very long halts in those days), Hilla, who was pregnant, found it impossible to travel any further. The couple had to break journey to seek help from the station master, who advised that in her condition, Hilla should not attempt any journey until her confinement. By the time that happened, the couple had found Amritsar salubrious and elected to settle in the city. Hormusji soon established a thriving clinic and pharmacy in the centre of Amritsar. The couple had six children over the following decade, numbering four sons and two daughters (Fali, Cilla, Jan, Sheru, Sam and Jami), of whom Sam was their fifth child and third son. During the Second World War, Hormusji Manekshaw served in the British Indian Army as a captain in the Indian Medical Service (IMS; now the Army Medical Corps). Of the Manekshaw siblings, Sam's two elder brothers Fali and Jan qualified as engineers, while Cilla and Sheru became teachers. Both Sam and his younger brother Jami served in the Indian Armed Forces, with Jami becoming a doctor like his father and serving in the Royal Indian Air Force as a medical officer; the first Indian to be awarded the air surgeon's wings from the Naval Air Station Pensacola in the United States, Jami joined his elder brother in becoming a flag officer, retiring as an air vice marshal in the Indian Air Force. As a boy, Manekshaw was mischievous and high-spirited. His early ambition was to study medicine and become a doctor like his father. He completed his primary schooling in Punjab, and then went to Sherwood College, Nainital. In 1929, he left the college at the age of 15 with his Junior Cambridge Certificate, an English language curriculum developed by the University of Cambridge International Examinations. In 1931, he passed his Senior Cambridge (in the School Certificate of the Cambridge Board) with distinction. Manekshaw then asked his father to send him to London to study medicine, but his father refused on the grounds that he was not old enough; in addition, he was already supporting the studies of Manekshaw's two elder brothers, both of whom were studying engineering in London. Instead, Manekshaw entered the Hindu Sabha College (now the Hindu College, Amritsar), and in April 1932 sat his final exams held by the University of the Punjab, passing with a third division in science. In the meantime, the Indian Military College Committee, which