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Capt Sathi Nair – A Remembrance on Women’s Day.

Whenever I read about women in the Army, nay, Services, I remember Capt Sathi Nair. She was from the first batch of Women Officers commissioned into the Army in 1993. Now it is exactly three decades after. Capt Nair was commissioned in to EME, being an Engineer. And as luck would have it, her first posting was to 509 Army Base Workshop at Agra, where I was the Gen Mgr Production as a Col. An Army Base Workshops is akin to a factory, where various Army Equipment are overhauled and made new. The Agra Workshop was meant for all West European Communication Equipment. Manpower skewed towards civilians with 1500 civilians and 500 combatants. There were three quite militant unions, apart from a Works Committee (WC) and a Joint Consultative Machinery (JCM). This is just to tell you how enormous was the task to get work out of these civilians and to meet the assigned targets. There were more leaders than workers! And it goes without saying that the leaders do not work but keep looking o

FADING AWAY

“Old soldiers never die…they just fade away”, is an adage. That is, as a Soldier, if you live long enough to be old. Amen. I am a soldier and am old now. As a child, growing up to be a boy in Kerala, I used to stand alone at the gate near the vast paddy fields at dusk and watch the setting Sun painting the sky in crimson and red and in its various hues, the many flock of birds flying home in amazing formations and the day giving in to the oncoming night. Very much like the “Handing over Taking over” ceremony as used to happen in the Army. There was a child’s exhilaration and wonderment. That memory lingers but the scene has faded. Schooling in Madras had many friends, mostly sports groups. As it would have it, I can hardly remember their names except for a couple or so. There was one weirdo Hariharan who used to read Dictionary like a story book! As we were leaving school, we all had fully filled autograph books, in which we wrote creatively. Now I can’t locate where those prec

REGRETS? – REALLY?

Certain events may seem regretful on occurrence or due to non-occurrence, as the case may be. Later, on looking back, it would seem to have been for the good after all! That is my belief and here is why. After all, the Almighty sitting up in the clouds with silvery flowing beard and smoking a pipe with a smile that never fades, has plans for each of us. At least for me, for sure, personally speaking. Regret one. Rejection by Merchant Navy. Perhaps this was my first major regret. I had just completed Pre-University. Got the brochure of INS Dufferin and was impressed, especially with the sports activities that included boxing, to which I was never introduced but had a sneaky liking. I applied in all eagerness. Written exam was a breeze. In the medical, got caught in the eye test. The good doctor tried to encourage me - he seemed to want me to pass the test somehow - in the pitch-dark room where I had to identify red, green and amber colours, which slowly became smaller and

RETIREMENT

RETIREMENT Not going into the etymology and different usages of the word, I think I have been retiring from various activities, by and by. The first, as my memory points out, was when I was in the final year of graduation. I wanted to retire from studies, already having undertaken the adventurous and the long and arduous journey for one too many years. The way out seemed, donning the Army Uniform. Turned out, it was a bad idea. The Army forced me to do study by way of various courses; on an average of every five years of my three decades plus service! On the contrary, though much against the principle of “never volunteer in the Army”, whichever course I volunteered for, the Army stately ignored. Then at the age of thirty I had to retire from football. It was because a senior, a perfect zero in sports, cast his evil eye, about five years before. He asked; “How long will you play games? Till thirty? Then you will break your arm or leg and then that will be the end of your sports”.

Old Man and I

A couple of years after I retired and settled in my flat, once an old man visited me. That was almost one score and five years ago. I - Who are you? Old Man - I'm an old man. You may say, "The" Old Man. I - I can see that. But what do you want? Why the "The"? OM - I'm here to stay with you. Specifically for you. Hence the definite article. I - Hey, how's that? How do you just walk in and say that? OM - That's how it is. I - What do you mean? OM - Oh. I don't need any special invitation, space or comfort. I'll live in your body. No issue. I - Is that so? It's funny! OM - That's how it is. But it's not funny. I mean, it's no joke. I - What’s the idea? You want to make me an old man like you? OM - Yes, of course. Now you get it. That's the law of nature, isn't it? You have to change. You have to be old. I – Oh, yea? How do you intend it? OM - Slowly, one by one. No Hurry. You are luc

