जाने भी दो यारो...

Children

2011-10-20T14:41:00.005+05:30

Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tommorrow,
which you cannot visit,not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them,
but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

You are the bows from which your children
as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,
and He bends you with His might
that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies,
so He loves also the bow that is stable.

-Kahlil Gibran

Today is Ahoi Ashtami, hence this post.

Some days are remembered always

2010-11-25T12:33:00.012+05:30

Unchahaar Express (4217) is a convinient and direct train for travelling from Kanpur to Chandigarh. Scheduled to leave Kanpur at 8:30* PM, it reaches Chandigarh at 10:15* in the morning; so a night of travelling and the entire distance is covered (*conditions apply).

On 25 November 2005, I was visiting my parents at Chandigarh with my family (wife and two children aged 4 yrs and 1 yr). Reassured by the information dished by the computerised railway inquiry, we headed for the railway station. Bhaaji and Major NT were dropping us at the railway station. I have already introduced Bhaaji in my earlier post. Major NT is my colleague at the Bank, elder to me by ten years (by army seniority).

By the time we reached the railway station, the train was declared to be late by one hour. Having full faith in the system, we went to the waiting room; as there was no point in going back home and coming again.My friends who had come to 'see us off ' preferred to spend some more time with us. Exactly after one hour, it was announced that the train is late by another one hour.We cursed the railways for a minute and straight headed for the nearest tea stall.

(Years later, I think it was naive to have faith in the system. It would have been worthwhile checking the train status from the originating station to avoid spending the entire night on the railway station)

Coming back to where I left at the railway station on a cold night in 2005; we were discussing one thing or the other, there were so many things which kept our attention alive. I thanked my friends for coming with us to the station and requested that they should return and that I would catch the train when it comes to the station but my friends refused to go stating that I may have problem getting on the train with small kids.

To cut the long story short, the railways lived upto its image by faithfully announcing the delay hour after hour and we kept waiting at the station till 5 in the morning when the train actually reached Kanpur. Bhaaji and Maj NT helped us to board the train and we were onboard the hospitality of the Indian railways.It was some time later when we were comfortable in the train, we realised that we had missed an important thing.

We immediately called up Bhaaji and wished him a very happy birthday (26 November). At the same time, I also felt guilty of causing discomfort to him by keeping him awake the entire night. In circumstances like these; friends, colleagues or even relatives may take a different recourse, one has to be extremely lucky to have such steadfast friends. This incident may be of little consequence to any other person but it has a very special place in our heart. Kind deeds of dear one's always leave a lasting impression in our lives.

A picture with bhaaji when he visited us for a day at Trivandrum last year

A Skippers Inning

2010-05-14T14:19:00.012+05:30

' The speed of the boss is the speed of the team.' I couldn't have agreed more with this Lee Iacocca quote till I met Sh S Ramaswamy. Proactive, beating the stereotype,overtaking the convention, here was a boss who is a sport both on and off the field. I still remember my first meeting with him when I joined the Thiruvananthapuram office on transfer. Alive to my 'alien-culture,alien language' apprehensions on being posted to extreme South, he was the first person to welcome me to the new place. Arrangements were already in place even before I could collate and project my requirements. To help overcome the language handicap, classes were organised for all the new transferee officers. I found the work place engulfed with vibrancy, the best part of which were the numerous sports competetions, outside excursions, even the mundane office activities had a buzz of live involvement of everyone. The office excelled in its functioning as per the statistics of the higher headquarters. At the end of the day, as Charles Erwin Wilson puts it; "A good boss makes his men realise they have more ability than they think they have so that they consistently do better work than they thought they could."

Sh Ramaswamy relinquished the office of the Regional Director of RBI for the State of Kerala & Lakshadweep in April 2010 on his transfer to Mumbai. We wish him all the best in his new assignment.

Sh S Ramaswamy

Luck by Chance

2010-03-24T16:40:00.005+05:30

Style Plus is a lifestyle store near our house. A few days back my wife had purchased some items for children from this store. All this was when I was away to Chennai for work; much against my wish, as it was my daughter's B'day on the 13th March. I got a call a few days back from a lady informing me that I am the winner of a prize for making that purchase from the store. The prize was a week long stay at any of the Resorts owned by Royal Resorts at Goa/Jaipur/Kovalam/Bali(Indonesia). I was clueless about the purchase or the scheme and took it to be some promotional call and told her to call in the evening. We were invited at the Sagara Beach Resort, Kovalam for a presentation on the company.i.e.Royal Resorts. The purpose of the presentation was to introduce us to the membership option of the Royal Resorts which I declined politely. We were handed over the prize which is valid for one year.

Not bad,isn't it,even if it is promotional offer!

Of endings and new beginnings..

2010-01-20T12:56:00.003+05:30

Every year we welcome the new year with hope that it will bring all good things to us. Some of us also take indulgence in new year resolutions for all the things we intend including in our lives for our betterment (or percieved betterment).Concurrently it is also the time to look back on the time gone by, a time for retrospection of the highlights of the past year/decade.The past decade can be credited with bringing the world much closer;wide accessibility of mobile phones,greater communication through networking sites, bridging the demand supply gap by proper sample matching through computers. Technology has truly penetrated our lives. Important decisions like marriages are also arranged through matrimonial sites not to mention the everyday decisions which also get a nod of approval after the 'internet research'.

Everything seems to be progressing. Mobile towers are the new symbols of progress of an area/district. The signals emitted by these towers help millions to streamline their everyday affairs. At the same time these towers also interrupt the navigation capability of the 'honey-bees' who innocently start their day to gather nector from flowers, little realising that the powerful signals from these towers will deprive them homecoming in the evening. Unable to navigate and wandering, the end to their tiring day of collecting nector results in their death.The population of honey-bees has dwindled in the last decade. It is only a matter of time when our coming generations will ask us the meaning of 'honey'.

Woman Power

2009-11-13T11:28:00.004+05:30

Bhavleen Sodhi (nee Bindra) successfully completed the Basic Combat Training (BCT) at Fort Jackson, Columbia, South Carolina recently. She had joined the US army as a specialist (SPC) in linguistics sometime back. She is presently undergoing Advanced Individual Training (AIT) at a US military academy in Texas. Having undergone such rigorous training bears a testimony to the grit and determination of this Chandigarh girl who studied at Sacred Heart Convent and Shivalik Public School. Married to Sukhjinder Singh Sodhi in 1995, they have two daughters, Vargun and Sargun.

Bhavleen with her husband Sukhjinder Singh Sodhi at the Graduation
Sharing a proud moment with daughters Vargun and Sargun

She will be in active service for four years before becoming a US army reservist. It is a proud moment for her family and friends (we studied together at Shivalik Public School). Now that's what you call 'Woman Power'.

Mohali 55

2009-10-14T11:56:00.005+05:30

This post is inspired by a poem of Surjit Pattar. The poem is about the affinity felt for the place of our formative years. A major part of my life was spent in Mohali. As a four year old in 1977, I could hardly understand the change we were heading for when we shifted from a rented accomodation in Sector 15, Chandigarh to our own house in Phase I, Mohali (Pin 160055). Mohali is the name of the village on the old Chandigarh-Ropar highway. Giani Zail Singh re-christened the suburb as Sahibzada Ajit Singh Nagar, a name which is seldom used by anyone. In the initial years, our neighbourhood consisted of less than fifty independent houses and just a few HL and HM series Housing Board houses in Phase I. The area beyond Phase IV remained under cultivation at that time. Till as late as 1984, the population of the township was less than 50K.

