'I am ok,' were Manekshaw's last words

As in the battleground so also in the battle for life, Sam Bahadur took on the challenges with characteristic valiance till he breathed his last.

"I am okay," was the last words uttered by Manekshaw to the medical team attending him at the Military Hospital in Wellington, Colonel BNBM Prasad, senior pulmonologist from Delhi, said on Friday. "These words uttered two days before his death are still echoing in my ears," Prasad told media-persons .

Prasad said Manekshaw was suffering from serious chest infection and developed some complications in the last stage. Prasad said the hero of the 1971 Indo-Pak war was the "most obedient patient" he had ever come across, and was the "easiest person to deal with who never demanded."

Recollecting the Field Marshal's oft repeated phrase that luck played a great role in a human's life, Prasad said his words proved to be true when he survived the serious bullet injuries he suffered during a war and luck brought him back to lead a second life.

Prasad had come from the Army Hospital at Delhi to assist the medical team treating Manekshaw.