Here are some poems Nikhil wrote as part of Grade 10 English Assignments.
Order and Chaos Discipline is the greatest strength
Restraint the greatest virtue
Control is the highest aspiration
Order the only truth
Order is what everyone seeks
Order: a utopian fruit
Disorder is the natural state
Anarchy is the final end
Lawless is the nature of the world
Into chaos we all descend
Chaos is past, present and future
Chaos we can achieve
Love I am defenseless, I must surrender
I am under your enchantments
You speak and I hear Venus’ voice
You laugh at my inept replies
The philosophers deride
Those who lose to passion
Yet my soul knows what I don’t
I cannot deny this
You are perfect as the rose is perfect
In this game I am green as grass
You are the light which kisses my world
But soon you must be gone
You will move on
Leave me incomplete
I must simply trudge on thereafter
From one heartbreak to the next
In grief to grief, from dust to dust
Time Travel
I used to serve
obeying other’s commands
Now I have tasted command
I can never obey again
I used to plan
deciding on my future
I now live in the moment
planning as i go
I used to consume knowledge
to prove achievement
I now seek wisdom
for the sake of it
I used to fear failure
and facing disappointment
I now fear obscurity
dying not remembered
I used to believe
I knew what I wanted
I now know
I must be willing to change
I used to watch TV
so I could be entertained
I now use what I saw
to entertain others
I was once blind
Stumbling for the truth
But now I see
Bottom of the Bottle
Her love so fierce she couldn’t contain it
She expected to be happy so long
Letters of love so many were writ
Her love a great flag flapping
She could not have known the a lurking
For in the shadows he works
The tiger’s name was her love’s drinking
One of life’s horrid quirks
She forgave his smelling everyday like booze
He said he was sober yet she could tell
She thought life’s game in which I can’t lose
Now she’s in a hell wet not hot
When she has a child her greatest terror
Is he’ll follow his father and commit his error
Exploring Canada is real time consuming and over the past two summers we decided to explore Ottawa, the Capital City and Quebec City, the capital of Quebec Province. At both these places, we undertook walking tours of extremely different nature.
On 31 December 1857, Queen Victoria chose Ottawa as the Capital of Canada being midway between Toronto and Quebec City and less prone to political mobs being a small city. Ottawa is the fourth largest city in Canada and is the most educated city with minimum unemployment. Ottawa with Gatineau, Quebec, on the West together form the National Capital Region (NCR). In effect half of it French speaking and the other half mostly English speaking.
Every city in the world offers an amazingly rich history filled with scandal, scariness and intrigue. There are many a haunted buildings, places of worships, cemetery etc that one can find in any city. While in Ottawa, the capital city of Canada, we ran into The Haunted Walk, a walking tour company that conducts “The Haunted Walk Tour”, a walking tour around the city which commenced at 9 PM and ended by 10:30 PM for the reasonable rate of $15 per head.
The hostess was Margo, a middle-aged lady, cloaked in black cape and carrying a lantern, gathered all the 15 participants near the Parliament building and briefed us about the tour and the safety aspects. She began with the haunting tale of the graveyard under our feet and continued across the street, under the canal, to Lisgar High School and all around the City spinning tales of long ago ghosts and even some personal tales. The fireworks from the Parliament building provided a perfect backdrop for all her ghost stories.
Margo conducted us on the tour visiting important landmarks of Ottawa and with each place she had some hunting story to narrate, which she did perfectly, with complete “effects”. She did not use any props or any hysteric sounds as one anticipated. The tales involved the Lisgar High School, the Fairmont Chateau Laurier hotel, the Confederation Park and the Rideau Canal. It was the good old fashioned story telling with the stories apparently researched and edited beforehand. Leaving alone the ghost stories, the tour quite informative and useful in discovering the streets of Ottawa.
Then we moved to the Quebec City. The crown jewel of French Canada, Québec City is one of North America’s oldest and most magnificent settlements. Its picturesque Old Town is a UNESCO World Heritage site. There is more than a glimmer of Old Europe in its classic bistros, sidewalk cafes and manicured squares.
Québec City is 400 years old. It boasts four centuries of history marked by encounters with the First Nations, battles between the French and English, terrible epidemics, four centuries during which Québec has grown into the city forging a character of its own built around a thriving culture, economic success, urban transformation, neighborhood life, and the French language.
Quebec City’s rich cultural heritage isn’t just in its architecture and historical leanings; it is in the food too. The Walking Tour was the Culinary Tour, which lasted over two hours, walking through the historic cobblestone laneways within and just outside of the old walled city, which dates back to 1535, when Frenchman Jacques Cartier established the original fort. During the tour we sipped many samples of wine, tasted various types of cheese, savoured the pastries, tasted various chocolates made from Maple syrup, etc.
Jacques Cartier was sent on an expedition by Francis I, King of France, and he arrived at Quebec in 1534, taking possession of lands. In 1608, Samuel de Champlain made landfall on the north shore of the St. Lawrence River at a spot that the Aboriginals called Kébec. From here the New France in Canada expanded rapidly between 1660 and 1713. During the Seven Years’ War, the army of General Wolfe laid siege to Québec, and culminated in the defeat of the French General Montcalm in 1759. Four years later, with the signing of the Treaty of Paris, the King of France ceded to the British crown “Canada and all its dependencies.” From then on the Province of Quebec has maintained its French culture and language and thus Canada has two official languages – English and French.
Robert, our tour guide explained all the details about the stories behind the dishes and also the influences of Amerindian, British and French cuisines in the Quebec cooking. The foodie stops included three restaurants, two treat shops, a liquor store and an old grocery. On the way, we passed the oldest Anglican cathedral outside Britain – built in 1804 — and still using human bell ringers every Sunday.
In all these cities there were cycling tours too, but what impresses the most is the “Bixi” (Bike Taxi). Bixi is a network of 800 bicycles and 80 stations located throughout the city, to provide residents and visitors with an additional transportation option for getting around town, making active transportation simple, fast, and fun. The system includes a fleet of specially designed, heavy-duty, durable bicycles that are locked into a network of docking stations. Bixi is available for use 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, except during inclement weather conditions that might make the system unsafe. The station network provides twice as many docking points as bicycles, assuring that an available dock to return the bicycle is always nearby. To rent a cycle, you got to purchase the tickets online or from the kiosks, unlock the cycle from the dock using the code provided, ride the cycle and return it at any station by docking it.
After undertaking these tours, I was sure that in India we can offer many such tours and even many more, in any city at any time. It may not be feasible to arrange a walking tour, but a “rickshaw” or “auto-rickshaw” tour is always feasible.
This photograph is from an Anzac Parade for the veterans of the Indian Armed Forces in Sydney. The marching contingent of Indian Veterans was received with cheers and the applause from the enthusiastic spectators lining the streets braving the wet and cold weather. The Indian banner stood high and proud, ably and graciously carried by a scout. Joined by their families and friends, the retired officers from Army, Air Force and Navy marched in unison, their suits adorned with their service medals. While they matched step with step, ‘stomachs-in, chest-out’ as instilled during their training days, the different berets symbolised the Corps or the Arm they represented.
Will this ever happen in any Indian city? Will this remain a distant dream?
A few weeks back there was a post on the Facebook where the author was unduly perturbed that India and its Asian neighbours did not figure in the top 25 patriotic countries, across the world, listed in the study of New York-based International Social Survey Program (ISSP). The study throws up interesting points like erstwhile colonies of the British and Spanish ranking higher than both Great Britain and Spain, respectively. According to the study, the most patriotic countries were the US and Venezuela, which were tied-up for the number one slot. The author was apparently more concerned about the ” holier than thou attitude” of Uncle Sam and that the conclusion has no rational basis other than their whims and fancies and prejudices.
It is true. We do not fly the national flag at half mast when a soldier is martyred unlike US/Canada. We do not line up the streets to pay homage to a fallen soldier as their mortal remains pass through our city/village/town. Our airlines do not even bother to show any respect to the coffins of the soldiers and handle them as ordinary cargo. The Captain of the flight never announces that the mortal remains of a soldier is being carried by them. (Latest being Major Varadarajan’s case).
We do not commemorate any Remembrance Day to pay respect for a fallen soldier as in the case of most Commonwealth and Western Countries. Our National leaders or citizens never wear the flags pinned on them by the children on the Flag Day. How can we say that we are patriotic?
Every Indian cries when the ball hit Sachin Tendulkar’s chest, but none even stops to think about the bullets hitting our soldiers’ chests. We call out the Army every time the Indian Police Force fails, but all the promotions and pay is given to them and the Army is forgotten, especially during the pay commissions. We remember the Army only when a calamity strikes us or when a child falls into a bore well and forget about them immediately. Our Parliament passes bills to ensure better pension benefits for all its MPs – whether they did anything or not; whether they attended the sessions or not: but the same Government does not want to implement the One Rank One Pension scheme for its Soldiers. Now show me our patriotism other than during the cricket matches????
This weekend we went to watch baseball game at the Rogers Centre, Toronto between the Toronto Blue Jays and the Tampa Bay Rays. The Rogers Centre is the home-ground of the Blue Jays. The atmosphere was as electric as the cricket matches of the Indian Premier League.
The stadium was fully wheel-chair accessible and there were ramps made so as to facilitate the wheel-chair bound fans to enjoy the game. Even the latest stadium in Pune is not wheel chair accessible, so forget about the rest. The fans at the Rogers Centre fanned across all ages – children, teens, youth, seniors. One event during the two minute interval between the first innings really stood out.
A sixty year old Veteran from the Canadian Army who was a Captain and had served in many UN assignments was called on to the centre and the Team Management of the Blue Jays presented him with a team shirt with his name printed at the back and with the team captain’s signature in the front. The entire stadium stood up to give the veteran a standing ovation – no one instructed anyone to do it, but was spontaneous. This is what is called patriotism.
Our son then said that during all the matches, a veteran from the armed forces or the police forces, who is a registered fan of the Blue Jays, is honoured this way.
Can we ever expect such a gesture at Mohali from the Kings XI Punjab or at Chennai from the Chennai Super Kings? Why one veteran, we can always honour a dozen at every match.
Will this ever happen in any Indian city? Will this remain a distant dream?
With its incredible power and beauty, Niagara Falls stands out as one of the natural wonders of the world. It should be visited at least once before you die. Located on the Niagara River, at the Canada-US International Boundary, Niagara Falls is comprised of three gorgeous waterfalls – the huge Horseshoe Falls that are situated in Canada, the American Falls which are just across the border in America and the Bridal Veil Falls.
The Niagara Falls is a sight to behold for all your senses. The thundering roar of the falls mixes with the sight of the water and rising mist, and the smell of the fresh, crisp air cooled by the torrent of water relentlessly spilling over the edge of the falls.
Niagara Falls is the second largest falls in the world based on the width. More than 6 million cubic feet of water falls over the crest line every minute in high flow. The waters in the river are owned partly by Canada and partly by the USA. The international border runs through the middle of the river. The verdant green colour of the water flowing over the Niagara Falls is a byproduct of the estimated 60 tonnes/minute of dissolved salts and rock flour (very finely ground rock) generated by the erosive force of the Niagara River itself.
Everyone visiting us always visit Niagara and having been there umpteen times, I have become an expert tourist guide and can take you through a thrilling experience at Niagara. Once I took acclaimed Malayalam music director Sharreth and his team of musicians to Niagara. When everyone went for a boat cruise to the falls, Sharreth stayed back and I did not know how to spend the next hour as I had no clue about music and had nothing much to discuss with him. So we strolled along the falls and suddenly I asked Sharreth to sing some Raga with the sound of the falling waters as a backdrop. A Raga uses a series of five or more musical notes upon which a melody is constructed. He stopped, paused for a few minutes and said he got a Raga and he started singing it and I captured it using his cell phone. I handed over his cell phone and said you must be the first musician to sing a Raga like this and hence must treasure it.
