Tribute to a Great Leader!

Two very historical events happened last week which were contradictory to each other.
One, was the 'Silver Jubilee' celebration of India's win in the cricket world cup and second was the very very sad demise of Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw. Though, we took notice of the first event vey enthusiastically but totally missed out on the second one. I feel pretty sad about it.
Frankly speaking, I had never heard this name before, just noticed a news flash about it and the defence minister paying his tribute. A couple of days back, I was having an informal chat with one of my uncles and this topic popped up.
My mouth hung up with great astonishment hearing about his great heroic deeds during his 94 year life span. He was one of the first cadets who passed out from the Indian Military Academy; he was sent to World War II where he almost died with severe injuries but his zeal pulled him back. He was destined to become the 8th Chief of Army Staff and do the undone and something that would never be done again. During partition (Indo-Pak), Jawaharlal Nehru used to make him sit to make strategies for Kashmir operation. Its said that during Indo-China war, Indian soldiers got very demotivated due to their defeats. It was Sam, who motivated them to get back lost Arunacha Pradesh. He was the one who many a times didnt agree to Indira Gandhi's decisions and stood against her and fought the 1971 battle his way.....I can go on and on talking about him coz I'm so so awestruck. Also, I feel pity of myself that I didnt know about him till the time he lived.

And ya, wikipedia has compiled his works and life at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Manekshaw.

I pay my tribute to him from the deepmost corner of my heart.
Hundereds of salute to Field Marshal, Padma Bhushan, Sam Manekshaw.
Jai Hind!