There were few schools which itself were in their infantile stage. My elder siblings were admitted to one such school owing to the good marketing skills of its owner cum Principal. I also joined the same school some time later. Mohali was our Malgudi, well insulated from the rest of the world; the place had its own living space, own character and its own unique story; a story which will continue to remain dear to me. The feeling can be rather summed like this - "You can take a Mohali-ite out of Mohali, But you cannot take Mohali out of him."

The feeling of being a fish out of water gripped me when we relocated to Panchkula in 1993. My stay at Panchkula remained transistional as I left for the pre-commission training at Madras 16 (now called Chennai) shortly thereafter.

It was my earnest desire to return to Mohali, a wish which was granted to me recently.

The Broken Pot - a short story

2009-09-29T13:37:00.003+05:30

With a lot of gratitude to the friend who shared this story with me.

An elderly Chinese woman had two large pots,each hung on the ends of a pole which she carried across her neck. One of the pots had a crack in it while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water. At the end of the long walks from the stream to the house, the cracked pot arrived only half full. For the full two years this went on daily, with the woman bringing home only one and a half pots of water. Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments. But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it could only do half of what it had been made for. After two years of what it percieved to be bitter failure, it spoke to the woman one day by the stream.' I am ashamed of myself, because this crack in my side causes the water to leak out all the way back to your house.'

The old woman smiled," Did you notice that there are flowers on your side of the path, but not on the other pot's side? That's because I have always known about your flaw, so I planted flower seeds on your side of the path and everyday while we walk back,you water them. For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate the table.Without you being just the way you are,there would not be this beauty to grace the house."

Each of us has our unique flaw.But it's the cracks and flaws we each have that make our life together so very interesting and rewarding. You've just got to take each person for what they are and look for the good in them.

Fauji diary - Army tunes

2009-08-25T12:50:00.006+05:30

Army tunes have a very special place in the heart of any fauji. These tunes have a virtue of being in the backdrop of all army memories.In my academy days, I was fascinated by 'Troupe Rajasthan', a classic slow march army tune generally played during guard inspection.Earlier on during college, I had liked 'Amazing Grace' from the movie BRAVEHEART. While searching for some dogri tune recently on youtube,I had a serendipity discovery in the form of a youtube user called ShivKumarBatalvi, who has contributed lots of army tunes on youtube; my favourite one being - Ajj dia ratti (Dogri tune).
My battalion has one of the finest pipe bands in the Indian Army; infact it is one of the few who actually play 'Amazing Grace', an extremely difficult number on the pipes. Our Band Major,Sub Hem Raj had the distinction of having been an instructor to the Mauritius army. It was but natural to show case the talent in a cassette during the centenary celebrations of the battalion at Jalandhar in October 2000. The album had classical English tunes on one side and desi dogri tunes on the other besides an introduction by yours truly ( which I always skip while playing the cassette)

The cassette cover

Conflict resolution

2009-06-25T14:56:00.009+05:30

We humans always find ourselves facing various predicaments from time to time. The lines 'we are all just prisoners here, of our own device' hold an eternal truth hidden in them. Individual differences leave us isolated in our quest for a perfect solution to our 'personal' problem. Conflict resolution (CR) therefore becomes an important tool for maintaining an overall balance in our lives. Despite increasing awareness levels, a majority of people continue to hang on to the primitive methods of CR like calming the mind by sleeping, physical activity like walking or taking refuge in spirituality but these activities may not provide long term peace. The source of conflict is never internal; at times our expectation from others is the culprit, sometimes drawing comparisons with others distraughts us and worst is when we end up setting our own life goals by what others deem important. Time has a quality of the flowing water, No one in the world can go back in time to make a brand new start but everyone can take hold of the reins of their lives; and make a brand new ending.

Consider this, if you are 35 years old, you have already lived 12775 days of your life and roughly only the similar figure (in days) remains with you to accomplish what YOU think is correct. You can start with - Change what you cannot Accept, and Accept what you cannot Change. To reach an objective conclusion, we NEED to pen down the underlying cause of our concern. We MUST check the objectivity percentage by reviewing it after some time. The quality of our decisions never affect our lives but the timmings of our decisions does; decision has to be taken THIS WAY or THAT WAY.

Among all these, never loose sight of your dreams as dreams are the source of Hope in any situation. And it is only Hope which gives us the Purpose to our lives....

what a pleasure...

2009-06-19T13:21:00.004+05:30

ahh!... what an attention level

Fauji Diary - Life at PP4 - Part II

2009-06-17T16:27:00.011+05:30

Border firing always left me puzzled for I was not able to comprehend the rationale behind this seemingly wasteful expenditure of ammunition. For the uninitiated, I would like to clarify that unlike the barbed fencing in the plains, the terrain of the international border in J & K cris-crosses over various contours thereby leaving gaps which are easy places of infilteration. Border firing is a diversionary tactics to mask infilteration or to create confusion or at times merely to check the alertness level of the opposite troops.

Being at a considerable height, Kachryal view point becomes an excellent place to monitor the border firing in the area including my post. According to the grapewine,Mughal Empress Noorjehan had spent sometime at this place appreciating the pristine beauty of the view. Due to its strategic location, the place is visited by many senior military commanders and government officials including the IAS probationers for their training. Capt AC could have never imagined the he would meet his would be wife during the visit of the probationer mandarins. Against all 'conventional wisdom' of choosing the spouse from the same field ,the lady from the Indian Foreign Service (IFS) chose to propose the young army officer. Their subsequent marriage has also become part of the fauji folklore.

Love can overcome all odds; the lady is presently posted at Paris(France) and the officer in question is Commanding my unit.

Fauji Diary - Life at PP 4 - Part I

2009-06-16T11:28:00.004+05:30

My inning with my battalion started at Pallanwala, near Akhnoor. The battalion after completing a rigourous tenure at Siachen glaciar was moved to this border area. Within a few days I found myself at the forwardmost post called PP4 (Protective Post number 4). Protective patrol is a small force of 10-12 persons kept beyond the main defences to dominate the no man's land,an area interspersed with minefields, in short a place for the cannon fodder. The neighbouring PP2 had been washed away by the recent flash flood in Munawwar Tawi river which translated in some casualities. The approach to the post was by crossing the river through Flying Fox and then crossing the DCB through a trench. The post offered a living space of 5ft x 5ft x 5ft dimension, food was supplied twice a day and the daily dose of firing started at dusk which kept you awake till morning.

The area is the jugular vein of India which Pakistan has seldom failed to press in successive campaigns. The battle of Chhamb Jaurian is taught as a classical case in the military academies world over.Recently I came across a write up on the campaign by one of the fellow blogger Agha H Amin who is an ex- Major of the Pakistan army. Despite having a disagreement on the factual accuracy of some of the events, I would like to congratulate Major Amin on capturing the essence of this military campaign.

