A veteran of the Sino-Indian war of 1962 and the Indo-Pak war of 1965, he was a young major heading a Gurkha unit when he was dropped behind enemy lines in East Pakistan, in the Indian Army's first heliborne operation in the 1971 war.
In the fighting that followed, he stepped on a landmine, which tore off his foot. Worried that he would get gangrene, he hacked off his own foot with a kukri when his colleagues refused to oblige.
But that's not what makes him a hero. After nearly a year in hospital, he convinced the Army Brass that he could perform as well, if not better, as anybody else with two feet. He then went on to become the first disabled officer to command a battalion, then a brigade and a division in operational areas.
After retiring in 1993, General Cardozo was appointed Chairman of the Rehabilitation Council of India, Vice President of the War Wounded Foundation and member of the Council of the United Service Institution of India and of 'Action for Ability. Development and Inclusion' an NGO.
He's written two books, Param Vir Chakra and the Sinking of the INS Khukri. And in between all this, he also found time to write some poetry.
As the nation celebrates Army Day, it is perhaps apt to see the world through the eyes of a warrior. A poet. And a Hero.
