Conflict resolution

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...

ahh!... what an attention level

Fauji Diary - Life at PP4 - Part II

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

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

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

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

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.