Air Crash Investigations - NAT जियो I

2009-06-15T10:32:00.004+05:30

Last couple of days provided me an opportunity to follow a very nice series on Air Crash Investigations at NAT GEO. In addition to the excellent handling of the subject, the series offers great insight into flight operations,role of Air Traffic Control (ATC) and the importance of ground duty staff. Indian air traffic has seen a decent growth in the last two decades with the mushrooming of a number of new players in the field. The growth in both international and domestic traffic necessitated the infrastructural and capacity upgradation of a number of airports, but is everything on the air safety is in place is a million dollar question. We continue to have callous individuals at our airports manning the various gadgets; they are the people who live under the illusion that their gossipping on the job can hardly affect their performance of duty or maybe their gadgets require no human intervention and work like the magic wand.

The two instances of air safety violations involving indian planes being covered on the program are - the suspected bombing of IC - 182 (Kanishka) and the hijacking of IC - 814 to Kandhar. These two events of air disaster which are recreated by the channel by compiling first hand accounts and material evidences,are a bone chilling and hair raising stuff. While the mid air explosion of IC - 182 (Kanishka) is attributed to a maliciously checked in baggage in Canada to further the political cause of the terror dealers, the IC - 814 hijacking is outrightly outrageous act in the sky. The indian government failed to get cracking on both the occassions and got exposed as a vulnerable and soft state.

In anyone listening......

Our trip to Los Angeles Part II

2009-05-15T14:34:00.009+05:30

Since Mariott does not have an Indian menu, arrangements were made for our meals from indian restaurants like India's Tandoori , Gill's Indian Restaurant and Tanzore (Beverly Hills). On the first day, we were pleasantly surprised by the saag ( north indian dish) in the dinner delivered to us from India's Tandoori. When we went for lunch the next day to the restaurant, I complimented the restaurant owner, Gurmeet Multani for the 'pleasant surprise'.

We were booked for the Studio Tour of the Sony Pictures Studio starting at 10:00 AM but due to the traffic we got late by a few minutes and were told to take the 2:00 PM tour instead. To make the best use of the time at hand, we decided to hit Beverly Hills, the up market shopping place in hollywood. Unlike other shopping places in the US, Beverly Hills is one place where price tags on the items is on request.

In the studio tour we were conducted around the entire Sony Corporation including Columbia Pictures, MGM (Metro Goldwyn Mayer) and explained the nitty gritties of film making. Infact it was only when we entered the building of the Columbia Pictures that I came to know that Oscar Awards is just another name for the Academy Awards. The awards are neatly showcased in the main lobby of the building and the indian presence in the awards is in the form of film 'Gandhi'.

The success in the production of a film depends on three factors - location,budget and time bound completion of the project. To overcome the constraint of shooting on different locations, Sony has made improvisations in it's premises. Post 9/11, shootings at airports across the US have been banned. As an improvisation, Sony has made an airport like building as its office.

Fauji Diary - Keeping in touch

2009-05-06T12:50:00.007+05:30

Sometime back I had created a group on the internet for all my army coursemates to remain in touch with each other. It was'nt very long ago when we used to write letters, send greeting cards on new year, raising days or send first day covers (release of special stamps in the army to commemorate a special occassion) but with the advent of mobiles and internet, the world suddenly seems like shrinking with no need to 'keep in touch'. Social networking utilities have further made the task easier. Among all these new age activities, some special bonds continue to stimulate and delight you even with their age old charm, 'happy hour calling' being one of them.A few days back, I received a 'happy hour' e-mail from one of my friends. The e-mail brought back memories which had almost faded in my memory.

A few years back,while myself and my friend (writer of the e-mail) we were on board 'Goa Express', sharing a berth both being in RAC. Our common destination was Belgaum, where we were heading to attend the Commando course. In the evening, while the dinner was being served, one of the waiters stumbled and the dinner plates fell on our seat. Expecting a cleanup, we waited for sometime.Since the waiter wanted to complete his assignment of serving the dinner first, his priority to the cleanup was low. My friend went to the Pantry Car to look for the waiter who was busy cooking with the turner (palta). Infuriated at his callousness, my friend tried to take the turner (palta) from him. To his bad luck, the turner accidentally hit the waiter and a pool of blood filled the forehead of the waiter.

The staff of the Pantry Car made an issue of the entire episode and halted the train at Pune station, some of them even lay on the track in protest. Goa Express is the chariot of the students studying in Maharashtra and 'donation colleges' of the south. The presence of so many youngsters in the train further aggravated the situation. Without bothering to find out the reason, some of the students again bashed up the pantrycarwallahs. It was commotion all around till the matter was solved in a fauji style by one of the army Major who was also travelling in the train. He just said that since the pantry-car men are not letting the train to move, officers please take out your guns from the trunks to ensure that the train starts off from the station.

The Pantry car wallahs quitely sat in the train and the journey could be resumed.

Welcome to Thiruvananthapuram - Part 1

2009-04-19T23:47:00.006+05:30

Taking off from my earlier post 'The day I received my transfer orders', which was written in August last year. The transfer order disappointed me for the place of transfer was more than 3200 kms from my house. At some level I also felt victimised for eversince the start of operations in the Bank's office at Thiruvananthapuram, no officer from such far off place had been posted there. The air connectivity is there but no low cost carriers. The fastest train 'Rajdhani' takes three days to hit Delhi. My wife was also visibly upset for the logistics as her father just had a kidney transplant not very long ago. I had already exhausted my resources for seeking a change of place of posting.

Among all these we had gone to the Naveen market in the city. I was rather quiet and uncommunicative that day. As I entered the Hindustan Store, the owner of the store gave us a very warm welcome. He was very happy to recieve us and conducted us well. While coming out she said that this is what you have earned from this city, the respect and admiration from the people. From businessmen to salesmen, from vegetable vendors to paani poori waala, you are the one point representation of your Bank. During the course of discharging my official duties, these were the people I came across; more so during the coin crises in the city, I intend writing about it in another post for it is classical example of failure of systems in our country.

The next day I booked myself on a connecting Kingfisher flight to Thiruvananthapuram as it reaches before the Indian Airlines flight. On landing at Bangalore where I was to change the plane, the heavy rain had caused some disruption in airport activities. By the time I took the next flight which was an ATR, I was sick of the ' ooh la la la' which is the signature tune of the airline.

धूर्त समागम

2009-04-13T15:59:00.006+05:30

धूर्त समागम is a classical Sanskrit play written by Jyotirishwar Thakur. The hindi adaptation of the play was staged in our college in which yours truly played the role of the leading protagonist Sanatak (Duracara in the Sanskrit play). The play was directed by Prahlad Agarwal who is a well known personality in theater circles. The play had all male cast and was staged in 'स्वांग शैली' , an art form used by the people in UP and Bihar. The play had erotic undertones which was probably the reason of jam packed halls whenever it was staged. The play revolves around Ganika ( Ananagsena in the Sanskrit play) who floors everyone including Snatak and his guru by her charm. She keeps every man in a state of limbo. The play is a gripping narration and never looses its momemtum due to its contemporary theme.

Receiving the 'Best Actor' prize in the Youth festival from Rani Balbir Kaur. Also in the frame is Dr Attar Singh, Principal of the college.

