In our Gorkha units, soldiers are called by last two digits of their service numbers instead of their names. It was because of the reason that most of the jawans had invariably similar names such as Hem Bahadur or Dhan Bahadur followed by a common Thapa.

Therefore, when I had to test my jawans in a written exam, I put a question to name the adjutant of the battalion to check the mental presence of examinees. One of the answers that I came across was the number 54. Perplexed, I asked the examinee whether he had forgot to mention the name and instead had wrote number for it.

During evening cocktails, I got to know that this bright spark had followed the same convention for his officer but with a slight replica rolex yacht-master alteration. The surname of our Maharashtrian adjutant was Chavan. The number 54 therefore signified chavan for him. The officer was then known as chauwan for weeks to come.    

(Note: Major B is a serving personnel and therefore can’t disclose name and further details.)