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There, after the Japanese surrender, he was in charge of rehabilitating over 10,000 former prisoners of war by setting up of a POW camp. This had been one of the easiest jobs of his military career according to Sam. The Japanese prisoners never tried to escape and there were hardly any cases of indiscipline. All Sam had to do was to let the senior Japanese officers know what he wanted done and the job would invariably be completed well before time.
“Gentlemen, I have arrived and there will be no withdrawal without written orders and these orders shall never be issued in 4 Corps, thank you.” His Order of the Day to the Corps read, “From now onwards there will be no withdrawals except on my personal orders which will not be given. We shall stand and fight where we dig in. Remember, we are all expendable; the reputation of the Army is not, nor is the honour of the country.”
“I don’t care what you meant, I heard what you said and did not like it.”
“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
“Don’t you think I would be a worthy replacement for you, Madam Prime Minister? You have a long nose. So doI. But I don’t poke my nose into other people’s affairs.” Sam then recited his daughter’s little jingle from her Convent school: “You mind your own business I'll mind mine. You kiss your own sweetheart I'll kiss mine.”
Listing the attributes of leadership, Sam considered professional knowledge and professional competence as the primary attribute of leadership. These qualities, he felt, are not gifted upon birth, but have to be acquired by hard work and constant study in this fast moving, technologically developing world.
“An act of omission is much worse than an act of commission. An act of commission can be put right. An act of omission cannot.”
Although no one prefers to be superseded, yet people can accept a senior who is better qualified than they are, but not just somebody with superior connections.
Sam remarked that a ‘yes man’ is a dangerous man who might rise high professionally but would never make a leader.