Taking the INSCRIPT exam

2009-03-17T16:08:00.004+05:30

The Rajbhasha department under the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India conducts proficiency examinations for skill in INSCRIPT typing in Hindi. INSCRIPT (meaning INDIAN SCRIPT) keyboard empowers you to type in any of the indian languages provided you are aware of the phonetics used in the particular language. Though there are many sites through which you can type in vernacular like Quillpad and Lipikaar, INSCRIPT helps to fine tune your skills. This January I had appeared for this examination which was conducted at Vikram Sarabhai Space Center (VSSC), Thiruvananthapuram and qualified the exam with 91% marks.

Fauji diary - A Salute to Capt Omkar Nath Rao

2009-03-13T11:43:00.006+05:30

Omkar Nath Rao was a second generation soldier and the only son of his parents. We met at the Officers Training Academy, Madras (now Chennai) where we were coursemates. I don't remember how and when we became good friends. I have known Omkar from close quarters, we continued to remain in touch even after leaving the academy, did the young officers course together at MHOW in 1997. He was always looking for a meaningful contribution to the uniformed life so he opted for a tenure at Siachen glaciar. By the time he completed his tenure at Siachen, his battalion was in a field area. He chose to be with his battalion in the Uri sector.

the days at Academy

young officers course at MHOW'Dil chahta hai'- at the Mandu fort
Brother in Arms

Capt Omkar Nath Rao was lost to his family and friends in a exchange of fire at the Indo-Pak border on 11 March 2000. He was given 'Sena Medal' for gallantry (posthomously).Homage can be paid to Capt Omkar Nath Rao by clicking here.

The Valentine boy turns Five

2009-03-11T16:55:00.002+05:30

Our son Aryaman turned five on 14 February. This smile was captured while he bought the cake to me.

Our trip to Los Angeles Part I

2009-03-06T12:59:00.008+05:30

Been informed of being the lucky winner of the Sony Big Bond Prize by the end of November 2008 ( Refer my previous posts God tussi great ho ! and Sony Big Bond Prize.) we were really looking forward to this trip. The trip to Los Angeles was organised by Sony India Ltd from 17 February 2009 20 February 2009. The travel arrangements were made by Carlson Wagonlit Travels. The Thai Airways flight originating from Mumbai to Los Angeles via Bangkok took us to our destination. Even when we had landed at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) , I was still under the impression that it must be a trip for a group of people who have won lucky prizes from Sony. We were pleasantly surprised to meet Andy, the driver of the Limousine which was sent for taking us to our hotel - Hotel Mariott Downtown LA. Andy was carrying with him the itinerary for the next three days which was handed to us very curteously. The itinerary was handled by India USA Hospitality and besides other details it included a visit to Sony Picture Studio,tour of Culver City, Hollywood, Dinner at Beverly Hills and a day at Disneyland.

At one of the rides in Disneyland

The guests are recieved at the entrance by Minimouse herself.

..continuing the Mumbai story..

2009-02-06T12:58:00.010+05:30

If one were to make a comment on the security, safety of citizens in our country, a one liner would be - "सवारी अपने सामन की ख़ुद जिम्मेदार है " The government takes no responsibility for the same as it has its own global aspirations and pretensions, as commented in FORBES magazine by Tumku Varadarajan. Years back in school I learned a poem by श्री रामधारी सिंह 'दिनकर' , the lines of which I still remember and keep quoting here and there; but now I think it is time that our political leadership gets back to learning the basics once again.

क्षमा, दया, तप,त्याग,मनोबल

सबका लिया सहारा,

पर नर - व्याघ्र सुयोधन तुमसे,

कहो,कहाँ,कब हारा

क्षमाशील हो रिपु समक्ष

तुम हुए विनत जितना ही,

दुष्ट कौरवों ने तुमको

कायर समझा उतना ही

क्षमा शोभती उस भुजंग को

जिसके पास गरल हो ,

उसका क्या जो दंतहीन,

विषहीन, विनीत सरल हो

तीन दिवस तक पथ मांगते

रघुपति सिन्धु किनारे

बैठे पढ़ते रहे छंद

अनुनय के प्यारे प्यारे

उत्तर में जब एक नाद भी

उठा नहीं सागर से ,

उठी धधक अधीर पौरुष की

आग राम के शर से

सिन्धु देह धर " त्राहि- त्राहि "

कहता आ गिरा चरण में ,

चरण पूज, दासता ग्रहण की

बंधा मूढ़ बंधन में

सच पूछो तो शर में ही

बसती है दीप्ती विनय की ,

संधि वचन संपूज्य उसी का,

जिस में शक्ति विजय की

सहनशीलता, क्षमा, दया को

तभी पूजता जग है

बल का दर्प चमकता उसके

पीछे जब जगमग है

10 years together

2009-01-29T15:30:00.006+05:30

Meenu and I completed ten years of marriage on 27 Jan.

A picture from the early years

A recent sketch taken at Timber Trail

REALITY

In love, nothing exists between heart and heart.

Speech is born out of longing,

True description from the real taste.

The one who tastes,knows;

The one who explains,lies.

How can you describe the true form of Something

In whose presence you are blotted out?

And in whose being you still exist?

And who lives as a sign for your journey?

- Rabia Al Basri

Fauji dairy - Remembering Atul Ghildiyal

2009-01-21T16:42:00.010+05:30

Atul Ghildiyal had a child like innocence, sage like maturity and an iron like will. He was my immediate senior in the battalion. There was a very strong bond between us. At some level I felt as if we were like brothers from different mothers. The fond memories of serving together at Jalandhar are still fresh in my mind. He had an enthuthiasm which was contagious and a spirit of adventure which broke all parameters of sanity; it was only Atul who could keep a variety of pets from pigeons, hens, cockerels to aquarium fish, and it was only he who could dare to drive all night on his mobike from Jalandhar to Dehradun!

He was passionate about everything that he did, whether it was professional army competetions, weight training or playing squash. Comradierie was never bettter personified; we invariably bought identical things,had similar opinions,likes/dislikes, had almost the same attitude.

After the tenure at Jalandhar Atul was posted to 20 RR in November 2000.( RR tenure is a counter insurgency operations). His wife Urmila was carrying their son Anirudh and Atul was saving his leave to be with her at the required time. No one could have imagined that he will not be able to reach his wife and son. While chasing insurgents in a operation, he was hit by enemy bullets.

From right- 2/Lt Atul Ghildiyal, Major Parladh Singh and 2/Lt Ashwani Saini (self) at MFFR (Rajasthan)
The young brigade of the Mighty Third during Centenary Celebrations(from left)Lt Kailash Bisht,Lt Arun Chaubey,Capt A Bannerjee (RMO),Capt Ashwani Saini (self),Capt Atul Ghildiyal and Lt Vinay.

Major Atul Ghildiyal laid down his life fighting insurgents on 18 January 2003. He was awarded 'Sena Medal' for Gallantary (posthomously).Homage can be paid to Major Atul Ghildiyal by clicking here.

Sony Big Bond Prize

2009-01-21T10:42:00.002+05:30

Yesterday I was invited at Sony World, Thiruvananthapuram where I was presented the certificate of having won the Sony Big Bond Lucky Contest. The certificate was presented to me by Shri Gautam, Managing Director of Sony World.

