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Furthermore, our fight is not with their women, it is with their Army. Therefore, when you feel tempted, put your hands in your pockets and think of Sam Manekshaw.”
Impressed by his compassionate nature, the POWs were heard wishing they had generals like Sam Manekshaw in Pakistan.
In her tenure as the Chairwoman of the Army Wives Welfare Organisation, Silloo managed to raise approximately two and half crore rupees in cash and five crore worth of presents.
“My wife and I go around with a begging bowl to collect money, so that none of my wounded soldiers or any of my war widows ever has to beg.”
One of the staff took out his turban and placed it at Sam’s feet. Sam asked him the reason for doing so and he replied, "Sir, it is because of you that we were saved. I have five sons who are your prisoners. They write letters to me. You have given them the Koran. They are living in barracks while your men are
“A man in the Army is what his seniors have made him. If I have attained this position, it is because I have had excellent teachers: there is one here this evening to whom I owe a debt I can never repay-Major General Hira Lal Atal.” He went up and embraced Sam as he could hardly speak, so choked was he with emotions.
Once someone reported to the Prime Minister that Sam was spotted dancing with a pretty young girl at ‘The Oberoi Hotel’ in New Delhi. After an official meeting the next day, Mrs. Gandhi brought up the subject and advised him to avoid dancing with pretty girls late into the night in public places. After listening to her for a few minutes, Sam asked her whether she knew who the girl was. She answered in negative and Sam informed her that the pretty young girl was his daughter. Both of them then laughed over the absurdity of the situation.
"I only want to make one request. Can I have an English translation of the speech I just heard? I want to give it to my wife. Whenever I tell her that I am a great man, she doesn't even listen. Now she will believe me.”
At one of the parties he regularly attended, three ladies sitting together introduced themselves as Mrs. Mahajan. Acting surprised at their common surname, Sam asked, “Where is the lucky man?”
“You mind your own business I'll mind mine. You kiss your own sweetheart I'll kiss mine.”
"I wonder whether our political masters who have been put in charge of defence of the country can distinguish a mortar from a motor; a gun from a howitzer; a guerrilla from a gorilla—although a great many in the
“If there was one thing I remember that Sam wanted to share in a serious manner, it was the importance of family and loving everyone in your family.”
When Mrs. Gandhi approached Sam, he complimented her on her hairdo. She smiled and said, “You are the only one who has noticed it.”
“After my marriage, I went off to war and didn’t see my wife for three long years, and when I returned I found I had a brand-new daughter, and the only reason I am sure the child is mine is because she looks like me.”
He ended up playing a major role in stopping the implementation of reservations for scheduled castes and scheduled tribes in the Indian Army.
Sam went to a formation and asked the officer what had been done about a certain situation, he would normally get a vague answer like “Sir, I have been thinking… I have not yet made up my mind.” Sam would then reply, “If you must be a bloody fool – be one quickly.”
Sam preached that apart from just being honest, truthful, and religious, it is more important to know oneself, acknowledge one’s faults and weaknesses. He believed that a person’s friends, fans, the ‘yes-men’ and the sycophants surrounding him/her, further reduce the little character that they have.
He often gave an example from his life to stress on the importance of punctuality as a part of discipline and decent living.
“If a man says he is not afraid of dying, he is either lying or he is a Gorkha.”