A few years back we came to know that General Jambusarwalla and Mrs Hufreez Jambusarwalla were coming to the Niagara Falls, US side and we all decided to meet them there as they did not have a Canadian Visa. Our children were very excited to meet him as they had heard many an anecdotes and references about a great human being and a military leader from their dad. The General kept insisting that we should not undertake such an effort, but the decision had been made and we decided to comply with it.
On that day we drove from home, crossed the Canada-US border and reached the hotel where the couple were to check-in. We received them there, and on meeting us, the General said “What better can a retired General from the Indian Army ask for at the Niagara Falls than a General Salute from a Colonel and family”. We then had dinner, spoke for about two hours, and we drove back home at midnight. The children were overwhelmed by the couple’s warmth and love and were really impressed.
While driving back, our son Nikhil said that the General was so down-to-earth and that he did not fit into the frame of a General which he had in mind. He was expecting a rigid, tall and a perfect military figure from what he had heard about him, but what he experienced was a simple human being full of energy, wit and humour, who came down to a kid’s level to converse with him. Nikhil summed up his final opinion with a statement – He is very “Napoleonic”.
“Great things in your life will mostly come in short packets. One got to look for them, identify them, explore them, imbibe them and learn from them” was my reply.
It was indeed a great honour for me to have had General Jambusarwalla gracing the occasion of release of my book in Bangaluru in March 2017.
Prior to the Second World War the Indian Army encouraged shikar (hunting) as a way to develop stalking and shooting skills, although this activity was controlled by game laws. When Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru became Prime Minister, his love for wildlife and nature caused the brakes to be applied, gently, to illegal hunting and cutting of trees. The Indian Wildlife Act was passed in 1972 and brakes applied strenuously. It was during this period that the military became increasingly conscious of their role in wildlife protection. All Cantonments became environmental friendly – banning use of plastic bags, tree plantation drive, water conservation, rain harvesting, etc.
There are many instances of Indian Army men saving wild life. Raising the bar on dedication towards the nation, the Indian Army personnel of Tenga Garrison in Arunachal Pradesh ‘literally’ went out of their way and rescued a bear cub from the clutches of poachers. A group of elephants were crossing the area when the young elephant fell into the water tank and got stuck near Silliguri in West Bengal. Soldiers rescued the elephant using a bulldozer. The three-year-old elephant was only able to clamber out of the sunken pit when the dozer destroyed some of the tank’s surrounding wall.
During our Sikkim Tenure, we were located at about 10,000 feet above sea level near an Alpine Sanctuary. The region holds some of the most beautiful oak, rhododendron, and coniferous forests and alpine meadows. Leopard cats, black bears, and the endangered musk deer are found here, in addition to many rare high-altitude birds.
In this area we wore our woolen clothes throughout the year as the temperature would never go above 10 degrees Celsius and could come down to minus 30 degrees. Most of the time it was either snowing or raining and “dry” days were a few. Lightning strikes were rampant and we were advised not to carry anything metallic on us resulting in us never wearing our metallic articles of the uniforms. The terrain was treacherous, with narrow winding roads moving up the mountains. Driving on these roads was very risky, especially on snowy and foggy days.
We all lived without our families and officers would get together in the evenings at the Officers’ Mess for dinner. Most winter evenings we used to be visited by our friends – a family of bears – father, the mother and three cubs in tow. They exactly knew where the store room of the mess was and the Mess Havildar (Sergeant) would throw a bag of atta (wheat flour) at them when they came calling on. These bears would carry this bag of atta and disappear into the shrubs and would come over few days later when this stock finished.
These bears came as a gift to us being handed over to our regiment from the regiment we relieved. The Indian Army is very concerned about the “Wild Life” and about the role required to be played to ensure conservation. Colonel PK Ramachandran (now a retired Major General), our Commanding Officer, had passed strict orders that these bears were to be treated as “Guests of Honour” and were made as “comfortable” as we could. We all felt happy about our contribution in preserving the wild life and we felt happier that at least someone could live with his family at this altitude also.
There was no reported instance of these bears ever attacking any army person in the garrison. They all appeared to be friendly and were very calm. Sometimes these bears would stand up and pose for photographs as if they could recognise a camera. We were all aware of the grizzly bears in North America attacking humans causing grievous injury, even death. We educated all our troops about the behaviours of the bears and the “Dos” and “Don’ts” were briefed to all by the Commanding Officer.
Deforestation, poaching and human encroachment onto their living areas have forced these bears to move out of their natural habitats in search of food and water. During the winters in Sikkim, the upper reaches of the Great Himalayas are snow covered and these bears are forced to move to lower attitudes in search of food. In case they venture into human habitat they are sure to be chased away, hurt or sometimes even killed. Where else can they find a safe haven – with adequate protection, food and above all love in this inhospitable terrain – other than an Indian Army Camp!
One could either take arts or crafts as a non-elective subject from Grade 8 to 10 at Sainik School Amaravathinagar. Half the class joined either of the two based on their aptitude and inclination. Generally the well built boys went for the crafts as it involved a lot of planeing, chiseling and cutting. In our class we had PV Sumon, who had the thinnest frame of all, but wanted to enroll for the crafts class. The crafts teacher was a bit reluctant, but agreed to accept him into his fold on the sheer insistence of Sumon. At the end of it all, Sumon turned out to be best student from out batch in crafts. In the arts class, which I too had joined, had Mouli Marur as the best student who ultimately ended up as a designer and creative director with expertise in digital graphics and later a lecturer at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
The arts and crafts were taught to us by two simple, dedicated and hardworking teachers. They had no Masters degree to boast of, but their love for what they taught and whom they taught made them stand out in the crowd of teachers at the school.
Late Mr AK Rama Varma (AKR): The Royal Artist
Mr AKR hailed from the Kochi Royalty and the art was in his blood. He taught us how to use colours to express one’s imagination, how to design various posters, book covers, cards etc. Even though I was not good at them, but the seeds Mr AKR had sowed were harvested much later by me with the advent of computers. I became a bit of an expert in making PowerPoint presentations by using the best colour layouts, designing covers and cards etc.
Mr AKR was a Kathakali (classical dance of Kerala, India) dancer too and he essayed various characters from the Mahabharata with grandeur during various cultural shows staged in the school. He also doubled up as our swimming instructor and everyone remembers him mostly for the role he did as a drowning victim for Mr CM Nair’s life saving demonstrations at the swimming pool.
How can anyone in our class ever forget the beautiful and confident Vanaja Varma, the daughter of Mr AKR. Vanaja, a year junior and she holds the honour of being the first girl most of our classmates ever interacted with. Even to this date many of us have a special place for her in our hearts.
Mr KS Krishnan Kutty (KSK) : Man for All Seasons
Mr KSK spend most of his time, many days until midnight, in his crafts section, completing many projects he had undertaken in addition to his teaching. His wife Ms Valsala and children always complained that he was never home, that high was his level of commitment and dedication. He had to be there everywhere, to make a set for the drama to be staged, to make any model for any other department, to repair the school furniture, to make various boards etc.
He was an excellent crafts teacher who could make his students visualise their own woodwork projects, design them and execute them. Anyone could walk into the crafts section and ask for any assistance at any time and he would smilingly oblige.
He was the school hockey coach and was also assisting with the canoeing club. He designed and fabricated about a dozen canoes with locally available material at a very minimal cost and these canoes became the showpiece of the canoeing club.
Mr KSK must be the only crafts teacher in India to be bestowed with the President’s Best Teacher Award. It was given for his dedication to duty and his ability to inculcate good values in his students. We had the honour of hosting Mr KSK and Ms Valsala when they came to Delhi to receive the President’s award. Mr KSK was a loving father and his two sons studied in our school and the younger son Colonel Sareesh is today an Air Defence officer.
I would be failing in my duty if I do not mention about Ms Valsala. She was an energetic, well mannered and active lady who always carried herself with poise. She was an athletic champion in her school days and after marriage moved to Amaravathinagar from Kerala. When the school wanted to start a Kindergarten for the children in the area the then Principal did not even think twice before handing over the responsibility to her, even though there were many other graduate ladies in the school campus. With Mr KSK’s support, the Kindergarten became well known and students started to enroll from far away villages.
Today the couple has settled down in their native village near Kochi, Kerala after Mr KSK’s retirement from school.
Your dedication and hard work will always enable you to achieve your goals.
While commanding the unit in Devlali in 2002, Colonel Azad Sameer the Colonel General Staff with our Divisional Headquarters visited us. After the discussions in my office, as I was leaving for lunch at the Officers’ Mess, Captian Mitra, our Adjutant (staff officer who assists the Commanding Officer and is in charge of all organisation, administration and discipline of a unit) came to my office and asked me “Sir, have you invited Colonel Sameer for the dinner at the Dhaba? Do I need to prepare an invitation card for the dinner?” (Dhaba is a roadside restaurant mostly frequented by the passing truck drivers.) I replied, “Send him an invitation card card for the evening cocktails at our Officers’ Mess.”
Colonel Sameer is a great thinker and we had many discussions varying from military subjects to parenting and also our outlook towards religion and politics. We both believed in our God, and did not believe in wearing our God on our sleeves or placing the images of our God in our vehicles in that many in the army never realised that Colonel Sameer was a Muslim and I a Christian.
Handing over the invitation card to Colonel Sameer I said “Sir, you are invited for a cocktails at our Officers’ Mess at 7 PM. It will be followed by a dinner at the local Dhaba.” From the facial expressions and body language of Colonel Sameer, it was evident that he did not like the idea of the dinner at a Dhaba. Being a thorough gentleman, did not utter a word and accepted the invitation.
During many tactical discussions and exercises we had, I had the opportunity of accompanying Colonel Sameer. He was a ever smiling, soft spoken soldier who easily passed off as a young Lieutenant. After preparations for the next day, in the evening we visited the bar at the Officers’ Mess. He ordered his favourite Old Monk Rum and I a peg of Teachers Whiskey. The barman assuming that Colonel Sameer to be a young officer, served me first. At last I had to request him “Sir, whenever we are together, we both will always move around in our uniforms.“
After the cocktails at the Officers’ Mess, the vehicles lined up and all officers with their ladies and children got into them. I drove Colonel Sameer and we headed towards Nashik with neither speaking a word for the next fifteen minutes until we entered the Taj Hotel. That was when Colonel Sameer asked, “So this is your Dhaba.” Captain Mitra explained “Dhaba is the code word for such dinners and our officers and their families know what it meant.”
Colonel Sameer always approached a military problem with an open mind in a logical manner and I was associated with him in proposing many concepts and theories.
One such discussion on the effectiveness of a type of ammunition resulted in a probability theory we proposed to assess the terminal effect of that ammunition. After a few discussions we put the entire theory on a PowerPoint slide and explained it to all the officers and was accepted as the most probable result of employing that ammunition.
Five years passed by, and Brigadier Sameer was an Instructor at the prestigious Staff College and there was a presentation by the commander of the formation where we had proposed our theory. The very same slide we had prepared five years ago was flashed – behold – there was no change in it – even the colours remained the same.
May be someone is still flashing the same slide even now.