ਖਾਲਸਾ ਮੇਰੀ ਜਾਨ ਕੀ ਜਾਨ...

2009-01-02T10:28:00.009+05:30

This post is an outcome of a suggestion by my blogger friend, Mampi to introduce my friends in the video clip of the preceeding post.I was posted at Kanpur from Jan 2003 to June 2008. Our stay at Kanpur was truly memorable in more than one way - firstly, my job in the Bank preceeded a spell of being out of job for a few months( reminding me that tough times don't last tough people do!), secondly, we were blissed with our son Aryaman on the Valentine Day of 2004 and most important of all, our meeting with bhaaji's family.It would rather be an understatement to say that I am yet to meet someone as spiritually and mentally as evolved as our bhaaji. Unconciously at some level,I often try to analyse as to why we feel proximity to a person without having the probability of any common ground between us.

Our Bank's Kanpur office is an old and huge establishment by infrastructure and employee strength.During the first World War, the Controller of Currency chose to have his Headqurters here. I could not have met bhaaji at the office had the Flat alottment officer not been on leave on the particular day. My initial solace on meeting a turbaned sikh was that I can excercise my vocal chords in Panjabi with him. My memory fails me in recalling the early incidents or their responses, common excursions (for there were far too many) on birthdays, anniversaries or just like that. I don't remember if I had food anywhere else when my wife had to go to Panjab for work or visit which was often, bhaabiji and my wife Meenu were regular companions for a daily walk upto Chowk gurudwara. When our son was born and my mother could not make it as she was abroad, bhaabiji voluntarily looked after him; infact he was always their favourite.

Bhaaji and bhaabiji assumed various roles all these years,-friend,father,brother,guide,spiritual teacher,marriage counseller and much more. The second half of the Kanpur tenure was rather stressful at the office and tackling it would not have been easy without their support. At times I have felt that they have been sent by God to protect us.The parting with them was rather painful and hard to bear.It is an emotional chord which still binds us.

Their children, Inderdeep and Sarabjeet, who were in school at our first meeting have also established themselves in their fields. I remember one incident when bhaaji was undecided on sending his daughter for a particular competetive exam and when she finally gave that exam, she secured an all india first postion. For Sarabjeet I would say that he has topped so many times in last few years that I have become used to seeing his pictures in the newspapers and Bank magazine.

We wish the family all the happiness in the coming years.

..a year that was...

2009-01-01T13:13:00.003+05:30

This clip was prepared by Inderdeep ( who also features in it) and presented to us on our transfer from Kanpur to Thiruvananthapuram in June 2008. My thanks to her for this beautiful gesture to piece together in one place the memories of the five years spent together.

Bharat Ratna for Pt Bhimsen Joshi

2008-12-30T09:56:00.002+05:30

Pandit Bhimsen Joshi was conferred with the highest civilian award of Bharat Ratna in November this year. It was a truly proud moment for indian classical music. There could'nt have been a more appropriate recipient than him as he has already received all the Padma awards in previous years. At the age of 86, he is an institution of hindustani music. Despite standing at such a height in his vocation, the man exhibits such simplicity and innocence that one cannot help getting impressed with this great man. I had the previledge of meeting him a few years back courtesy my friends in SPIC MACAY and the write up was published in the magazine section of 'The Tribune'

lip service

2008-12-29T14:04:00.003+05:30

India completed one month of the Mumbai terror attack on friday last. Being shaken out of its slumber by public uproar;the government has taken 'all steps' to warn the perpeterators of terror from across the border, activated its diplomatic channels to arrange a visit of Condoleza Rice to the subcontinent, sacked few persons in 'responsible' positions, so on and so forth. One of the minister is still keeping the public delusion alive of taking 'action' and of 'options open'.

The biggest misfortune of our country is the intellectual mediocrity of our beaurocracy, non committal attitude of the political leadership and most importantly the short memory of the public. India is perhaps most vulnerable to such terror attacks in future due to its vast coastline. The goverment has not decided on any additional measures to safeguard its maritime boundaries. In my previous post, the requirement of coming up with a BIGGER solutions for LARGER issues was highlighted. The government has done 'too little and too late'. Though the vulnerability of having a large coastline hardly requires over emphasis, the meeting on coastline security at central level is slated in the first week of January. By the time any 'concrete measures' of this important meeting will be 'implemented', the country will probably celebrating the victory of the new government and everything on terror will be forgotten till another terror attack grabs the headlines...

A newspaper cutting from 'The Hindu' on the measures taken by government on coastal security

writing for 'The Vikas'

2008-12-18T14:02:00.018+05:30

[originally published in 1993 in 'The Vikas' ( the magazine of Government College of Men, Sector-11, Chandigarh) of which yours truly was the Editor]

PARAPSYCHOLOGY: DISCOVERING THE UNKNOWN

'Miracles occur in contradiction not to nature,

but what is known to us of nature'. - St Augustine

Curious things continue to happen in life which shake the solid pillars of science. A vivid dream coming true the next day, telephone call from the person just thought of. A sudden rememberence of past life. Such experiences however were rarely questioned in a country that gave the world the concept of reincarnation. Long before the term 'paranormal phenomena' was coined,ancient Indians had already discovered the 'Ultimate Conciousness'.

In the past threee decades, a band of investigators called 'Parapsychologists' have begun talking of what they claim as 'scientific peep into keyhole of eternity'.

Many universities are probing into their research, what is commonly called 'sixth sense' or technically the phenomena of 'Extra-Sensory Perception (ESP). ESP types are diferentiated for example TELEPATHY is awareness of thoughts of another person. CLAIRVOYANCE is the ability to know of events that have occured. PRECOGNITION is knowledge of the event before it happened. And PSYCHOKINESIS is the power to influence objects with just mind. The unknown factor underlying all these is 'Psi'. Parapsychology studies these 'Psi' abilities.

Real life examples are gripping. Srikant of a village in Garhwal mountains got up one night in fright for he dreamt his father lying in a field bleeding badly. The next day his mother called from Dehradun to give the same news. Srikant just had the clairvoyant experience. Sudhir is an employee of a Delhi restaurant. He got a visual flash that his friend Kapoor is lying on a road bleeding profusely. Sudhir warned Kapoor not to undertake a journey he was planning but he did not heed his advice. Sudhir got a call later in the day that Kapoor had met with an accident. This is an example of Precognition.

Examples of reincarnation are even more interesting where a casual remark triggered the memory. Ajit Sngh in Chandigarh remembered his previous life whwn his aunt remarked "It's so hot today,that even if I die, you don't have to cremate me,I'll just burn up". Ajit replied -- " Nothing happened to me when they burnt me after I died". He then began talking of his life as a magistrate in Rawalpindi.

Statistics are glaring - 82% of people like Ajit remembered their names and other details. In one NIMHANS (National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences,Bangalore) study of 250 cases, most people remembered past life at around the age of three and 77% of the cases were deceased persons whom those people claimed to be.

The research in this field is still very much in infantile state. AP University research found that people practicing Yoga and transcendental meditation had higher ESP scores than others. PU Chandigarh research concludes that extrovert students did well in ESP tests. Garhwal University research on traditional faith healers shows that they do exhibit some psychokinetic ability.

