First, a disclaimer. Ian Anthony Joseph Cardozo is a very dear friend and a close colleague in the Army for the last 60 years. We first met in January 1963 in Dehradun to re-raise 4/5 Gorkha Rifles (FF) which he rejoined in the 1971 war. We fought together, the 1965 war against Pakistan in J&K and built an everlasting friendship which endured till last year when it got disrupted over a matter of ethics. I have regarded Cardozo as one of my best friends; his wife Priscilla and their three sons as family — one of whom, Sunith, rose to command 2/5 Gorkha Rifles FF, the battalion I commanded.
The real test of friendship comes in battle and Cardozo has paid the highest tribute to me for saving his life in the 1965 war when we were both company commanders in an operation against Pakistan Army infiltrators. I recall Cardozo reminiscing at a public lecture on the 1971 war in Shillong in 2021, the incident saying: “Ashok saved my life”. Writing this book review has not been easy as it gets linked with an unfortunate fabricated act of self-glorification that, for years, masqueraded as a feat of bravery and dare-devilry. Therefore, our story has a bad… sad ending.
As far as I can remember — and this is confirmed by a fellow office in Four Five, I gave the name Cartoos Saab to Ian Cardozo at Balnoi when our Gorkha johnnies found pronunciation of his Goan name difficult. I had similarly given some other officers simplified names. I had known Goans from my school at Dehradun where they were wonderful waiters, great butlers and famous musicians. But most of all, impeccable human beings. Ian turned out to be one who excelled in the clan in every department and proved he was a great soldier, fearless and dashing and liked by the men. Gorkhas have the rare skill of being able to smell a true soldier. Cardozo did a great many things in the 1965 war and before and after it that at once qualified as outstanding. He has listed his achievements in the book though memory may have played a trick or two resulting in embellishments and exaggerations which usually accompany autobiographies.
The book was completed in May 2022 and presumably took some years writing. Cartoos Saab has interesting chapters like ‘Cradle of Leadership’ ‘Gorkhas in Nepal’; ‘1962’; 4/5 GR and 1965 and 1971 wars. Cardozo is a gifted writer who was born with the proverbial dot pen in his mouth. He has written several books in addition to the ones on the three wars — 1962 with China; 1965 and 1971 with Pakistan. He has penned short stories and poems and illustrated war comics. He would invariably press and persuade me to write on my travels in Nepal and the great Gorkha warriors who were our compatriots.
Another feather in his Gorkha hat was becoming the first war-disabled officer to command troops. He writes about this uphill battle that convinced the army high command that injuries in combat would not undermine his performance in command of active units and formations. He broke the taboo and went on to command a battalion, brigade and division but strangely in one geographical space: the Akhnoor sector which must be a record in Indian military history. Not just that, his in-between jobs were all in the Military Secretary’s Branch in Army Headquarters Delhi. We were posted there together, I for the first time in the Defence Planning Staff and he at MS Branch which became his second home. He capped his career by becoming Colonel of the Fifth Gorkhas and never has a couple made themselves as popular as the Cardozos- they never missed a Gorkha function in the regiment.
The piece de resistance of his military career turned out by default to be his injury from own land mine, laid during the Battle of Sylhet. Everyone knew that he had lost a portion of his leg after the Pakistan force of 5000 and more surrendered to the by then depleted 350 soldiers of 4/5 Gorkhas 24 hours before the formal Dacca surrender. But no one knew that he informed the media that as the ultimate act of heroism and survival he used his khukuri (Gorkha knife) to cut off his dangling ankle and according to Cardozo after his batman (orderly) Bal Bahadur refused to cut it off. This story appeared in the public domain after he shared it with China expert and historian Claude Arpi who published it with some factual inaccuracies which Cardozo did not attempt to correct.
Cardozo cutting off his ankle with his khukuri became folklore after TV journalists Barkha Dutt and Maroof Raza celebrated the incident under their series on battle honours and heroes. These accounts were picked up by other TV channels and writers to turn him into legend: The Brave Major Cardozo Who Cut His Leg in Battle With His Khukuri. The fact that stands out is that the Cardozo account became public only after the Commanding Officer of 4/5 Gorkhas, Brig Arun Harolikar, who was awarded MVC in 1971, had died. In the battalion’s history of Sylhet battle, he wrote that his 2IC Maj Cardozo stepped on a mine and had to be evacuated. No mention of his heroics with the khukuri.
It was around October 2021 that Bollywood began reporting that actor Akshay Kumar would do a film called Gorkha, a biopic on Cartoos Saab. That stunned the Gorkha veterans especially of 4/5 Gorkhas and those officers who had fought alongside in the Sylhet battle. The main driver of The Gorkha was Cardozo’s account of cutting his leg with his khukuri. There was considerable stir among his Sylhet colleagues who knew the facts were different from the ones claimed by Cardozo in his book and in articles in the media. The filmmakers got to know about the resistance and protests about the film through official army channels when the script of the film deleted its factual inaccuracies including the leg-cutting incident. On 5 January 2023, mainline English newspapers in Delhi reported that producer Anand Rai and Akshay Kumar had decided to back out of the film due to questions on authenticity of the Cardozo story. Kumar said: ‘I have utmost respect for the armed forces and did not want to associate with a story that might have a shadow of doubt’. His spokesperson said he was not doing the film any more.
Lt Col Maney Malik who won a Sena Medal in Sylhet battle had in June 2020 sent this email to Cardozo: “Remember, Sir, after you stepped on a mine, you were brought to headquarters for medical help. Your head was on my lap when your damaged foot was being removed by regimental Medical Officer, Capt DK Sengupta. I pressed your head to give you comfort. You said: ‘the woman who marries you will be very lucky’.” On 29 June 2020, Cardozo’s reply to Malik was: ‘Yes I remember those words of mine when you were trying to comfort me on your lap and relieve my pain. However, after that, my mind is blank. Thank you for reminding me of that moment on the battlefield of Sylhet’. Col Malik is living witness to the fact that Capt Sengupta amputated the dangling ankle and not Cardozo himself. Cardozo’s last description of his amputation is on page 223 of his book where he still insists that he told Bal Bahadur, after cutting his damaged leg’ to go and bury it, adding “I now own a piece of land in Bangladesh”. This he says is written to the best of my memory no matter what others say.
Malik says: “I can put my hand on the Gita and say Capt Sengupta cut Cardozo’s leg. I can endorse these facts as they fit perfectly with the recorded history of the battalion supported by deep research of 4/5 Gorkha officers. Cartoos Saab did not need to add the khukuri heroics to a very rich and courageous professional career. All the same, a must-read book.
(‘Cartoos Saab: A Soldier’s Story of Resilience in Adversity’ is written by Maj Gen Ian Cardozo; Roli Books)
Ashok K Mehta is a retired Lt General of the Gorkha Regiment, Indian Army & Columnist. He writes and speaks extensively on defence and strategic affairs. As an Indian Army Gorkha Regiment officer, he has known Nepal since 1959.
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