1971 war-disabled will run Mumbai marathon

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This January 16, Major General (Retd) Ian Cardozo, 73, will stand out among the scores of Mumbaikars who will start from opposite the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus at 8.00am sharp, for he will not be seen on a wheelchair.

Despite having lost a leg, he has chosen not to participate in the marathon in the Wheelchair Event but in the Senior Citizens category. He will run on an artificial leg to make people tear down their mental barriers about the disabled.

Though the rest of the country remembers the 1971 Indo-Pak war for our emphatic victory, for Cardozo it marked the beginning of his tryst with destiny. Part of the 5th Gurkha Rifles, his was the first unit of the Indian Army to take part in a heliborne operation. He and his colleagues were dropped deep into enemy territory at a place called Sylhet (in Bangladesh).

“We got faulty intelligence and met a unit of the enemy’s army ten times our size - that too in its own territory,” recollects Cardozo. As the 34-year-old soldier dodged bullets, he accidentally stepped on a mine that badly injured his leg. He had no medicines, and Indian medical services were destroyed. As the injury became gangrenous, he took his khukri (a 14-inch knife) and cut off his leg in full consciousness.

“We did capture an enemy surgeon, Mohammed Bashir, who, I must say, did a good job of operating upon me under Indian Army supervision. But getting back to the army was difficult,” says Cardozo. He got an artificial limb soon, but he had to learn to walk, run, climb, cycle, and drive all over again. One by one, he did surmount the challenges, even going on to win four gold and two silver medals in swimming, his passion, in state and national championships for the disabled.

“I felt as good as I was with both legs, but the army took seven years to understand me. The sad part is that the public in general and the people in power do not pay any attention to the war-disabled. The reason behind founding the War Wounded Foundation was to highlight the plight of wounded soldiers and the apathy shown towards them,” he says.

Though he opened up possibilities of promotions in the army for the war-disabled, the journey is far from over. “The Centre says it looks after army personnel who are serving. Post-retirement, the pension is not as much as that of civilians. When injured, there are not many lateral jobs. What we are intending to do is create awareness about the issue so that people who have the will are given recognition in time,” he says.