But parapsychologists are still to alter the concept of other scientists towards their research. Despite scientific inverstigations on ESP being conducted since 1927, the august American Association for Advancement of Science reluctantly admitted parapsychologists as members only in 1969.

The Editorial Team of 'The Vikas'.

Ist Row -Prof VK Devasher,Dr DR Gupta,Prof Bhupinder Singh,Dr K Tandon,Dr Attar Singh(Principal),Dr N Mittal,Dr Maghar Singh,Prof JP Garg.

IInd Row - Shyam Sunder,Biramjit Singh,Ashwani Saini(yours truly),Nishi Kant,Malkit Singh,Anil Sharma,Nirbhay Kumar,Anil Kumar,Francis Olalo

The magazine was released by Sh Y S Dadwal then IGP,UT (presently Commissioner, Delhi Police) who is also the aluminus of the college.

The purpose of Life

2008-12-16T13:13:00.006+05:30

Recently I had a chance meeting with a person who explained me the meaning of our daily used salutation 'Namaste'. Every human being has an element of divine in him/her. The word 'Namaste' means that the divinity in me salutes the divinity in you. I was so impressed with the interpretation of the meaning that I wanted to note it down somewhere but the gentleman requested me to just keep it in my heart for if it stays with me, it was worth knowing it. His request somehow reminded me of the words of Helen Killer -

" The best and most beautiful things in the world

can not be seen, nor touched

but felt in the heart".

I was further inquisitive to know as to why we fold our hands when we greet someone. The explanation transcends the spiritual and appears rather scientific. Our body has (+ve) positive as well (-ve) as negative aura ( another name for charge) in it. Folding of our hands is an endeavour to bring that aura ( charge) to neutral. Man across various civilisations has been seeking to know the purpose of his being on this earth. There are varied explanations for it. Here is one such explanation which I really liked.

Mumbai afterMATH!

2008-12-04T14:23:00.008+05:30

"The best part being a pessimist is that;

most of the time you are proved right,

and when you are not; you are pleasantly surprised!"

Last few days were spent putting all resources at my command to learn more about Mumbai terror attacks and all such previous acts of terror elsewhere. The purpose was not to give a presentation, enrich my knowledge etc but pure curiosity. The Mumbai carnage has not only exposed our intelligence system but also exposed the lack of will of our political leadership. One thing which clearly emerges out of this attack is the setting up of a higher benchmark of terror activities not only by local standards but also by global standards. By conventional standards, all cities/districts/states must be self sufficient in countering acts of terror but these simultaneous acts of terror in one city forced the government to deploy the best of resouces at its command to contain it. If the entire nation was put on high alert; then, Why this incident cannot be defined as a War on the nation itself???

There is an old saying in Panjabi - मैनू सहे दी नहीं, पहे दी पई है ( While I am concerned about what has happened but what bothers me is, what can happen in future!)

If launching of terror attacks from the sea is going to be the norm in next few years, what steps can we take to secure our maritime boundaries? If launching an attack on one city by handful of terror-hands can neccesitate pooling best anti-terror resources from elsewhere; what if such attacks are launched on two or three cities simultaneously. Should we not consider outsourcing our internal security arrangements to some other agency like the United Nations (UN) ?

There are many questions which have been thrown open by the recent attacks on Mumbai. Small problems can be addressed by small or piece meal solutions but larger issues require LARGER and BIGGER solutions.

GOD tussi great ho!

2008-11-24T14:47:00.004+05:30

This Diwali I decided to purchase a handycam. After doing some research I decided to buy a Sony HDD model and finally bought it. As a free gift I got a handycam carrying case, a James Bond twin DVD and a lucky coupon. I felt no need to check about the prize details in the lucky coupon till I got a call this friday from Sony Head Office asking me the details of the purchase,invoice number etc. I had no idea what was in store; the gentleman at the other end told me that I had won the lucky bumper prize ( even that didn't ring any bell to me!!).

After the call, it took some time for me to absorb what I had won --- A trip to Sony Pictures Studio, Los Angeles for self and spouse to include return business class air tickets, three night accomodation at a five star hotel with all meals and airport transfer as per pre-determined itinerary. Now this is what you call a Windfall !! , We are really looking forward to the trip,..GOD tussi really great ho!!

Barrak Obama

2008-11-17T12:14:00.005+05:30

Having little interest in the US Presidential election 2008,my ignorance of its nitty-gritties is understandable. But I had a chance listening to the winning speech of Barrak Obama, the President elect of the United States. His speech touched an emotional chord with its audience specially his reference to Ann Nixon Cooper and the 'Yes We Can' slogan. His speech was straight from his heart giving assurance to the whole world. After listening to him, I think - Yes HE Can.

I am sharing a nice cartoon which a friend shared with me on the just concluded US Presidential election.

Season of Sports.

2008-11-12T13:36:00.009+05:30

Thiruvananthapuram: Having the Trivandrum Tennis Club (TTC) located just across the road from our house, it was giving in to a workable temptation of putting our daughter Mannat for the tennis coaching. To our mind,it appeared to be the best way to channelise her energies. The club has hired the services of Paul Tornquist, a canadian coach to train the young talent. Mannat at the Tennis Club

A badminton tournament was organised by the office on 19 October at Sri Mulam Club in which yours truly also got a chance to sweat it out.

It was a fun filled day for the families too for watching the non-stop action (and humour) at the court.

Fauji Diary - The Interview

2008-11-11T11:55:00.007+05:30

Having grown up reading 'How to face an interview' columns in magazines like CSR, Competition Master et all, I could barely fathom the quadrants of personality an interview can explore. At a restless age of 20, expecting pre-conditioned responses is the last thing one can expect. So what transpired during my interview before the 20 Service Selection Board at Bhopal in December 1994 remains itched in my memory till date. It was a cold winter morning and I was sitting in front of Maj Gen B R Verma (Jat Regt) who was the President of the Board.

The President was trying to make sense of my heavily scribbled 'Personal Information Questionnaire' (commonly called PIQ Form), when we started off.

President: So Ashwani, how many friends do you have?
Yours truly: ( to prolong the prized interaction, I felt like giving a big figure but settled for less) I have ten friends.
President: What do you talk to your friends?
Yours truly: Anything from politics to personal matters.
President: ( with a pause) personal matters like what?
Yours truly: ( after a gap) like how to propose to a girl.
President: (writes with the pencil like grandmasters in chess do!) so which is the best suggestion you ever gave to anyone?
Yours truly: (interjection..) Sir,...presently I don't give suggestions, I take suggestions.
President: so which is the best suggestion you ever received?
Yours truly: The best suggestion I ever received was,- 'that first deserve and then desire'.
President: ( after taking some time with his pencil ) OK, ...then what do you think will make you deserving?
Yours truly: Sir, the selection in army through this interview will make me deserving.
President: (after finishing with the pencil, prepared with his googli) Ok, you are selected, you've completed your training and have become an officer, you are in your hometown on leave when you see this beautiful girl in the marketplace. You are attracted to her, you go and propose to her and she slaps you on your face, what will you do?
Yours truly: (interjects)...actually, the way of proposing was not correct, I should have got hold of some common friend, get myself introduced and then gone ahead...
President: (smiles with a BIG grin..) Son, don't challenge the situation, give me a solution after the slap incident.
Yours truly: ( confused....., felt like having already lost in this chess-game)(replied after more than one minute of deep introspection) No matter how hard I try, that girl will remain at the back of my mind, I will grow over that slap incident, get hold of a common friend, get myself introduced, cultivate friendship and then propose at an appropriate time.
President: (I could see a deep appreciation on his face, vibes of approval and affection emanating from him) ( I actually expected him to say something, but this time he took out a pen and wrote about four lines) thank you Ashwani, it was very pleasant meeting with you.(we shook hands)