Feroze Gandhi is a Parsi (not a Muslim as some claim), a politician and a journalist who served as the publisher of the National Herald and the Navjivan newspapers from Lucknow. His father was not any Khan, but Faredoon Jehangir from Bombay.
In 1930, Feroze met Kamala Nehru and Indira among the women demonstrators picketing outside Ewing Christian College, Allahabad. Kamala fainted with the heat of the sun and Feroze went to comfort her. The next day, he abandoned his studies to join the Indian independence movement. He was imprisoned in the same year, along with Lal Bahadur Shastri and lodged in Faizabad Jail for nineteen months.
Feroze first proposed to Indira in 1933, but she and her mother rejected it, saying that she was too young, only 16. He grew close to the Nehru family, especially to Indira’s mother Kamala Nehru, helping arrange her trip to Europe when her condition worsened in April 1935, and visiting her at the TB sanitarium in Europe, where he was at her bedside when she died. Kamala Nehru was so impressed by the conduct of Feroze that on her death-bed, she insisted on Indira marrying Feroze. In the following years, Indira and Feroze grew closer to each other and they married in March 1942 according to Hindu rituals.
The saree that Indira wore for the marriage was a khadi sari that Nehru wove and is pink, not red. It was worn by Indira on her wedding day, then by Sonia on her wedding day in 1968, and then by Priyanka too when she got married in 1996. Red is generally the bridal colour in India and the Gandhis to choose the more low- key pink and leave the fiery red, a symbol of simplicity and tradition.
Feroze Gandhi won independent India’s first general elections in 1952, from Rae Bareli constituency in Uttar Pradesh. Indira came down from Delhi and worked as his campaign organizer. Feroze soon became a prominent force in his own right, criticizing the government of his father-in-law and beginning a fight against corruption. In 1957, he was re-elected from Rae Bareli. In the parliament in 1958, he raised the Haridas Mundhra scandal involving the government controlled LIC insurance company. This was a huge embarrassment to the clean image of Nehru’s government and eventually led to the resignation of the Finance Minister TT Krishnamachari.
This story was narrated to me by Ms Bimla Behn, who used to be the hostess of Teen-Murthy Bhawan when Nehru was the PM. Further I had spoken to Mr Sharma, the caretaker of Teen-Murthi Bhawan from Nehru’s days. Our unit was responsible for VVIP security when Mrs Gandhi’s body was lying in state in Teen-Murthy Bhawan for viewing, during the first week of November 1984, after her assassination on 31 October and there I met Bimla Behn and Sharma.
They further spoke to me in detail about the relationship between Nehru, Feroze and Indira and the role played by MO Mathai who was Nehru’s secretary. The rise of Mathai (a typical Syrian Christian like me, from the Central Travancore) from being a helper to the cook of Teen-Murthy Bhawan to be the PM’s secretary is another volume.
The aspect that Feroze and Indira lived separately after the birth of Sanjay is somewhat correct as by that time Mathai had succeeded in driving a wedge between Nehru and Feroze. Feroze was part of the fiery young Turks with Chandrasekhar (later PM) and Mohan Dharia and they opposed a lot of Nehru’s policies in the Parliament and party forums. So Feroze avoided any contact with Nehru, but used to enter the Teen-Murthy Bhawan from the Right Flank and go upstairs where Indira lived. This was narrated by Bimla Behn.
Bimla Behn further said that after the death of Nehru, Indira was appointed the communication minster in the Shastri’s cabinet. In those days she always suffered from common cold and a runny nose. If you observe the photographs of those years, one can always see Indira clutching a kerchief in her hand. That was when Indira came in contact with Dhirendra Brahmachari who advised yoga as a cure for her runny nose. She practiced yoga regularly and was rid of the problem.
Regarding the death of Sanjay, I had interacted with the President of the Delhi Flying Club in 1984 – (he was related to one of our unit officer). The aircraft was imported as CKD (Complete Knock-Down) kit and it came in boxes. A week before the fateful day, Sanjay ordered the President of the Flying Club to get the plane assembled. After assembly, even though it was not test-flown and certified by DGCA, Sanjay insisted on flying it. Some mal-function resulted in the accident and Sanjay Gandhi died instantly from head wounds from the air crash on 23 June 1980 near Safdarjung Airport.
So please do not get carried away by any propaganda taking rounds in the social media.
A Ballad composed by Nikhil as part of Grade 10 English curriculum. Based on the North African Campaign of World War II.
The third hunter Monty he comes from the East
He has finally defeated the beast
Unaccustomed to desert sands and rocks
He has now whipped the desert fox
The desert fox he tests the king’s patience
He leads the king’s hunters a merry dance
Moving swift across deserts running tall
He had best fear Monty or face his downfall
The first hunter let the fox come to him
He waited with patience, his outlook grim
The fox in a flurry of speed and dash
Attacked the hunter in a move considered rash
The fox had beat hunter the first
But underestimated the hunter’s king’s thirst
So the king sent in bold hunter the second
The sands of the desert with blood would now redden
The desert fox he tests the king’s patience
He leads the king’s hunters a merry dance
Moving swift across deserts running tall
He had best fear Monty or face his downfall
The second hunter set traps and snare
The fox would die if an attack he dare
Though when the fox came the traps did fail
The second hunter oh did he go pale
The king’s patience was now truly wearing thin
He removed the second hunter for defeat is a sin
He then sent a hunter he long hated
His relation with the king quite complicated
The desert fox he tests the king’s patience
He leads the king’s hunters a merry dance
Moving swift across deserts running tall
He had best fear Monty or face his downfall
The third hunter not as dashing as his prey
He chose a position well sited in which to stay
He held his ground well near the sea
He gathered around him a vast hunter army
Once he gathered more hunters than needed
He attacked the weary fox who retreated
All we shocked that fox had lost
Then all were shocked at the cost
Several hunters maimed and so much expense
So many tools broken it makes no more sense
It makes one wonder who was the better
The defeated fox or his bankrupt hunters
The desert fox he tested the king’s patience
He lead the king’s hunters a merry dance
Once moving swift across deserts running tall
He should have feared Monty his final downfall
Have you ever tried to find an answer to this question? How come that we are forced to pay bribes or approach a middle-man to get our basic government documents like a driving license or passport made? How come in Canada or US one does not have to pay a bribe for such documentation? How come these basic documents are provided to you with one visit to the office concerned in Canada or US? Why is that despite having all the necessary documents and qualifications, you still have to make many a rounds to the offices to get the job done?
Our political/ social/ religious leaders always blame it on the enormity of Indian population. Anyone with knowledge of automated computerised systems knows that if one person’s documents can be done, then a million of such documents can also be done. It appears that no one wants to correct the system. The politician fears the loss of his vote bank and all other leaders fear the loss of money the corrupt system brings.
What makes the officials corrupt? The salary the government officials receive anywhere in the world is pretty high compared to the common-man’s standard of living in that country. Salaries (and pension) paid are adequate enough to maintain a decent standard of living for a family and does cater for all the basic essentials of food, housing, education etc. Then why is the greed or need for the extra money?
Let us examine a person’s life in both India and North America and analyse as to what are the causes for less corruption in North America.
A child goes to school and that’s where they are trained to be valuable citizens. Most important role in this training is played by the teachers in developing the mind-set of these children and they imbibe good values from them. The teachers’ selection and appointment in North America has its own high standards where as in India we are all well aware of the hefty bribes paid to get the post. In most of the private schools, mostly run by the religious institutions, they sign for a monthly salary of few thousands and take home actually a fourth of it. Here merit and teaching ability are of least concern and only their paying capacity is considered. How can you ever expect such teachers to develop a good value system in their students?
In North American society, children after their high-school education tend to look after themselves and graduate by taking loans and/or doing part-time jobs. In India, parents cater for all these needs and it continues even after their children marry. Donation/ capitation fees/ normal fees for medical and engineering graduation are pretty high in India and everyone wants their children to be either an engineer or a doctor. When I retired after 25 years of service in 2004, my total pension emoluments was about Rs 30 Lakh (3 Million) and that was the amount needed in case our daughter was to take up medical education in a private medical college at that time anywhere in India. This clearly shows that most of the parents of such students have resorted to some illegal method of getting extra money, either by corrupt practices while serving or have evaded taxes and duties while selling their properties by under-valuation etc. Everyone connected with these professional education institutions – the political leadership, the administration, the courts etc are all well aware of this reality.
Why can’t it be made mandatory for all those parents seeking admissions for their children in these medical and engineering colleges to prove their sources of income? It will never come through as most of these institutions are owned by either the political leaders or by religious groups. Neither the politician nor the God can be made uncomfortable by passing such laws. The politicians do not want to mess up with their vote banks and never antagonise the Gods.
After graduation, everyone looks to get a government job and there too a lot of money changes hand in many places. In some cases it is either recommendation or money and in many cases it’s the merit. Where is this money coming from and where is it being used? Could be to pay for someone’s medical or engineering admission and the cycle continues. The only way out is to make the selection and appointment of all government post as transparent as possible. Only problem is that the looser is still either the politician or the God. So that can never be expected.
Now comes the costliest of all events – marriage. In North America, the bride and the groom have to arrange for their marriage expenses and sometimes parents chip in. The amount of money the bride’s parents in India spend is well known, may be to make up for the money spent on the groom’s education, may be to finance the groom’s higher education, may be to finance the education of the groom’s siblings – possibilities are endless. Still the money gets back into the same system and the cycle continues. Legislation and enforcement can control this menace to a limited scale only. Despite enactment of the Anti-Dowry laws, ill gotten money still changes hands and the Gods also seem to be enjoying it.
Next comes housing – everyone seem to be building houses bigger than their neighbour’s. It is never based on family needs, but in many cases only as a status symbol to show-off one’s mostly ill-gotten wealth. In North America, old parents down-size and move to smaller homes, or to a gated community, or to an old age home once their children move out for education or jobs. In India it is always up-sizing, even when one is on his death bed. Only social awareness can eliminate this problem.
Now comes the ultimate – to get even with the Gods who has to forgive and remit all sins in getting this wealth. Huge offerings are made in the God’s houses to please Him. Most of the offerings are of no use to humanity like golden crowns, golden crosses studded with diamonds, chariots, elephants and even one’s hair. It is not understood as to which God is going to be pleased with these offerings. In North America, most old people donate all their wealth or part of it to charities, which could help the humanity and may be the Gods will always be better pleased with them.
The rape of a first class student in school premises on July 17, 2014 in Bangalore added one more to the long list of child abuse cases, many of which remains unnoticed. It has brought back light on one of the worst perils that our country is facing today – child sexual abuse. It is a pity that most of such abusers are either close relatives or teachers of the children. In this case too, it was the physical education teacher. Most Principals let loose these physical education teachers (goons) on to the children to ‘discipline’ them, especially during assemblies or sports or cultural events. These teachers mostly end up misusing the ‘authority’ vested in them by the Principal and in many cases resulting into physical, sexual and mental abuse to the children. Majority of such physical education teachers have no qualification to be one.
Joshi Philip, our family friend, invited me to attend the prize distribution ceremony at their daughter’s primary school. Ann Maria, their daughter, a Grade 2 student, that day had the annual prize distribution ceremony at the end of the academic year. I accompanied Joshi to the school and at the reception we signed-in and were given a round yellow sticker which said “A Proud Parent”. I stuck it above my shirt’s pocket, close to my heart, as anyone will feel proud of it rather than hanging a visitor badge around the neck.
