakfast, at the War Memorial across the road for the first formal function. My husband, Lt Gen Gurbir Mansingh, winner of the Ninth Course Sword of Honour, commissioned into the Bombay Sappers and who retired in 1989 from the appointment of Quarter Master General at Army Headquarters, was accorded the honour of laying the wreath on behalf of the course. It was a heartfelt homage to those officers commissioned from the IMA who laid down their lives in battle for the security of the country since the second World War. Group photographs, both with and without the ladies, were subsequently taken against the backdrop of Chetwode Hall, the classic beauty and elegance of which has encharmed everybody for those fifty years and more.

Then everyone moved into the hallowed precincts for the welcome address by the Commandant, Lt Gen TS Shergill. A hush fell and seven decades of history imperceptibly engulfed us. Battle honours, flags and standards of regiments of the earliest forces hung from the high ceiling. Oil portraits of Commanders-in-Chief lined the wood panelled walls. Across the width of the hall, above the dais, stretched the credo of the Academy which every officer was expected to live up to.The Commandant arrived and welcomed us all. He spoke of the changes in the infrastructure of the Academy over the last fifty years and especially since 1962 when the course strength had to be increased almost overnight. The core of the Academy remained as it was (except the swimming pool) but across the road new facilities had come up. They included the Khetarpal Auditorium, named after another young hero, the stadium and, of course, the War Memorial. KLP accommodation was being built for two battalions and there were plans to acquire more land for the Academy.

The address was followed by tea in the quadrangle and an invitation to see the Commandant’s office. The ladies were particularly pleased to see Mrs Shergill’s portrait gracing the office along with those of Field Marshal KM Cariappa and Sir Philip Chetwode. An imaginative treat during the morning was the availability of the dossiers of each of the officers. Even after fifty years they were scrutinised carefully, particularly by the wives. An informal course meeting was convened at Chetwode Hall when each officer spoke briefly about the highlights of his life in service and after retirement.

Later, a visit to the well-organised museum was a walk down the memory lane. I detoured to the library and was touched when the librarian brought out a copy of Lt Gen PS Bhagat, a biography which I co-authored with Lt Gen Mathew Thomas in 1994, for me to sign.The finale was the formal dinner at the Officers’ Mess where Maj Gen Ranbir Bakhshi, who had been the Chief Instructor at the IMA in 1952, was the chief guest. He and his charming wife, Shobha, have made Dehra Dun their home. He has been looking after a charitable institution, Rafael, which rehabilitates leprosy patients for almost three decades. The Commandant, the Deputy Commandant and some of the Senior Instructors, along with their wives, were gracious enough to dine with us.We shall remember the warmth with which we were received. It was a kind of a homecoming. Lt Gen KS Gill proposed the toast to the chief guest and added a lively impromptu commentary when all of us went up to receive our gifts.Beautiful Dehra Dun, we wait for another opportunity to return!