Fauji Diary

2008-11-04T12:51:00.005+05:30

Thiruvananthapuram: 22 Oct 2008 - A team of senior officers from Army who are attending Higher Defence Management Course (HDMC) at College of Defence Management,Hyderabad visited my Bank today. They are on a field visit to the premier institutions of the country. As I stood greeting them at the gate, my eyes brighten up to see Colonel Rajiv Mahna who used to be my Directing Staff (a term used in army for Instructors) at Officers Training Academy, Madras (now Chennai).He has not changed all these years except for a few more grey hair which lend lot of grace to his personality. I met him after almost twelve years. As I introduced myself to him, I could feel the vibes of affection emanating from him. Colonel Mahna besides being an excellent professional officer; has qualities which are unique to him. When I had joined the academy in 1995, I used to be a 'dead sinker'( a term used for hopeless non swimmers). Despite my sincere effort at learning the skill, I came a cropper for which I was really ashamed. I was about to be given a counselling for not having passed the swimming test, when one day (then Capt) Colonel Mahna reached the pool with his four year old son during the class. He smiled and said something to brighten up the day in his inimitable style. All I remember is that I passed my test on that very day after being motivated by the swimming skill of his four year old son. Twelve years is a long time, life seems to have completed a full circle but I will always remain indebted to Colonel Mahna.

Global Financial Meltdown

2008-10-21T14:45:00.005+05:30

With the global financial scene in a gloomy state, and everyone in the banking and insurance sector wondering what is next in store; the entire episode has become an unending ordeal. Since last year, sub prime lending in US mortgage sector was seen as the major culprit. The crisis reached a melting point recently when the 158 years old investment banking firm Lehman brothers filed for bankruptcy. Their bankruptcy will inturn have an impact on the its creditors like Citigroup, Bank of New York and some Japanese and European banks. More trouble in financial markets seems inevitable.

To brighten up the day, one of my friends sent some Bank-Toons which I am sharing here:

Visit to Kanyakumari

2008-10-16T15:14:00.017+05:30

Kanyakumari: Kanyakumari derives its name from Kanya Devi, an avatar of Parvati who could not marry Lord Shiva in her life time. It is a great tourist destination, great sights, affordable hotels besides having a number of tourist places in near vicinity. The major tourist attraction is the Vivekananda Rock which has apart from the Vivekananda Memorial, the Sripada Mandapam, which is the temple of Kanya Devi. The temple has foot imprints of Kanya Devi.

The Kanyakumari markets offer a lot of sea shells and other curios at rock bottom prices. Kanyakumari is an excellent destination for a budget conscious tourist.

The view of the Vivekananda Rock Memorial and Thiruvallur Statue

The only way to reach the Rock Memorial is by means of the ferry boats run by the Tamil Nadu tourism. The main attraction of Kanyakumari is the view of the sunrise and the sunset.

The 'magical' SunriseThe Sunset The Sripada Mandapam (Kanya Devi Temple)

The Vivekananda Memorial which has a meditation room in its basement.

A visit to the place would be incomplete without a visit to the Wax Museum, an indian version of Madame Tussaude. The museum has wax models of Mahatma Gandhi,Benazir Bhutto, Indira Gandhi, Amitabh Bacchan, Shahrukh Khan, Jackie Chan, Jayalalita and many more...these were my favourites

Any tips for me, dear Sir

ഓണം ൨൦൦൮ (Onam 2008)

2008-10-14T12:28:00.010+05:30

Thiruvananthapuram: Onam is the main regional festival of Kerala and is celebrated in the month of September over a period of ten days from atham to thirunam. A number of festivities form part of the overall celebration like elaborate feasts (onam sadya), folk songs, elegant dances, games,elephants,boats and flower arrangements ( pookalam).

Pookalam at the office

The main festivity in the city was at Kanakakunnu Palace which gave a true flavour of the festival; elephants at the gate, traditional dance at the gate and at at number of other places, food festival,craft exhibition,vocal recitals,Kathakali and many more.

The scene at the entrance of Kanakakunnu Palace
Mannat trying out the Mehndi
A scene from one of the dances

The most fascinating dance at the Fest was where 12 girls weave a jhoola during their dance steps for the little lord Krishna. The total feel of the festivity was mesmerising.

Tagged

2008-10-07T13:00:00.018+05:30

Old habbits die hard, they say. One cannot change oneself, how so ever hard one may try. So when Capt Balvinder tagged me, I was caught napping like a back bencher. I had no idea what is to be done when you are tagged. It was only after reading the fellow bloggers that the thought process in me started. The whole idea is to spell out some habits/addictions which are unique to you. Some are in me too, which I am going to share here as it comes to my mind:

Haircut countdown: Everytime I say ' I think I need to go for a haircut' to me wife, she is always of the other opinion. Eversince I remember I have been very ritualistic about the periodicity of the haircut. While being in army, the barber could be summoned anytime, now one has to take prior appointment from the hairdresser or else wait. Hair dresser is a person to be held in high regard as he has the power to make you confident about youself.

slip-over to Punjabi: Being known to be gentle and polite among friends and colleagues, sometimes when I am agitated with someone, I unknowingly slip-over to Punjabi. Having tried my best to control this; my take on this is that since I think in Punjabi, the language just flows out of me.

List fetish: Since one has to function simultaneously chasing various goals in the required timelines, I have always been a slave to preparing lists, though not very perseverant at completing 100% of the tasks in hand.

A stitch in time...: This one generally I dont spell out as it is considered a very feminine trait, but I am very fond of tailoring activity like putting buttons or repairing the clothes. I make it a point to lend it a good finnesse which I have developed over a period of time.
Anti TV: Most of the time I wonder how people are able to watch so much Tv. Most of the time we end up with the information from the Tv which is of no relevance to our lives. Women end up being more sobby after soaps, children end up being more hyperactive after watching cartoons; even the daily news have become unsavoury, advertisements are not far behind, sometimes there is no bottomline and we end up watching the 'Amul Macho' ad half a dozen times in a day.

Having listed the five addictions/ qualities specific to me, I hope I have fulfilled the 'Tag expectations'. Now I take this oppertunity to 'TAG' Capt Bisht, Ratnakar and Sarabjeet to carry out the assigned task of listing their five addictions.

Feedback - Training aboard a Houseboat

2008-10-03T11:58:00.014+05:30

Training aboard a houseboat in Kerala backwaters is a very novel idea started by Sterling Events India. 'Infotainment', in the right meaning of the word, the training on one hand explored the beauty of the Kerala backwaters touching the mouth of the Arabian sea, on the other hand offered a chance to learn and refresh the complexities involved in day to day job performance. The ambiance was just perfect for a three day joyride into the lap of nature. The Conference room on the first floor deck of the boat The ground floor housed the kitchen, porch and AC rooms for participants.