We entered the gymnasium where the award ceremony was to take place. Every primary school here has at least two such gymnasiums and we used to boast about the one we had at the National Defence Academy. We did not have one in the Sainik School. The gymnasium is a hardwood floored hall which serves as a basket ball court, assembly area, an auditorium and a lunch room or a cafeteria. At the end of the gymnasium was a stage where all the award winners were seated. The students marched in class wise with their teachers leading them and the students sat on the wooden floor while the teachers occupied their positions at the end near the wall. As expected of little children from Kindergarten to Grade2, they were talking and then the Principal appeared on the stage and raised her right arm. All children became silent and she said “eyes and ears towards me please” and introduced the two Masters of the Ceremony (MC) who were Grade 5 students.
The prize distribution ceremony went on beginning with the Kindergarten and any time when the children became noisy, the Principal would appear with her right hand raised and everyone became silent. During the entire proceedings not even a single teacher moved from their positions. At the end of the ceremony the Principal came on stage to thank everyone and to congratulate the prize winners and at the end wanted the children to do their usual “Silent Cheer”. I had no clue what it was. It was all the body and face expression of a cheer but done without a sound and was impressive and unique.
On leaving the school I realised that the self-discipline inculcated in these children will make them better citizens of the country and they do not need any “policing” to implement any laws or regulations.
Looking back to my Sainik School days, we mostly had the Principal and the Headmaster from the Education branches of the three services, and most of them one felt were the least ‘educated’. This was further reconfirmed during my training at the Academies and service tenures. Most of the Education Corps officers are masters in some discipline or the other and today we have many officers from the Arms and Services holding masters degree by virtue of undergoing the Staff College or the Long Gunnery or the Engineering degree courses. Some even hold Doctorates too. Academically these officers are many times better than their Education Corps counterparts.
Then why post such officers to the Military/Sainik Schools? Many of them behave no better than the physical education teachers of the Bangalore incident. Most are incapable of moulding and motivating the students to join the defence services and are pretty ordinary in teaching. Any officer in the Indian Army can conduct a better class than these Education officers. The only qualification these Education officers boast of is their Bachelor of Education (B Ed) degree. Most of the Haviladrs (Sergeants) who have attended any courses of instruction in various military training establishments (where they are luckily not trained by the Education officers) will beat them hollow in the art of teaching. Then why not even do away with the Education Corps, considering the education standards of the present recruits into the army.
Most of you must have followed the unfortunate shooting of some Sikhs in a Gurudwara in USA on 05 August 2012. What was most striking about the episode was the conduct of the Sikh community in USA. They conducted themselves with dignity and honour. Their conduct has shamed many Americans. I had read many American papers and watched the TV coverage of the date. All communities including Christians, Muslims, Jews etc not only condemned the killings but came out openly in support of a very mature and religious community. Even the mother of the assailant was apologizing to the Sikhs openly.
In all this tragedy the conduct of our Sikh friends had been exemplary. Not one angry word, no burning of buses, no abuse, and no vulgar display of sorrow. Listening to the family members of the victims was so satisfying. No whining. I felt proud of being an Indian in sharing their sorrow.
In North America you do not protest by burning buses, abuses, vulgar display of sorrow, etc because they are all criminal offence as also the case in India. Here legal action would be initiated in case of such incidence and the court would take serious view of it, sometimes based on media video footage. Once your name is in the offenders list, finding a job, a house, a car etc would become difficult as everything is connected to your Social Security Number. May be with Aadhar, in India also things will change.
A few years back, in a protest by thousands of members of Toronto’s Thamizh community, blocked and shut down the Gardiner Expressway for five hours. They were demanding the Canadian government to impose sanctions on Sri Lanka in wake of the civil war. This mode of protest was condemned by everyone in Canada. This protest took away any sympathies the Srilankan Thamizh people had in the minds of any Canadian.
US President Barak Obama insisted that American flags in the capital and at all government buildings throughout the nation be flown at half-mast in honour of the victims of the Gurudwara massacre. May be a token gesture some may claim, will not bring back the dead or justice may not done etc.
Recently there was carnage in Assam and did the Nation ever mourn the dead or fly the National Flags at half-mast? Some sceptics may say that in that case the national flag will mostly remain at half-mast. Is it that we have become so insensitive to such happenings?
In Kerala we saw the protests by a political party when a district level leader was arrested. We saw how the state was held to ransom by a handful of misguided elements. The damage to public property was huge so was the inconvenience to the public in general. May be its true that in a Democracy we get what we deserve and not what we desire.
We need to learn from the way the US as a nation mourned the death of its citizens and how the media and the public reacted to the massacre. The media did not show the deployment of the police forces in and around the Gurudwara so that the attacker(s) if any left would not make use of it. Compare it with what happened in Mumbai (26/11) and also the media frenzy during the recent Assam carnage which may have contributed to worsening the situation. The US media did not show any dead-bodies or dear and near ones of those killed wailing, thereby reducing the pressure on others. Even though there is no media censorship or guidelines, responsible reporting is done by the media. In India, the whole incident would have been sensationalised by the irresponsible media, as was the case in Assam, resulting in worsening the crisis.
Morning and evening family prayer has been a ritual followed in our family as far as I can recollect. Our father led the prayer real loud (could be because he was a Headmaster and our grandfather who was also a Headmaster, prayed much louder) and we all followed suit. As a child I never understood the meaning of whatever I said during the prayers and also what was the intention of such an act. I always perceived it as a punishment our father meted out to all his children for our unruly behaviour. I actually realised the value and importance of it only after I joined the Indian Army. (Please CLICK HERE read my blog on Soldier Gods)
The family evening prayer used to begin at 9 PM with our mother singing a hymn followed by one of us children reading a passage from the bible. The prayer commenced after that and it used to last about five minutes. At the end of it everyone was expected to observe a minute or two of silent prayer. I never knew what to pray for most times, but I also sat silently. During the lent, we had special prayers and the agony extended by another five more minutes.
With advent of Television beaming out many tear jerking serials, our parents by then retired from teaching, also got addicted to many of them. In Kerala due to power shortage we have half an hour power-cut on weekdays in the evening. The timing of the power-cut used to change every month and now the evening prayer time was dictated by the power-cut, as that was the time our parents could not watch any serial.
The morning prayers were a nightmare for me as our father woke us all up by 5:30 AM and he commenced the prayer with us in chorus. I always felt that the morning prayers were much longer than the evening prayers. After the prayers, we had to brush our teeth and get cracking with the household chores. Our father distributed each one of us a task and later our eldest brother when he turned a teen took over the responsibility. By that time our father went to milk the cows and clean up the cowshed.
My main chore when I came on vacation was to draw water out of the well in the courtyard using the pulley-rope-bucket system. In those days we did not have the pumping facility. This was the toughest chore among all and as I was away most of the year at school, my brothers wanted a relief and I did not mind it. Drawing of water began by 6 AM and ended only by 9 AM as water was needed for drinking, cooking, bathing, washing and also for the animals in the shed. Last requirement of water was for my mother to bathe before setting out to the school and by that time everyone else left home for their schools/ university. This water drawing chore continued till I turned a teen as by that time a pump set was installed with pipes to distribute water to the kitchen, bathrooms and to the cowshed. During our last visit home, I wanted to show our son the pulley-rope-bucket system, but I could not find it anywhere.
Behind our house lived Vasu and Chellamma with their two daughters and son. Vasu was a daily wage earning farm hand and Chellamma made a living out of rearing cows and goats and selling milk to the neighbourhood. One day Shankara Panikkan (Please read my blog on Shankara Panickan by CLICKING HERE) died at about 5 AM. We all went to Panikkan’s home to console the family. By about 7 AM Chellamma came running to Panikkan’s home saying that she did not wake up early in the morning as George Sir (our father) did not pray that morning as we all were at Panikkan’s home.
That was when we realised that the loud morning prayers at our home also served as a wake-up call for the neighbourhood (It would have surely woken up the God Almighty too.)
After the Nirbhaya rape case most people of India were outraged and triggered protests demanding tougher laws to punish rapists. The parliament quickly passed the necessary laws, but mere bringing in of legislative changes will not likely to have an impact on the social causes of such incidents.
As recommended by Justice Verma Committee, the executive, the legislature as well as the judiciary -all must respect women’s rights and must treat them in a non-discriminatory manner. In India, sexism begins at conception with parents’ preference for male children, especially if their first child was a girl. Girls suffer for the sake of their brothers. Boys tend to get more food, a better education, and more of the family estate. This has resulted in a skewed male to female ratio – Kerala having 1000 males to 1084 females the best and Delhi having 1000 males to 866 females the worst – among all Indian states as per 2011 census. So the reasons for such actions by Delhi men are obivious.
To compound the matters, we have our political leaders, rather than condemning such atrocities against women, make immature and uncalled for statements, supporting the miscreants. We have religious and spiritual leaders who exploit women and commit rape on their submissive devotes, and some even do not spare young boys.
The Indian society does not allow communication and inter-mingling of both sexes even in schools and at religious places. The boys and girls even in many co-educational schools are made to sit separately. In places of worship they are segregated and some religions do not believe in allowing the females into their places of worship. Even in North America, many places of worship of people of Indian origin follow this very strictly – as if to protect their cultural values. If these people have their way, they will never hesitate to pull a curtain to separate the sexes. Even in front of the Gods, the sexes are not treated equally. The godmen and their cronies ensure this.
Due to this segregation, many young boys conceive that a mere touch or a caress or a pinch or a poke would give them immense pleasure (mental orgasms). The pity is that some grownup men also feel the same, despite being married with children. This has resulted in the kind of ‘street harassment’ of women in India receive and the terror women face when commuting between their homes and their universities or jobs, threatening women for daring to leave their private spheres. Its a form of control over women’s ambitions and lives and such a culture is widespread and gets encouragement with tacit approval by the religions. This gives men permission to use women as the target for any excess anger or frustrations they might have.
In cities like Mumbai and Bangaluru, where boys and girls study, work, play and commute together, the incidents of ‘street harassment’ and incidence of terrorising women are the least. In the developed nations, there exist police forces which will swing into action the moment any such incidences are reported. There are systems in place to provide social support, shelter, counseling and care for the victim. India needs to develop such social security infrastructure to ensure that the women are safe on the streets or any public place.
India has a long history of treating women as property. Sati, an extinct tradition of wives being burned alive on their husbands’ funeral pyres and dowry killings are a few examples. All these because the women are not treated equally in the society.
The offerings from the temples or the Holy Communion are given first to men and then to the women. In the Syrian Orthodox Churches, prior to giving the communion, the priest says “…വിശ്വാസികളായ ദാസീ ദാസന്മാർക്ക് നൽകപ്പെടുന്നു (…visvasikalaya dasee dasanmarkku nalkappedunnu)” (being given to female and male devotees) and gives the holy communion first to all the male devotees.
Some political leaders and holy men are blaming the recent Delhi rape on women not wearing overcoats or sarees, women riding the bus, women using mobile phones, women wearing skirts, women going out with men who are not relatives, co-educational schools, moral character, being out late, fast food, the poison of western culture, and the stars being in adverse positions – the list goes on and on..
The only Indian society that treats women with respect is the Armed Forces. The General or any senior officer will always rise from their seats to receive a lady walking in – the lady may be a Sepoy’s wife of a Lieutenant’s wife. The only place in India where the ladies are served first – whether at formal or informal or at-home functions – is in the armed forces. Even in the military’s religious places of worship, women are offered ‘prasad’ or holy communion first. Officer on duty or the Captain of the Indian Navy ships will salute all ladies entering or leaving the ship irrespective of their social or military hierarchy. The ladies are always respected at home and outside by the defence service personal and the sexual discrimination is minimal in this society. That may be reason why we have defence service officers’ daughters performing extremely well in the society like Moushumi Chatterji, Sushmita Sen, Preity Zinta, Anushka Sharma, Celina Jaitly (Bollywood), Revathy (Malayalam/Thamizh Film), Renuka Chowdhary (Member of Parliament) – the list is endless.
