Breaking the Glass Ceiling

Memoirs of the Indian Army's First Ethnic Gorkha Lieutenant General

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Breaking the Glass Ceiling is the story of the first ethnic Gorkha officer’s rise to the highest echelons of command in the Indian Army. Commissioned into the Grenadiers in the Indian Army where Gorkhas usually do not serve, he rose to become a colonel to then command a frontline corps along the Line of Actual Control and finally retired as the military secretary.

Full of anecdotes and vignettes, the book is the story of his lived life and world view. It talks about who the Gorkhas are, their customs and traditions, how they came ‘along with the land’ to become a part of India. It delves into the crisis of identity of the Indian Gorkha community, their numerous sacrifices and their quest for a homeland. It also takes an unbiased look at India–Nepal issues.

Having served extensively in counter-insurgency and counterterrorism operations in J&K and India’s Northeast as well as in lesser-known Myanmar as the defence attaché, Lt General Shakti Gurung covers in this book a wide landscape of issues of the region not tread upon earlier by anyone.

From a community known more for its valour than its cerebral acumen, the book walks the path of him having served thrice in the MS Branch, the challenges he faced and how he overcame them, swimming against the tide and revelling in the competition.