The boat explored the vast dimensions of the Vembad lake during the day and was anchored in the evening where a cultural evening of Kathakali demonstration was organised. Kathakali demonstration gives a peep into the basics of the dance form to the audience. The costume generally associated with Kathakali is not worn during demonstration and is only worn while enacting any scene from the epics.

A boat parked for the night.

A fellow participant, Sh Ashok Mishra from Bank of India appreciating the beauty of Kuttanad. The view of Kuttanad paddy fields. The water-bus ferrying passengers to Kochi The luxury cottages which have come up by lakeside
The evening view of the lake is truly magical

Training aboard a Houseboat

2008-09-19T12:35:00.006+05:30

I have been deputed to undergo a three day training at Kumarakom Palace Conference Boat from September 24-26. The training program is on ' Leadership Skills for Effective Management' and is being conducted by Sterling Institute of Corporate Conferences & Events, Kerala (http://www.sterlingeventsindia.com/). More about the training event in my next post.

Timeless

2008-09-05T11:06:00.025+05:30

The other day my daughter had her maths exam. In her syllabus,among other things, she had chapters on - How to read time on a watch ? Despite her best efforts, she would somehow mistake half hour to mean 50 minutes or read 3'O Clock as 3 hrs 60 mins and so on. I could somehow relate to her learning woes. Learning about time is perhaps among the first steps towards growing up.

When I was as small as her I had no sense of time. I don't remember if I had any chapters on time. At that stage the summer vacations meant fun, no time to quantify it in weeks,days or hours. We generally spent our vacations at our nanke ( Nanaji's house) at Jalandhar. In those days, TV had not intruded the indian household, going to movies was a once in a while affair and children generally played in various groups either with cousins or with the children from the neighbourhood.

Evening time after dinner was reserved for stories from Nanaji when all the kids will curl themselves on the big manja ( charpoy) for his story. His stories used to be long as they were told in enormous detail. The children were told to give hunkara ( Confirmation) so that he could know that we are awake and are listening to the story. The stories continued over several days; one could catch up the next day if one had missed some part due to sleep. His stories were also thought provoking, always giving out some message in them. I always had questions on the plot of those stories as I always wanted the stories to have pleasant endings as we have in our films.

In all the stories, the characters went through good as well as turbulant time. One such story had a moral which I could recall even today:

आस का बाप,

(a father will always have expectations from his child)

निराश की माँ,
( a mother loves her child irrespective)
चलते की बहन,
( a sister keeps in good stead only if the brother is doing fine)
संग की स्त्री
( a woman will only be a companion if staying together)

Nanaji passed away last year, but his timeless words will always remain with us.

ਧਰਮ ਹੇਤ ਸੀਸ ਦਿੱਤੇ , ਬੰਦ ਬੰਦ ਕਟਵਾਏ, ਖੋਪੜੀਆਂ ਲੁਹਾਈਆਂ, ਚਰਖਾਰਿਆਂ ਤੇ ਚਢਆਏ ਗਏ

2008-09-03T14:30:00.021+05:30

Gurudwara Mehdiana Sahib: I visited Mehdiana Sahib in July 2005 when I was visiting the Gurudwaras of Panjab. The speciality of this Gurudwara are the sculptures depicting the various events from the Sikh history. The sculptures leave an indelible impression on one's mind. The various verses which are ingrained in our conciousness are effectively portrayed by means of these sculptures

The Gurudwara owes its development to the untiring efforts of Baba Zora Singh, a one time transporter who is said to have lost his only son in an accident at Canada.

بسملﻻح ( Bismillah)

2008-09-02T11:02:00.003+05:30

Perhaphs the first person to take notice of my blog was Capt Balvinder, whose own blog' Frankly Speaking' is going great guns! (typical fauji lingo). Capt Balvinder is an ex 3 Dogra officer which also happens to be my parent unit in the army. He was commissioned 18 years before me in the same unit. His popularity can be gauged from the fact that he was still remembered in the unit among others by Colonel P S Bhagi and

Colonel S K Sharma, who served with him while the unit was stationed at Trivandrum in late 70's and early 80's. I now work in the same Bank as Capt Balvinder. The above picture is of October 2000, when he had visited the unit at Jalandhar (Panjab) during the Centenary Celebrations of the battalion.

RBI - For Common Man

2008-08-29T13:08:00.006+05:30

The other day I was invited for an official dinner at a hotel. As I was waiting in the gallery for others to join in, I involved myself in small talk with the people around. On getting to know that I am from a bank, one of the gentleman wanted to have a specific information regarding foreign exchange. As I was about to get back to him, when during the course of the discussion, he informed me that he has asked for this information from many bankers but none has given a precise reply. I asked for the mail Id of the gentleman with a assurance to provide the information.

The next day, I was lucky enough to get the information online within a few minutes. I immediately mailed the link and almost forgot about the incident till a couple of days later when I received a mail back from him.

His mail somehow touched me, gave me a satisfaction of a job well done. Quite often, we become indifferent towards our job to realise the magnitude of the expectations the other person has from us. It happens all the time, in all situations, to almost everybody. Sometimes this indifference spills to the personal side, towards children, family and friends and so on. The answers we are looking in our life are sometime within reach, only we need to remain organised, balanced and in a state of harmony with ourselves.

I've posted the said link in my links under 'RBI for Common Man' for use by everyone.

Independence day at Thiruvananthapuram

2008-08-28T11:41:00.003+05:30

August 15,2008: Thiruvananthapuram- One of the residential colony of the Bank is located inside the compound of the Belhaven Palace at Kowdiar. The Palace has now been converted into the VOF (visiting officers flats) . In the late 80's ,the Belhaven Palace housed the administrative office of the Indian Airforce during Operation PAWAN in Srilanka.
The Independence day is celebrated by the residents of the colony by Flag hoisting in the morning and a cultural program by the children of the residents in the evening. My kids Mannat and Aryaman also participated in one program which was based on 'Mile sur mera tumhara' which used to be aired on Doordarshan a few years back.

Mannat & Aryaman, all decked up before the cultural evening
The Kids giving the salute to the National Flag during the cultural program.

The day I received my transfer orders..

2008-08-27T15:29:00.005+05:30

April 16,2008: The entire day was spent at Bhitargaon, a remote village about 50 kms from Kanpur city. My Bank had organised a Financial Literacy Camp for the residents of the village with assistance from the local administration. I had no idea where we were heading or what will be in store. But I guess, that's how life is. It was only after reaching there and interacting with people that I realised that rural india is in such a bad shape. Even till date, the village is without power, drinking water is scarce, agriculture is on the mercy of the almighty.The majority of the population in this village is living below poverty line. We were given a nice welcome by the locals, expecting some big announcement.

I felt awkward for the luxury vehicles in which we were travelling, not sure of what difference will our endeavours will make in their everyday life.
I was totally cut off from the rest of the world as there were no mobile signals. The entire proceedings were stereotype and I felt an unending uneasiness.

A very nice mail message

2007-09-08T14:52:00.004+05:30