In many Indian homes, women are expected to remain indoors and are never permitted to participate in any discussions or decision making process at home. They hardly have any say in their lives, their marriage, their education and their careers. Every aspect of the woman’s life is dictated by the males.
Sexual harassment of women – especially children (both boys and girls)– in Indian homes is well known. Many are afraid to even tell their mothers about the harassment they were subjected to, fearing social rebuttal. Many families hide such incidents fearing that no prospective groom will ever turn up for their daughter. To further complicate the situation, its a well known fact that the perpetrators of such sexual harassment are close relatives of the victim. There is an urgent need to educate children about sexual harassment and the steps to be taken to avoid it and actions to be taken in case one is subjected to it.
It must be made legally binding on school teachers, medical professionals and others who interact with the children to report cases of sexual abuse. Suppressing or hiding such facts must be made a criminal offence as is prevalent in many developed countries like Canada and US. The police must be mandated to register an FIR and the cases must be investigated as being recommended by the Justice Verma committee.
Until stricter laws are passed in the parliament, we will continue to hear of rape, sexual harassment and ill-treatment of women in India. Merely referring to India as “Bharat Mata (Mother India)” does not ensure respect to the women. The need of the hour is for a social and religious awakening to ensure equal status for women.
“In the struggle for survival, the fittest win out at the expense of their rivals because they succeed in adapting themselves best to their environment” so said Charles Darwin in his Theory of Evolution.
Our dog, Maximus Koduvath, turned six this year and I thought he had mellowed down a lot in comparison to his “puppy” days. He plays and runs around in the backyard and luckily does not dig up the lawn. He only digs up area not covered with the grass.
In the backyard of the house we have a kitchen garden where we grow vegetables in summer months. We grow them organically using the compost from the city’s recycling centre as manure. The children help me in collecting the compost and spreading it and are treated with a doughnut and coffee. Thanks to Colonel Balaji, an old classmate, both at Saink School and National Defence Academy, who has taken to farming in his native village in Thamizh Nadu after hanging up his boots, who advised me to spray a mixture of Neem Oil, liquid soap, chilli powder and turmeric powder on to the plants as a pesticide/fungicide. It has really improved the yield of the vegetables and the blooms on all the flowering plants in the front garden.
I had put up a 30 inch high wire mesh to separate the vegetable cultivation from the lawn. Many friends thought that it was to keep away the raccoons, skunks and rabbits (these are the common visitors to all Canadian home gardens). I would tell our friends that we live a stone’s throw away from the City Hall where our Mayor sits (our Mayor is a 93 year old iron lady, Ms Hazel McCallion, who presides over the city with total commitment and enthusiasm) and Ms Hazel has placed the area around the city centre as “out of bounds” for all animals.
Some enquired the reason for such a low fence and my theory, based on the equestrian training at the National Defence Academy, was that any animal, unlike humans, needs a running space to run and jump over any obstacle. Hence Maximus will not be in a position to jump across with the limited space in the lawn. In case he manages to jump across, he will not be able to get out and hence will never try again to jump in. The 30 inch height of the fence facilitated my easy entry and exit into the garden.
This year I decided to apply some bone-meal to all the vegetable plants to facilitate better yield. Maximus got attracted to the smell of the bones and he jumped across the fence and licked off some of the bone-meal after digging down. Now he could not extricate himself out of the fenced area as he did not have running space to execute a jump. He started to bark and I had to lift him over the fence. I shouted at Maximus for uprooting a few plants in his search for the bone-meal and as usual he retreated into his cage in the family room. Yes, my theory was well proved.
This drill of Maximus jumping over the fence and I extricating him out from there continued for three days and every time I got angry with him, he would retreat to his cage.
A few days later I saw Maximus in the vegetable garden and on seeing me, he came up to the fence and lifted his both front legs together over the fence and before they could land on the ground, he managed to lift off the rear legs and crossed over the fence with ease. The Darwin’s theory of evolution dawned on me and I realised that Maximus had adapted to the environment and my theory lay in the dust-bin.
Next year I need to raise the height of the fence and also build a gate there – another self-help project for the year ahead.
(Based on Chapter 10 of the Gospel According to St John) During our summer vacations while in school, we used to attend Vacation Bible School for 10 days. Every year the theme was based on one of the parables Jesus spoke. The theme for the summer after my Grade 6 was the ‘Good Shepherd’ parable as described in Chapter 10 of the Gospel According to St John.
At that young age of eleven, the parable had a great impact and over the years I must have read it umpteen times and every time I read it, I interpreted it differently. The variations in my interpretations were caused by the varied experience one had serving the Army and the difficult situations one faced. I can now confidently say that the interpretations ‘matured’ with each passing day and with the experiences I gained.
The entire interpretations given below are solely personal and have no theological or religious connotations. I have selected verses 1 to 5 and 11 to 14 and have purposely omitted verses 6 to 10. I have clubbed a few verses being interconnected.
Verse 1. Very truly I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. Verse 2. The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep.
The leader got to face the team he leads from the front. He got to face up to each member of the team and must avoid the tendency to ‘sneak in’ from the side or the back. This applies more in case the team is facing an adverse or difficult situation.
The leader got to be confident and this confidence is the resultant of professional knowledge and integrity. Any leader with good intentions will always be accepted and such leaders will always enter from the main door.
Verse 3. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
The team has to understand the voice of the leader and there by the leader’s intentions. The team will understand these only in case the leader is willing to communicate effectively with his team members.
Further, one has to know each member of the team and in case you know them well, you will always call them by their names. That could be the reason why in the armed forces everyone wears a name-tag. Earlier the Indian Railway staff and the State Transport staff used to wear their name-tags. In Canada, anyone who comes in personal contact with the customers is always seen wearing their name-tags. Who does not want to be addressed by their names than the “shoo – shooo” one often uses in the Indian Restaurants and public offices.
Leading from the front is the most important aspect of leadership. No one likes back-seat driving, even if the back-seat driver is the spouse or children.
Verse 4. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice.
The necessity for the leader to take the entire team together and lead them from the front is the essence of this verse. Here again the importance of the team knowing the leader is stressed.
Verse 5. But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.”
In case the leader fails to communicate well with his team and make his intentions clear, will become a stranger. The team will never accept a stranger and will never be confident to follow a stranger.
Verse 11. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. Verse 12. The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. Verse 13. The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.
The above three verses apply in literal sense to military leadership, where the call of duty takes one into life and death situations. This also applies to all leaders; the only difference could be that one does not have to lay down one’s life, but at times may have to pay for with his status, money etc.
Any leader who works for self-glorification and physical rewards is the hired hand. The famous saying that ‘in case you work you get more work else you get your pay‘ applies here. Such a person does not ‘own’ the team and is bothered more about his self-interest. They will be the first to sacrifice a team member in case something goes wrong. Often heard these ‘hired hands’ saying “I briefed him in detail about the task, but he goofed it up”. They never realise that their voices were not recognised by the team (sheep) as the briefing must have been ineffective or the leader did not know the ability of each team member (sheep) as to what they can deliver.
The hired hands will vanish from the scene when something goes wrong and will only surface to gobble up all the credit for the effort of the rudderless team to overcome the adverse situation.
Verse 14, I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me.
You got to know the team (sheep). You got to know every team member in depth. You got to know the strengths and weaknesses of each. A good leader who knows his team will always project the strengths of his team members while covering up their weaknesses.
Once the leader knows the team, the team will know their leader. In order to know the team, the leader got communicate, both formally and informally with the team members. Theses communications opens up the personality of the leader and based on it each team members makes an opinion or impression about the leader.
Everyone has to assume leadership sometime or the other; it may be at work, in your class, at home, during family or social events etc. Wishing all the leaders the grace of God to became a “Good Shepherd”.
This is the question everyone asks me when I call-up anyone back home in India. When I say I am enjoying my retired life, the immediate reaction has been “You just cannot sit idle and must be up to something.” Hence I decided to pen down all the activities I indulge in throughout the day.
Saying good-bye to the army was very difficult, especially since one enjoyed the best of times and it’s the Army which has made you what you are this day. One could not have asked for anything better from God and the system – otherwise from being a primary school teacher’s son, I would not have retired as a Colonel. All what I am today is the result of the education of Sainik School, NDA, IMA and various Military Institutions. In sheer physical terms – from a 22 kg nine year old boy to a 78 kg 42 year old – all credit must belong to the Indian Army. So it was a painful good-bye to the arms.
Looking back, thirteen years since I hung my boots, I have no regrets or complaints. God and the Army Headquarters (MS Branch) was always kind to me that I served 10 years in Delhi (even though I had no interest in Delhi;) five years on various courses and to top it, had only two years of High-Altitude postings. Again nothing to complain.
The army made me a computer aware man despite being a BA. It made me a leader and a man. I never ended up working in the Army – as I enjoyed every part of it. Thanks to God, all my colleagues, my superiors and mainly to the men who really made me feel proud.
The journey out of the uniform had been different to what many of you experienced as I took the evening flight to Canada, the day I handed over command. I jettisoned into a new and unknown world, where my wife and children were waiting. As promised, my wife had a nice, big home and a car waiting for me and as she was earning a good salary as a pharmacist. I had no pressures at all. My first step was to amalgamate with the Canadian society.
To my dismay, I found that all my perceptions of the Western world were totally misplaced. No racism, no shunning being a brown skin, and a very friendly lot of people who valued human aspects of life. I spent my first six months learning to speak English the way Canadians do and I found all the people whom I spoke to at the malls or coffee-shops or in the bus, very patient and friendly trying to make out what I was trying to communicate. These communications helped a lot and also corrections from our children got me into speaking Canadian-English.
After six months, I landed up with a job as a supervisor at a call-center and I enjoyed that too for a two year period until our children demanded that I be home when they were there. They did not want to live in an empty home. That’s it! I quit my job, to be a house husband. My wife who was doing a four-day week took to a five-day week as her 10 hours of extra work made up much more than what I earned in my 40 hour week and expenditure came down as I did not have to drive to work.
Having taken over as the house-husband, I felt I was busier than any time before as I woke up first, made tea for all, cooked breakfast, packed lunch and fresh-fruit-juice and dropped off the children to school and saw-off my wife to work. Then were the chores – washing dishes, laundry, vacuum cleaning the house, walking the dog (a very difficult aspect in Canada- especially in winters), preparing lunch, gardening, grocery and the list goes on. By afternoon, I picked up the children from school; some days in the evening when they had any after school activities like drama club, environmental club, debating club etc. Then was dropping them off to their extra-curricular activities by 5 PM – for swimming, tennis, golf, music, dance, or voluntary service at the community old-age home. Got everyone back to home by 6 or 7 PM and helped them with their assignments and study and then cooked dinner and we waited for Marina to return to enjoy a family dinner at 9 PM.
Now with both our children moving out of home to stay in Downtown Toronto, pursuing their job and university, my busy schedule came to a near end. That was when I found time to read more and write more. I took to photography as a new hobby as I realised I needed quality images for my blogs. I now get busy only on the weekends when children come home, normally preceded with a text message listing out all the groceries and other stuff they need.
