THIMAYA OF INDIA

A trim biography of the man who holds the highest military office in India today. And his rise to that position is of course the direct reflection of his country's emancipation from British rule. Thimaya, a Coorg (an independent hill tribe near Mysore), was first educated by the Brothers and as a boy desired to live as the British did. Joining the Indian Army, he trained at a college for cadets, then made Sandhurst in 1925 when few were chosen, and after a short stay with a fashionable Highland regiment was posted to one of the two existing Indian Army battalions. A meeting with Jinnah first sparked his dream of Indian independence but it was Gandhi who stressed the importance of military nonintervention in the nationalist movement. The leveling off of prejudice and distinction between British and Indian officers; Thimaya's record during the war- he was the first Indian to command a brigade in the Indian Army; and finally his chance to serve his country not as a mercenary, but as a patriot, after independence was achieved- completes the tour of duty here. Thimaya is never seen at very close quarters, but his career is followed closely and handled with efficiency and economy rather than warmth. Its likeliest interest will be to those concerned with the ""new India"".