The Man Who Taunted Death

On a gloomy Saturday, I was browsing the net just to kill some time. On one of the pages, I saw a post, which really grabbed my eye. It is a story of a Captain, who sacrificed his life for the country and upheld the highest traditions of the Indian Armed Forces. His name is Capt. Mahendra Nath Mulla, MVC.

                                                                          In photo: Captain M. N. Mulla

This incident happened some 41 years ago, much before half of the Indian population today was born. Pakistan waged a war against India. The warship INS Khukri, a British Type 14 (Blackwood-class) frigate of the 14th Frigate Squadron of the Western Fleet, was sent off to patrol the waters near Diu, Gujarat, India just after the Diu Naval base received intercepts from Pak submarines which were lurking 56 kilometres south-west of the base. Little did the 18 officers and 176 sailors on board, who incidentally lost their lives, know how advanced those submarines were. One sub was actually heading towards Diu to destroy the Indian Naval base and return to Karachi thereafter. But the task given to INS Khukri and two other frigates was very simple - hunt and destroy the enemy.

                                                                               In photo: INS Khukri

Built in 1954 in the United Kingdom, INS Khukri was commissioned in 1956. The Pakistani subs, the Hangors, were much advanced in comparison with INS Khukri. These Hangors were the latest American Daphne-class submarines. On 9th December, 1971 at 7:57 pm, one Hangor was spotted by the Khukri and the warship went for the kill. The sub fired homing torpedoes, which hit the warship quite accurately, exploded right under the oil tanks.

The 55-year old Captain, then ordered the crew to abandon the ship. He checked everywhere in the ship while the frigate was sinking whether there was anyone left behind and how the abandonment process was going on. A time came when there was no life jacket left in the ship. He gave his own to a sailor and threw him off the ship to save his life. Captain Mulla reported the incident to Diu, which immediately went on high alert sensing an imminent attack. He, then, took out the bottle of his favourite wine and a cigar, went to the deck, sat near a table and went down with the Khukri while smoking the cigar and drinking his favourite wine. Even some of the sailors gave their life jackets to their colleagues, inspired by Capt. Mulla and they too did not abandon their second home just like their Captain. His and his colleagues' sacrifices not only saved several sailors' lives and many hundreds of Indian lives in Diu, billions of rupees of armoury, ships and submarines. Tactically, India won the sea battle.

Today, there stands a memorial honouring the brave acts of the Captain and his fellow staff in Diu. Later, he was awarded Maha Vir Chakra (Marnoparant). Love for the country made him look straight into the eyes of death and taunt it.

Jai Hind!!