The life has kept me busy and hence I presume in good health too. I never carried any baggage in my life. I never carried a brief-case to office as I did not believe in carrying office to home or vice-versa. I recall a conversation with an NCO who met me while on vacation last year who said “You are the only Commanding Officer I’ve seen coming to command a unit with four boxes and leaving with only two.“–
“Air-Canada only allows two pieces of baggage,” I replied.
Remembrance Day is observed in Canada and most of the Commonwealth nations, (barring some countries like India), on 11 Nov (11/11). At 11 minutes past 11 o’clock, all the buses and trains will stop, the fire engines will sound their sirens for a minute as a mark of respect to all the fallen soldiers. Remembrance Day (also known as Red Poppy Day,) is a memorial day observed since the end of World War I to remember the members of the armed forces who have died in the line of duty.
In India we remember our soldiers only at the time of war and forget them soon after. Our governments over the time have been unfair to the Armed forces and have brought down the status of the Army Chief after every war fought by the Indian Army – . After the 1947-1948 war, the service chiefs were made junior to the Judges of the Supreme Court. They were made junior to the Cabinet Secretary after the 1962 war and junior to the Attorney-General after the 1965 war. After the 1971 war, they were made junior to the Comptroller and Auditor-General.
The red poppy has become the emblem of Remembrance Day due to the poem In Flanders Fields by Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, a doctor of the Canadian Army during World War I. During the war, he was treating injured men – Canadians, British, Indians, French, and .Germans. The poem was written to vent the agony felt by McCrae after he had performed the funeral ceremony in the absence of the chaplain, for his young friend and former student, Lieutenant. Alexis Helmer caused by a bomb.
In the poem McCrae describes about the poppies that bloomed across some of the worst battlefields of Flanders in World War I, their brilliant red colour an appropriate symbol for the blood spilled in the war. The poem speaks of Flanders fields, but the subject is universal – the fear of the ones who sacrificed their ‘today’ for our ‘tomorrow’, that they will be forgotten, that their death would have been in vain. Remembrance, as symbolized by the Red Poppy, is our eternal answer which belies that fear.
An American teacher, Moina Michael, in November 1918, read McCrae’s poem “In Flanders Fields”. She immediately made a personal pledge to keep the faith and vowed always to wear a red poppy of Flanders Fields as a sign of remembrance and as an emblem for keeping the faith with all who died.
Two years later in 1920, during a visit to the United States, a French woman, Madame Guerin, learned of the custom. On her return to France, she decided to use handmade Poppies to raise money for the destitute children in war-torn areas of the country. Following the example of Madame Guerin, The Royal Canadian Legion officially adopted the Poppy as its Flower of Remembrance.
Thanks to the millions of Canadians who wear the Legion’s lapel Poppy each November, in memory of thousands of their countrymen who died in battles (except many who emigrated from the Indian sub-continent). During the Remembrance week, all the flags fly at half-mast; all the buses have “Lest We Forget” signboards, most of the shops, restaurants and malls display banners and posters to honour the soldiers and veterans.
On the Sunday of the Remembrance Week I attended the Holy Mass at the Canadian Catholic Church and the Orthodox Syrian Christian Church. In the Catholic Church anyone and everyone including the clergy, all were wearing the Red Poppy, whereas in the Syrian Christian Church none were wearing. You all can guess the reasons.
Mississauga, the city we reside, a notification at the Municipal Transport (MiWay) on Remembrance Day read as follows “The City of Mississauga’s MiWay Transit is offering free service for Canadian Forces veterans and a companion on Remembrance Day, Friday, November 11. To obtain a free ride on Remembrance Day veterans must wear their uniforms, medals or other items that clearly identify them as veterans to our transit operators. Veterans are respectfully asked to identify their companion to the transit operator so that he or she may also ride free. All MiWay buses will observe a minute of silence at 11 a.m. on November 11 to recognize the sacrifice made by our veterans. Transit operators will stop their buses during this tribute.”
One always passes by the veterans and cadets selling the Red Poppy in the malls, bus terminals, subway/railway stations, during the Remembrance Week. The money collected is used for veterans’ welfare by the government. The public support for the event is always overwhelming where ever they have Remembrance Day ceremonies. People turn up in large numbers. The media support is also tremendous. All news presenters, anchors, all wear the Red Poppy for the entire week. Have you seen any Indian news presenters or any media person ever wearing the Flag on the Flag Day (Indian equivalent of Red Poppy Day)?
Canadian Prime Minister and the entire cabinet, appear on any media, wearing the Red Poppy. In India, on the Flag Day, children pin the flags on our President and the Prime Minister and Chief Minister, and for the next event you see them without the flags on their chests.
So, next time you see someone selling the Red Poppies or Flags, please pause and buy one and pin it with pride on your chest, to pay respect to those fallen soldiers all over the world who ensured your honour and safety and made sure that you live a life full of dignity.
In North America, the Universities offer you graduation/ post-graduation programmes, whereas colleges offer you diplomas. In order to attract Indian students, the names of these diplomas are really impressive, but their value in many cases may not even be worth the paper on which the diploma certificate is printed.
Universities in Canada are independent, though they receive government funding. Each university is self-governing and regulates its own programmes, admissions and faculty. In these universities, tuition fees for international students are generally three to five times compared to domestic students. University of Toronto charges $15,900 in the first year for the domestic students for a Bachelor’s Degree in Commerce/Business Administration, whereas an international student got to pay $68,750.
Majority of Indian students on Student Visa to Canada study in the colleges. Many have sprung up recently to entice Indian students. In January 2022, three Montreal colleges were blacklisted and shut down abruptly, leaving around 2000 Indian students in the dark. Later reports uncovered severe financial irregularities and other illegal activities which led the Canadian government to revoke these schools’ licences. Canada has a long list of blacklisted educational institutions which students must avoid.
Do not Get Carried Away by the Agents. Most sensible advice, but least taken by anyone immigrating to North America. The agents operating in India are there to make money and will promise you the moon. They force the students to go for College Diplomas in Canada as the colleges offer them huge commissions. Canadian Universities do not offer such commissions as they are oversubscribed. Please do not be carried away by their guarantees for a sure shot job – Biden or Trudeau cannot guarantee it – so how can an agent in India.
First Semester – Use it to Settle Down and Learn to Communicate. Indian students are not familiar with the social, cultural and education system of North America. Use the first year to settle down and learn to live and talk the way the locals do. “When in Rome, do what Romans do”. Second semester onward, you can take up part time work.
Sufficient Funds. To avoid working in the first semester and to amalgamate with the society, $75,000 for the first year is recommended for university students. This includes $50,000 for the tuition fee and the rest for living expenses.
Equip Well. Get your entire wardrobe based on the fashions prevalent in North America. In case you wear clothes the Indian way, you may get branded as a Fresh Off the Boat (FOB.) Make sure that you develop the habit of using perfumes and deodorants – your body odour is much worse than what you perceive it to be. Heard many complaining that the person sitting next to them walked away – it’s not because of any racial bias, but because of your body odour.
English is not Your Mother Tongue. Many (including I,) prior to immigration presumed that one’s standard of English is pretty high and one had a very impressive communication technique. In North America, written and spoken English has its own format and methodology. Letter writing follows a different format (refer to it on internet).
Communication Skills. Written and oral communication skills are given lot of importance in the Canadian high school curriculum, compared to that of India. Most of the subjects are taught with application aspects in mind and is not cramming. An Indian student needs to compete with the local students (majority are much smarter than what you think you are.) To make a test, write a letter to the editor or a small column or a snippet and try and get it published in any newspaper or magazine. In case you fail to do it, your written English needs improvement. Try your hand at a PowerPoint presentation for five minutes and see how much you can impress your friends. The course you are going to undertake will involve a lot of written and oral presentations.
Be Punctual. You got to be on time for the class, for your submissions etc; otherwise, you are sure to lose marks. Ensure on-time submission, even if the work may be incomplete and may not be of the standard you wished – this will fetch you some marks than getting none. Students here are trained in this aspect from high school.
Be Prepared for the Classes. Unlike in India, the first class does not begin with introduction, but with the first chapter. Prepare and research based on the training programme given.
Master Statistics. MS Word, PowerPoint and Excel. In case one can master these, you will have a smoother learning. Improve your keyboarding skills to at least 50 words per minute.
Take all Tests. Most universities want foreign applicants to demonstrate proficiency in English language by taking some test, such as IELTS, TOEFL, comply with the conditions. Some universities may ask for GRE, GMAT, or LSAT tests. Ensure that you qualify in them prior to leaving India – else it’s going to be pretty expensive in both time and money. These tests are an excellent opportunity for students to get a taste of the foreign universities. By demonstrating proficiency in these tests, applicants can have their candidacy established more firmly because the university will have more confidence in your abilities after learning about your good scores in these tests.
Getting Documentation Done. Get all documentations done prior to leaving India (else you will lose time and money). Most admission committees have not heard of the university from where you have graduated. Even if one is the top student in one’s graduating class, the admission committees have no way of finding an equivalence of your performance. Most universities want the university from where you studied to send them the transcripts of your marks and sometimes the syllabus followed. You can imagine how difficult this can be (I had a tough time getting my wife’s transcripts sent.)
Personal Essays. Almost every standard university application requires the applicants to submit a personal essay of around 650 words. The essays are where you illuminate your character in words and ideas, rather than in numbers and percentages. It is your chance to show universities who you are, what makes you tick, and why you stand out from the crowd. Your essay must cover how your background relates to your university’s programme and your goals. It must provide insights as to why you are applying to that university and that programme.
Remember, Bachelors is 16 years of Education. In North America, Europe, and Australia, a Bachelors’ degree is awarded after 16-years of formal education. You may be better off completing graduation in India (16 years of formal education) before applying for a post-graduate degree abroad.
Know the Deadlines. Most graduate programs abroad begin in September. Often admission deadlines for foreign students are in March or April. Applicants should ensure that complete applications with reference personal essays, letters, transcripts, and other supporting materials reach the university well before the deadline. Applying sooner always increases one’s chances for admissions.
Search for the University that wants You. While you as an aspiring student are nervously applying to universities abroad, administrators at many universities are also nervously waiting for applications to arrive. Remember not every department in every foreign university is fortunate to have thousands of applications. Sometimes some departments in very well-known universities are struggling to attract graduate students and hence are keen to greet all applicants with interest. The challenge for the applicant is to try to determine what departments or universities are eager to have additional students. Avoid applying to Ivy League universities, such as Stanford, Harvard, and other similar universities, which attract applications from the top talent in not just the United States, but from all over the world. There is no shortage of decent, not necessarily top-quality universities in the Western world. In the United States alone there are roughly 5,500 universities or institutes of higher learning where approximately 14 million students are currently enrolled. As a smart aspiring student, you should be able to use the Internet effectively to develop a list of second-tier universities that offer specialisations in your interest. From that list of prospects, you should initiate a dialogue with admission officers to determine information about acceptance rates. If the department of your interest accepts only 5% of the applicants, you may want to expand your search to other institutions where your odds have to be much higher than mere 5%.
Know whom to Contact at the University. Never send the same letter of interest to every professor in the same department. If you send an email to every listed faculty member on the department’s website expressing your keenness to join their research team, you are most likely not to get a response at all. You should do research to determine who is the right person to receive your inquiry instead of sending mass emails.
Wishing all the aspirants of a North American Degree all the best.
