I am a Gurkha Soldier...!!

I was RMO ( regimental medical officer ) of 2/3 Gorkha Rifles between 1983-85 at high altitude of North Sikkim. I was a teetotaler before joining army especially before joining a Gurkha regiment as their medical officer. Gurkha soldiers or Nepalese are born brave, rather, bravest of the brave, most generous people. I was basically from Andhra Pradesh who had never seen a mountain or a high altitude region before the RMO tenure. I picked up Gurkhali language within three months after my intensive coaching by my sahayak chauvvan ( which means his army personal number had last two digits as 54 ...I think, this ( calling by their personal number ) used to be followed with most of the soldiers since most of them looked the same and had either Thapa, Gurung, Tamang or Pun as suffix in their surnames. The first slogan I learnt in our battalion was Kafar bhanda marnu ramro...which means Better to die than be a coward. Every Saturday, we had Madal ( traditional Drum ) Parade where we used to sing and dance playing the madal drums and sing some dohori nepali folk songs. This used to be the scene after few pegs of Raksi ( Rum ) and Maasu ( Mutton ). I became a typical Gurkha Soldier within no time. I used to sing their songs, dance with a Khukri and also translate their Jhaure geet during Dashain Cultural program for the audience from nearby army units. But I picked a wrong habit from them...and started consuming Rum. I continued my drinking habit till I joined the Department of Anaesthesiology in January 1989 at Command Hospital ( Air Force ) Bangalore...I became a teetotaler again for the last 30 years because I felt my patients need better monitoring and better care which alcohol would never permit...Col Pendyala Pradeep, Anaesthesiologist.