The General Officer Commanding in Chief (GOC-in-C) of Eastern Command will retire on Monday and two days before Lt Gen. Anil Chauhan hangs up his army boots he said how much Calcutta had shaped him as a soldier.

Having spent his early school days at Fort William, Lt Gen. Chauhan said his association with the city has been one of his biggest moments in his long career as an army commander.

“Calcutta is one place where my childhood friends still reside. Some 14-15 of them suddenly turned up on Saturday to bid me goodbye. In the army you make friends. But school friends are of a different league altogether,” Lt Gen. Chauhan said. “These are the friends with whom you can share anything, do anything. This will be one thing that I will miss the most.”

An art aficionado with keen interest in Tibetan art, Lt Gen. Chauhan draws some of his inspiration from his artist wife Anupama.

Early this year when plans were being drawn up in the run-up to the golden jubilee celebrations of the Bangladesh Liberation War, Lt Gen. Chauhan had invited artists from the city and from across the border to celebrate the formation of a new nation on canvas.

Since his childhood days while studying in Kendriya Vidyalaya at Fort William, the Maidan has remained with the officer, who grew up to become a warfare specialist in the Indian Army.

And so has his love for Bangla. “I picked up small Bengali books of Class II and III level so that I could relearn what I had earlier,” Lt Gen. Chauhan said. “Bangla aami bhujhtey paari,” the eastern army chief said, breaking into laughter.

Lt Gen. Chauhan has authored a book, Aftermath of A Nuclear Attack, which was published in 2010. He has also authored the History of 11 Gorkha Rifles Regimental Centre while commanding the Regimental Centre.

After his successor takes charge of the Eastern Command and honours are exchanged, life for the officer from the 11th Gorkha Rifles will find a new course beyond the war rooms.

“I will miss Calcutta. But the only thing that will keep me going is that I will continue to be invited every year for the Vijay Divas celebrations as the retired army commander. That will give me an opportunity to return to Calcutta every year,” said Lt Gen. Chauhan.