Every year after the Onam, the media in Kerala comes up with an area-wise score card – not of marks scored in exams by the students but is of the money raked in by the Beverages Corporation. Kerala has overtaken traditionally hard-drinking states like Punjab and Haryana and we boast of the highest per capita consumption in India – over eight litres per person a year. Also, in a strange twist of taste, brandy is the preferred drink in Kerala in a country where brandy outsells every other liquor. This comes from a stupid notion that the doctors prescribe brandy and is good for health. May be in little quantity it may help you, but not in the volumes Malayalees drink.
A Malayalee, whether in Canada or back home, on hearing that I retired from the Indian Army, is more interested to know about the quota (of liquor) I get, rather than appreciating me for the two decades I served the nation in the most inhospitable terrains and in the most risky situations.
The judgements by various courts and the closure of many bars by the state government has added to the chaos in Kerala. It got further complicated with many an allegations of bribes and scandals associated with various political leaders of the state.
This has again proved that the legislature and executive never rise to the occasion to ensure that necessary laws are passed and are implemented. Will the public cooperate with the government to ensure that alcoholism does not become a menace, not that it already has become a menace?
Let us study a few alcohol related cases and laws as applied in Canada.
In the case of Lum v. McLintock (1997 B.C. Supreme Court), a patron spent an afternoon at the bar of a golf club where he was a regular customer. He became very intoxicated. The server knew the patron, knew that he was driving, knew that he was intoxicated and even walked him out to his car. The patron drove off and hit a cyclist causing serious injuries. The conduct of the server was found to have been exceptionally negligent and the licensee was apportioned 30% of the blame (with the 60% to the patron and 10% to the plaintiff cyclist).
In the case of Francescucci v. Gilker (1996, Ontario Court of Appeal), a patron had become extremely intoxicated at a restaurant. Staff members picked him up, carried him out to his car, put him in it, and threw the keys on his lap. He drove away a short while later and injured someone in an accident. At trial, the jury apportioned 78% of the blame to the restaurant and 22% to the patron. The Court found that the restaurants conduct was deliberate and reckless.
The lesson to take from these cases is that the poorer the job a licensee does of living up to its duty to prevent harm resulting from over-service, the greater the percentage of fault that will be assigned to the licensee in the event someone is injured.
In Ontario, the province I reside, it’s a law that If you plan to work in the industry as a Bartender, Server, Manager, you must be certified by law and undergo a training program designed to educate servers, bartenders, managers and other staff members as to what their responsibilities and obligations are under the law, as well as recognize the signs of intoxication and implement intervention strategies for aggressive customers..
Most people know that it’s not wise to serve alcohol to someone who is obviously drunk. But many aren’t aware that they may be sued and held liable. Even at parties at your home and if you serve alcohol, its imperative of you to ensure that your guests who had alcohol beyond the permissible limit are seen off in a cab or the designated driver has had no alcohol. Never permit your guest to carry their drinks off for the road.
The laws regarding conveying liquor in vehicle is that no person shall drive or have the care or control of a motor vehicle, whether it is in motion or not, if it is carrying any liquor that is readily available to any person in the vehicle, even if the liquor is packed in baggage that is fastened closed or otherwise.
It’s a proven fact that more North-Americans have died as a result of accidents caused by drunk drivers than in the First World War, Second World War, Korean War and Vietnam War combined. The case in Kerala or in India can’t be any different.
Though the Kerala government is committed to introduce prohibition in the state step by step, the liquor industry says the step would make their business nonviable, the tourism industry feels that it will drive away tourists from the state.
The government is also concerned about its loss of revenue. Liquor is contributing a major share of its tax revenue as the government has been increasing the tax on the booze as part of its policy to curb the consumption. Alcohol helps in giving Kerala’s economy a good high – shockingly, more than 40% of revenues for its annual budget come from booze.
Toddy, the traditional beverage of Malayali that even played a role in promoting tourism in Alappuzha district, has of late courted trouble. The Kerala High Court wondered why the state should not ban it, considering the complaints regarding it being mixed with intoxicants. While no one can dispute the intention behind the ruling, can a ban on toddy really halt the rising alcoholism among people in the state?
Considering this, it is absurd to expect a ban on toddy to make any significant impact on the drinking habits of Keralites, say those fighting to save the traditional occupation of the toddy tappers. It is not the tapper who adds illicit spirit to the toddy, but the contractor who operates hand in glove with the excise department.
The Kerala Agricultural University has developed a technology to extract non-alcoholic ‘Neera’ from coconut trees. The coconut inflorescence sap in its purest form is not alcoholic and contains several ingredients that are good for health, but as it quickly ferments and turns alcohol. The method is to arrest the fermentation using organic methods. Tapping Neera could also fetch farmer bigger returns than toddy and a farmer can earn up to Rs 1500 in place of Rs 250 for every coconut tree used for toddy tapping.
The religions unknowingly also plays a part in this chaos. The gospel readings in church masses of how Jesus converted water to wine are given as a justification for many like me to consume alcohol. May be, it was the first miracle of Jesus as recorded in the Bible; it may be worthwhile to remove it from the gospel reading. The Hindu mythology speaks of Som Ras believed to have been created Lord Brahma. May be that Islam bans use of alcohol.
Recent Malayalam movies have shown the super-star heroes drinking on any occasion – sad, happy or otherwise and then they come out with a statutory warning about the dangers of alcohol. In comparison, I have hardly seen an English movie depicting the hero in an intoxicated state.
Strict enforcement and stricter punishments are only the way out. Unlike in North America, where many are afraid to take on to the wheel after a drink, mainly because of the fear of a police ticket, the fines and likely suspension of license. Life without a driving license is the most difficult for the North American barring the people who live in the metros. Further, the moment you get charged, the vehicle insurance premiums shoot up, where as in India, it remains the same even in case you are held liable for a death on the roads caused due to driving under the influence of alcohol.
An Indian Army colleague had opined that the Westerner may sound helpful when brown skin is alone in open, but they detest even one occupying a table next to them in a posh hotel and socially too. Well placed whites do not prefer a brownie at their residences; probably that is how we get the taste of Indian caste system universally. Another friend found no one occupying the vacant seat next to him in the bus and the Westerners were standing and traveling. It was not that every one in the bus was racial, may be a few were.
Many of us fail to realise that it is our body odour that drives the Westerners away – an idea many Indian friends will never accept. Many call me a half-white for this or Whitewashed. You need to call a spade a spade. In case one takes it in a positive spirit, then read on.
It will be incorrect to say that all Indians emanate a bad body odour. In case anyone has a body odour, then the reasons could be as given below. If you are travelling abroad or meeting with foreigners, it is prudent to take some actions as given in the tips, even if you feel that you do not have any body odour.
Biological Reasons. India is a very hot country. Due to its hot climate, Indian people have been biologically evolved to have more densely concentrated sweat glands. This allows them to sweat more in order to cool down their body temperature in the midst of very hot weather. In addition, many Indians also have longer body hair, which helps to retain the sweat to help cool down their body. Typically, sweats do not have any smell. They produces odour only upon reaction with bacteria growing on the body. Essentially, the body odour is the smell of the bacteria growing on a body and the bacteria multiplies rapidly in the presence of sweat. Due to more densely concentrated sweat glands as compared to other people, Indians have a higher tendency to produce more densely concentrated sweats, which in turn causes the reaction with bacteria to increase. This increase in multiplication of bacteria causes Indians to have a higher tendency to produce a particular body odour.
Hygiene Reasons. Compared to developed nations, India generally has a poorer standard of hygiene and practice. This caused bacteria to populate and multiply easily around and to grow easily in the body of many Indians. Thus, the tendency for bacteria to react with sweat increases causing many Indians to produce a particular body odour.
Diet Reasons. Many Indians eat curry, many other spices, onions, salted fish etc as part of their diet . These diet practice can influence the sweat samples and its reaction with bacteria, causing the body to radiate the odour.
Home Cures and Suggestions
Maintain high levels of personal hygiene, to have baths more frequently using a scrubber and anti-bacterial soap to clean the skin.
Dry yourself well after baths and use antibacterial and anti-fungal powder.
Wearing clean clothes and making sure they are washed well to get rid of the odour. Never repeat unwashed clothes.
Use deodorants and antiperspirants but they may cause skin irritation
Store your clothes – especially winter clothes – in a closed closet so that they do not adsorb what the kitchen emanates.
A blind spot for smells. Strange as it may seem, many people with bad body odour are unaware that they smell. Scientific research has shown that some people cannot detect certain molecules. Their nostrils may be able to register the smell of garlic or curry, but not the smell emanating from their armpits.
How to reduce body odour?
Wash with soap daily, particularly your armpits, groin and feet where there are many sweat producing glands. Washing removes sweat and reduces the numbers of bacteria that act upon it.
Some people have more sweat and oil producing glands than others. If you sweat a lot, you may need to shower two or three times a day.
The use of antiperspirants and deodorants should be routine. It’s worth trying a few because they have different active ingredients, and you’ll find some work better than others.
Deodorants work by masking the smell of sweat with fragrance, while antiperspirants reduce the amount of sweat your body produces. Roll-ons tend to be more effective for heavy sweating.
Another useful trick is to shave your armpits. Armpit hair provides a greater surface area for sweat to adhere to and gives the bacteria a fertile breeding ground.
It is also essential to wash clothes thoroughly, particularly clothing that comes into contact with sweaty areas such as socks, underwear and shirts.
Never wear previous day’s clothes. However clean your body is, the clothes will retain the smell of yesterday’s sweat.
Ensure that your clothes are stored well in a closet and will not adsorb the smell of masala from the kitchen.
Ensure that you have a separate set of clothing to be worn while cooking. Never wear these clothes outside.
How to deal with an employee or friend with body odour. An employee, who recently migrated, joined the pharmacy and he had a severe body odour and the other staff embers (many of Indian origin) could not stand the smell. The tips I gave to the Pharmacy Manager to deal with the situation are:
The best approach is to think about how you’d want it handled it if it were you and have a short, to-the-point conversation with each of them (separately,) likely at the end of the day so they don’t need to sit there feeling self-conscious for hours afterward.
Be honest, direct, and as kind as possible. You can even admit that you’re nervous about bringing it up. Start by mentioning that their work has been good and then say something like, “I want to discuss something that’s awkward, and I hope I don’t offend you. You’ve had a noticeable body odour lately. It might be a need to use a deodorant or an antiperspirant or a perfume . This is the kind of thing that people often don’t realise about themselves, so I wanted to bring it to your attention.”
Likely, the employee will be embarrassed. But he is combative, explain that he needs to come to work clean because of the impact on the pharmacy. You might also suggest a visit to a doctor to find out if there might be a medical reason.
Be direct, be straight, be as concise as you can without sounding awkward. Most people try to add as much verbal padding as possible when they are trying to tell delivers bad news. Get to the point, make the moment only as long as it needs to be.
On the social media there was a post with a video of a school band performing during the interval of a basketball match. The caption said “When will we have such performances from our school bands in India”. It took my memories back to school days when we thought that music was not our cup of tea and joining the school band was a sheer waste of time as it did not provide any extra marks and did cut into one’s free time. Mr Guddu Sahib, our Band Master tried his level best to teach me the notes of music, but they all looked to me like a few designs all coming to eat me up. That was it, I gave up not to even look back at it. Having realised my school folly as one grew up; it was too late to learn music at that belated stage. Now the only option available was to ensure that our children learned music at their young age.
Why the school bands in India do not have such good standards and such good performances when compared to those in North America? The main reason could be attributed to our notion that it does not bring in marks. In North American schools, band or music is part of the curriculum and it brings marks with it.
