Sabir Hussain/New Delhi
Few non-Muslims know the rigors of fasting during Ramzan, particularly in the summer. Fewer still have shown empathy or undertaken a fast to learn first-hand what it is like to abstain from food and water from dawn to dusk and carry on normal activities.
One such man is Major General Yash Mor, who ended his career in the army in 2020 as Chief of Staff of Desert Corps.
During his career, he served about 8 years in Jammu and Kashmir and one of his memorable stints was in the valley in the early 2000s. In 2002, he decided to fast for a day during Ramzan in 2002 in Kashmir. He ended up fasting for five days and believes that his gesture of solidarity with fellow citizens played its part in strengthening inter-faith harmony. He has unshakeable faith in the citizens of the country and is confident that they will overcome any sectarian threats.
“I am an eternal optimist. We are not weak people who can be swayed against the country’s syncretic culture. I think most people have seen through the attempts to divide citizens for vested interests. If only social media could be better-regulated everybody would be much safer,” he told Awaz-the Voice
Major General Yash Mor with his wife
Fasting during Ramzan wasn’t his only show of empathy. In December 2001, when he was the commander of a Rashtriya Rifles unit that was engaged in counter-terror operations in Anantnag district, the soldiers found a militant who was recovering in a villager’s house from a bullet injury on his leg.
In the normal course, the militant who was from Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HuJI) and had trained in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, would have rotted in jail. But General Mor who was then a Colonel saw an opportunity to rehabilitate the militant.
Under his leadership, the army ensured that the case against him for terror activities was dropped. He was then put on training was soon selected to join the army.
“Maybe, he was destined to become a soldier. I am glad I was part of the process of this man turning into a soldier from a militant. And for me, empathy has always been part of my leadership,” General Mor said. He has kept in touch with the man whose life he changed forever.
He hasn’t let retirement send him into oblivion. Instead, he is leveraging retirement to play a second innings in his life with matters close to his heart.
Post-retirement, he had been busy as an author, motivational speaker, editor, and environmentalist before the Covid pandemic set him on a new and rewarding path.
Maj. Gen Yash Mor at a TEDx lecture.
“I had been writing articles and taking part in talk shows and was involved in editing the Indian Military Yearbook when I went down with Covid in May this year and spent 14 days in isolation. It was during that period when I contemplated what to do with my life and decided to launch a YouTube channel to mentor young people,” General Mor said.
The channel became a hit and exceeded all his expectations as he saw himse
lf turn into a life coach and emerge as a social media top gun.
“I launched the channel in May this year. And within two months, it had more than 50 thousand subscribers,” he said.
And he is thrilled by the response he gets from the younger generation who flock to his channel.
“It is so heartening and satisfactory to hear young people tell me that the channel has positively changed their thinking. Some say that they been very inspired with my talks and now look at things with a new perspective instead of relying on dubious WhatsApp forwards,” General Mor said. He also has 32 thousand followers on Instagram and 10 thousand on Telegram. At the educational technology company Unacademy, he is a top educator inspiring and motivating over a lakh young defense aspirants across the nation.
General Mor served in Poonch and Jammu as well and was General Officer Commanding (GOC) in Ladakh in 2018-19. He is also deeply involved in environmental protection in his capacity as the CEO of Save the Himalaya Foundation.
“When I was posted in Ladakh, I also worked with environmentalist Sonam Wangchuk. I was also associated with the WWF in their quest to conserve the brown bear and the black-necked crane. Bhikkhu Sanghasena, a Buddhist monk who had established the Save the Himalaya Foundation, insisted that I work with them after my retirement. That’s how I joined the Foundation but I work pro bono,” General Mor said.
The General is also a fitness fanatic and loves cycling. He rides almost every and weekend are sacrosanct for cycling.
“I love cycling because it is nirvana on wheels,” the General signed off.
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