An Obituary in Advance

You see, once the protagonist of this piece kicks his old rusty bucket, then there will be no one to do any justice to him. Hence I decided to act right now. Thus it becomes an advanced obituary. This piece might be rather long; so excuse. It is imperative that an obituary is in praise of the Gone. Or must it? So here goes. The combatant in question was commissioned into the Corps of Electrical and ME while in Q4 of his 20. He hung the uniform, sort of prematurely, after over 32 + years, from the Corps of Electronics and ME. Note the subtle difference. As is the wont when you age, the Corps too underwent makeover/up-gradation/updating in many ways, including the name. From Electrical to Electronics. Having disgraced the Young Officers' Course, this principal character was disgraced in turn by being posted to Stn Wksp Shillong, for he had to languish there during the entire 71 war. To add insult to injury, he had to help columns after columns that went into battle, day and night. Hi

Filling Forms

I have never been impressed by my name. A name should have a rhythm or some power for the one carrying it to be eminent. Check out any illustrious person's name. To illustrate, Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay and Veerapandya Kattabomman. Or how about Colonel Julius Nagendranath Wilfred Singh, which has everything? Mine has nothing. There was a Vice Admiral who had a very long name. So, in the Navy, they just called him A to Z Rao. Long names have one problem, though. Filling forms. There will not be enough space for all the alphabets. I will not even venture into the present-day Islamic royalties' names, whether UAE Sheiks or Malaysian Queen. School children there have to mug it up. What a task! My father had some weird ideas. One idea, which he thought was progressive and nationalistic, was not to give me a surname. No caste, creed and all that you see. However, he carried one all along. Surnames are usually the name of the place, family name, father's name or the caste.

Why You Should Not Celebrate HNY

Because that is an ant-Christ activity, that's why. Nobody answers a question upfront. But you must have noticed that I am a contrary man. In Kerala they celebrate Onam. That day, and during the nine days preceding the final day, they are active. Three score years ago, one could understand. Those days there was produce from the land. And, guess what, there was land! There were flowers, aplenty all over. So pookalam was easy. Around then came Dubai. Kerala went to nought. Now, no land, no produce, no flowers. Not even coconuts, after which the land was named! Now, it is next to a desert. You see, Onam is a harvest festival. Got the point? Without harvest, what celebration? Import everything from other states and celebrate your harvest. How silly! Instead of kids walking with baskets, on to the spread-out land of yore, to pluck flowers from the wild, learning and knowing the names of native flowers in the bargain, now they buy the commercial ones from the market! H

Dufferin - A Sad Tale!

In 1964 I completed my Pre-University, a one-year Course from Brennen College, Tellichery, Kerala. Having done my schooling in Madras, how I landed up in Kerala, is a story in itself and figures in the blog; "Scholar's Mate". That was the last year Kerala was following the PUC system. From the next year onwards, it was straight to Degree Course after the 10+2 Schooling system. So, I claim to be one among the last batch of PUC from Kerala. After that I was back in Madras for my College. In the interim, my father had obtained the prospectus of INS Dufferin for my sake. I would stick with INS and not TS (Training Ship, as she was christened later). He thought a career as a Marine Officer might be good. INS Dufferin was the training ship for Merchant Navy. When I saw the prospectus, I was thrilled. Dufferin seemed to offer everything that I liked, including Boxing, by way of training. Only, one had to study too for a degree, which they would confer. But given

The "Covid Effect”

Ring out the old, ring in the new, Ring, happy bells, across the snow: The year is going, let him go; Ring out the false, ring in the true. ---Tennyson Unlike any other year, everyone will be seriously and with relief looking forward to letting this year "go". There could be revelries with such vigour unseen till now. Celebrities will celebrate by dancing lustily, and the gullible will follow suit. WhatsApp messages, pictures, quotes, videos et al, will rush into your cell (pun intended), totally uninvited. All and sundry will be wishing you all sorts of things, not to speak of health, wealth and happiness. That will just be routine for them. They don't care either way. Only, they don't want to be left behind. Many will send them in advance too. The early bird types, with nary a thought to the worm. For good measure, they will add Xmas too. So, add cheer and joy to the other things aforementioned in &

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