REFLECTIONS: GROUP CAPTAIN MADHAV KHASHAV, VSM, IAF (Retd)

 

REFLECTIONS: GROUP CAPTAIN MADHAV KHASHAV, VSM, IAF (retd) 

 The Lawrence School, Lovedale will be celebrating Founder's on September 4 to 6, 2022 after a break of two years due to the Covid pandemic. Naturally, Old Lawrencians (OLs) both young and old, are looking forward eagerly to visit their Alma mater. Some are visiting for the first time as OLs, some for anniversaries like the 10 th, 25 th and so on. One gentleman appeared to me to be more eager than most. 

He is the dapper Group Captain Madhav Khashav, VSM, IAF Retd, who was in the Hope Grant House in the old Lawrence Memorial Royal Military School in 1949 and 1950. This means he is going back to the School he joined 73 years ago! This is a longer period than most of us have lived!! 

Gp Capt Khashav was born on June 4, 1936. He joined Lovedale under rather dramatic circumstances. His father was a Major in the British Army stationed in Hyderabad (then ruled by the Nizam). In 1948 he got wind of a plot to attack his home and family by the marauding Razakars. Khashav and his younger brother Kamal were bundled off to Guntur with an armed escort. Later, they found their way to Lovedale, where they were known as the Naidu brothers. 

The WhatsApp Group created by the OLA for Karnataka OLs has 343 members as of date. Considering his age, Gp Capt Khashav's enthusiasm for participating in this group - and indeed in anything to do with Lovedale - is quite amazing. This is reflected in his willingness to share his reminiscences of his schooldays with us. 

In those days conflicts amongst boys were settled in a "comb"- short for "combat". The two boys fought until one gave up. Khashav got into a comb. with a boy much bigger than himself and knocked him out, thereby earning the nickname "Wild Billy Hicock"! Kamal naturally  became "Wild Bill Junior"! 

A significant contributor to "Glimpses...." he recalls Sgt Major E J Nicholls in the January 2022 episode of "Glimpses of a Glorious Past: An Informal History of The Lawrence School, Lovedale". At that time Major A V Richardson was the Principal. 

Likewise, in the March 2022 episode of "Glimpses of a Glorious Past" he speaks of the Founder's Parade of September 6, 1949 when the Union Jack was ceremoniously trooped out and laid to rest. It was on this day that the Indian Tricolour was trooped for the first time in the history of the School.  Owing to his inability to speak at length at that time, his contribution was read out by me (Prem Rao, Class of 1967). 

Gp Capt Khashav was one of just 15 selected in the UPSC examination for entry to the Indian Air Force. He was in the Joint Services Wing (JSW) 9th Course at Dehradun  and commissioned in the Indian Air Force as a fighter pilot in 1956. In the course of his service, he fought in the 1965 and 1971 Wars against Pakistan. 

                                                          Sqd. Ldr Khashav 

He recalls how in the 1971 War he flew 22 combat missions against heavily guarded targets in Dacca, Chittagong and elsewhere in the erstwhile East Pakistan. At one time, he says, his squadron was operating from the captured Jessore airfield where there were more Pakistani POWs than IAF and Indian Army personnel! 

                            Khashav stands in the extreme right in this picture from 1971. 

He was awarded the Vishisht Seva Medal for distinguished service in 1970 and Mentioned in Despatches for his part in the 1971 War. He served in the Indian Air Force till 1982 carrying out different responsibilities that included training fighter pilots in Egypt and commanding the frontline airbase at Awantipur.

Then followed an illustrious career in civil aviation where he trained pilots in different parts of South East Asia. He set up the Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Uran Akademi to train pilots for Air India and Indian Airlines, set up a Training school in Brunei, and was the Principal and GM of the Malaysian Flying School which trained pilots for different airlines from Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Japan.  

When asked what he had gained from School, Gp Capt Khashav  says, "All through my long life, I have kept in mind what I imbibed as a young lad at The Lawrence Memorial Royal Military School, Lovedale. I gained confidence in myself, learnt to stand on my own feet, take initiative and work towards my goals with passion to succeed. The spirit of "Never Give In" has stayed with me in all these decades. This has held me in good stead in trying circumstances -in war and in peace."  

On September 6, 2022 watching the Founder's Day Parade with keen interest will be a gentleman who, as a young boy, had been on parade on the same Top Flats parade ground 73 years ago! 

Pictures courtesy: Group Capt M. Khashav.