As band/music is part of the North American school curriculum, the music teachers are graduates in music and some are post-graduates. Our son’s music teacher in Grade 10 was a post graduate in English and music and that year he taught Nikhil both the subjects. During a meeting with him I asked him as to how he got into the two. He said music was his passion and English was his interest and hence studied both. In India, the band is trained by an ex-bandmaster from the Army or from the police and has no formal qualification in music. The qualification of music teachers back home leaves a lot desired, even though plenty of talent with graduate and post-graduate qualifications in music are available. Music does not form part of the School Board Exams and is limited to performances in Youth Festivals in most schools in India. The reality TV competitions have encouraged parents to impart music training to their children.
Unlike in North America, where the time spent for rehearsing and performing a band routine is counted towards community service hours required for graduation, in India no such advantages is accrued by the children. The most they get for a performance in India may be a T-shirt or a meal.
Music helps to bring out the best in young people. It nourishes self-esteem and keeps them engaged. Promoting music in schools provides students with interests that take up considerable time and energy outside the academic activities. Students become involved in extracurricular activities and by being busy with music-related activities helps to keep students away from getting involved in the kinds of negative activities that lead to serious problems, such as drugs and alcohol.
Musical training has a profound impact on other skills including speech and language, memory and attention, and even the ability to convey emotions vocally. Children who have had music lessons tend to have a larger vocabulary and better reading ability than those who haven’t had any musical training.
Music education helps in a child’s overall development intellectually, socially and emotionally. Music offers creative challenges and aesthetic appreciation as well as self-expression and self-discovery opportunities. Music education fosters emotional maturity, as students learn to set and achieve personal goals. Time management, self-assessment, the ability to accept criticism and performance skills are all important attributes students learn through music education.
Music education plays a big part leading to personal development, such as self-discipline, dedication, teamwork, self-confidence and practice. All these values and the behaviours that demonstrate them are necessary to be a well-rounded person in all realms of life. Although these values are taught through other disciplines in various ways, the importance of learning them through music education in schools is that they translate into other disciplines so naturally. Students who enjoy music can easily transfer the habits learned to pursue their music to academic subjects.
Scientists have also discovered that learning to read music or play a musical instrument develops higher thinking skills. This means that children who learn music in schools are better problem-solvers and are better at analysis and overall critical thinking, because studying or playing music uses the same part of the brain that is used in mathematical thinking. Music education can help promote better math students.
The importance of music in schools is that it fosters the kind of discipline that contributes to the development of personality traits and characteristics that bring one success in all of life’s endeavors. Music education helps develop overall intelligence, which translates to success in academic subjects in school. Music education also opens doors socially and culturally. All these factors lead to success in life.
During the Democratic National convention for the US Presidential Election of 2012, Elaine Brye, a “Military Mom” introduced the American First Lady Michelle Obama. Elaine is a “Military Mom” as of her five kids, one each is serving in the Army, the Navy, the Air Force and the Marines.. Will this ever happen in India in the near future? Many a times the President of India remains seated while the widow/parent of a posthumous recipient of Paravam Vir Chakra is standing while her husband’s/ son’s citation is read prior to presenting the award, No secret that America is the world leader.
A few years back, after an attack on NATO troops in Afghanistan, all the national flags in Canada and US were observed flying at half-mast, paying respect to the fallen soldiers. There were announcements on the media to fly the flags at half-mast and all citizens did it out of sheer respect for that unknown fallen soldier.
Some may claim that death is part of the job in the armed forces and there is no need to go into mourning every time for a fallen soldier. Please remember what French Nobel laureate Albert Camus said “Martyrs, my friend, have to choose between being forgotten, mocked or used. As for being understood: never”.The least we can all do is to pay our respect to the fallen soldier and what better way than flying our Tri-Colour at half-mast. It does not cost anything, but surely enhance our national esteem and pride.
Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw, the General who lead the Indian Army during the 1971 Indo-Pak conflict, and a hero of the young of that time, died at Ootty in June 2008. Only the Minister of State for Defence represented the Central Government at the funeral. The reason given – Field Marshal being a new appointment created after 1971 war – did not find a place in the warrant of precedence. While Manekshaw was in the hospital in Apr 2007, the Defence Secretary handed him over a cheque of Rs11.6 million in back wages from the time he assumed the rank of Field Marshal in 1973. Even though on his death bed, Manekshaw in his usual humorous way asked the Defence Secretary whether he would have to pay taxes on this. Manekshaw being a true soldier, never made any claims to his unpaid salaries and never came on the media to make it into any issue. What a shame – this can happen only in India.
One always wondered as to why we did not see the Tri-colour on Indian streets, atop homes, in the shopping malls etc like the Red Maple Leaf flag in Canada or the Stars and Stripes in the US. Our constitution was amended to cater for flying of the National Tri-Colour by one and all – (Courtesy Sushmita Sen and Sachin Tendulkar and Naveen Jundal). Have you ever seen the Indian Tri-Color fluttering in the schools, government offices, or at homes in India? Its pertinent to point out that the Indian Army units and Indian Naval Ships always fly the Tri-Colour, all Indian Air Force aircrafts have the Tri-Colour painted on them. It is sad to note that our national carrier has the Tri-Color painted very insignificantly, compared to the logo. If we do not fly the Tri-Colour, then there is no need to fly it at half mast for the fallen soldier.
May be the Common Man is still not aware of this aspect of flying the Tri-Colour, may be schools are not educating the students about the importance of flying the Tri-Colour, may be that out text books have not been amended. The reasons may be many, but the solution is simple – educate the common man, make him aware and teach him to develop national pride.
Recently I attended a Dolphin show at Los Angeles, and behold, the show begun by paying homage to all NATO fallen soldiers. Further they made all serving soldiers and veterans and their family members to rise in their stands, so that the crowds could pay their respects. The crowd spontaneously rose on their feet with a loud applause.
Why can’t we have such acts? I am sure that the Indian common man is much more patriotic and emotionally charged towards any national issues than anyone around the world. This aspect has been demonstrated time and again by the common man– during any aggression on our borders, national calamities and during the cricket matches.
Someone needs to tap this potential of the common man. Who else other than the visual, audio and print media who can do a better job? Even if ten percent of media time and newsprint wasted to discuss the issue of the political murders could have been used to highlight the sacrifices of our soldiers; we would have achieved wonders.
Nowadays many veterans are carrying out presentations, shows and talks across the country – from corporate boardrooms to educational institutions. It’s high time at least the veterans begin by paying respect to our fallen heroes and soldiers, like the presenter at the Los Angeles Dolphin show. May be for all you know, this presenter may also be a US veteran.
The cinema industry has contributed enormously towards educating the masses about various national, social and political issues. Some movies did justice in bringing forth the sacrifices and services rendered by our soldiers.
I conclude with the patriotic song from the movie Hakeekat करचलेहमफ़िदाजान-ओ-तनसाथियों,अबतुम्हारेहवालेवतनसाथियों (Kar chale hum fida jaan-o-tan sathiyon, ab tumhare hawale watan sathiyon) (Thus did we set off friends, having sacrificed life & limb, The freedom now, of this land, Is but within your hands).
Our Regiment in November 2002 moved to Devlali from our operational location (I assumed command in the operational location). After the Regiment settled down, as was customary, our Second-in-Command (2IC) requested me to take a round of the Regiment. We started with the office complex and headed straight of the Administrative Branch office. On the entrance, as with the case of the Regiment I had served earlier, the sign read “Out of Bounds for All Ranks”. I refused to enter the office as the Commanding Officer (CO) also was part of all ranks. I ordered the sign to be removed with the reason that the Administrative office is to ensure proper administration of all ranks and everyone has the right to visit and the right to entry. After visiting the other Regimental institutions, we came back to the office complex and by then the sign at the entrance had vanished.
On entering the office, there were about six clerks seated and a few Olive Green coloured cupboards placed there to hold documents. As usual, like most cupboards in all the army units, the front of the cupboard had a white cross with the stenciling on the top that read “Remove First in Case of Fire”. My query to the head clerk was as to which one I should remove first, as all the six cupboards had the same stenciling. The white cross mark indicates that the cupboard held Secret documents, where as all Secret documents are in the custody of the CO. All cupboards were ordered to be painted olive green, obliterating all the markings.
That was when I realised that I had developed a penchant dislike for all the clerks. The mere sight of them put me off. I tried to reason out with all logic and compassion and tried to look deep in me for the development of such hatred.
It all begun as a Second Lieutenant (2Lt) when I joined our Regiment, our senior officers advised me to handle the clerks with a ‘kid-glove‘. I could not fathom the reason as I thought everyone in the Regiment was a soldier first and then a clerk or a gunner or a radio operator. It could have been because in those days, most officers like me were handicapped in that one had to depend on the clerks to produce any document type written on the Remington typewriters. When any junior officer approached the clerks for assistance they always came out with the same excuse – The Battery Commander (BC) or CO had given him an urgent task and hence one had to wait.
As the years passed by, I realised that the clerks were mostly the root cause of all the rumours that went around the Regiment discrediting the officers. Some even claimed that they were better qualified than their CO or BC as they were Masters (some even claimed they were double Masters [MAMA]) where as the officers were graduates. Once I told off a clerk that in case he was worth even half the value of the paper on which his degrees were printed, he would not have joined the Army as a clerk. They were always a hindrance in communication between officers and soldiers and some even charged commission for the work they did for the soldiers.
Once as a BC – a Major in 1995, I had produced a Court of Inquiry (C of I) printed on the computer. The CO was not impressed with it as I had not submitted a manuscript copy. He called me to ask as to why I did not submit a manuscript copy as the C of I had to be in writing. I reasoned out with him using the definition of writing as per Indian laws which said making of any mark or impression is to be considered as writing. I further explained to him that in High Court and Supreme Court, the evidence is always type written by the steno as dictated by the judge. In this case I had typed it and all pages have been initialed by all members of the court and the witness whose statement had been recorded. Not being impressed by my justifications, the CO summoned the Head Clerk who ruled that in case all the pages were initialed, there was no need for a manuscript.
The CO then asked me as to why the witnesses were not duly warned prior to making the statement. I said as C of I is not an evidence, there is no need to warn as in the case of recording Summary of Evidence. That was when I remembered the case when a C of I was instituted to ascertain the circumstances under which I beat up a senior police official in Delhi when I was a 2Lt. I refused to be warned and as usual, the Presiding Officer of the C of I summoned his Head Clerk and I was really impressed by his ruling that officers are not warned and the warning applies to Other Ranks only.
This ‘Blind Belief’ in the head-clerk and not trusting an officer upset me on both the occasions. Had the superior officers consulted the Head Clerk in my absence, I would not have felt so bad and it would not have scarred my mind.
On taking over the Regiment , I ordered the curtailment of the practice of addressing clerks as “Babu Ji”. The same applied to “Pundit ji”. Luckily we did not have a “Master Ji”. This could be carry forward of addressing them from the uneducated belt of India. In Kerala, babu is addressed as ‘Gumasthan‘, pundit as ‘Poojari‘ and master as ‘Aashan’. I ordered that the suffix of ‘Ji‘ for all these VIPs be done away with.
After the Regiment reached Devlali, due to the heavy commitment being a cooperating units of School of Artillery, we were always short of manpower. I ordered that all clerks will assemble with the Regiment at 7 AM and in case of any shortfall of manpower, the Regimental Havildar Major (RHM) could utilise the clerks, as the CO never gave then any tasks and they were all soldiers of the same status – Group Y. The RHM employed them for everything from assisting the chef in the kitchen to assisting the radar detachments at the field firing ranges.
The RHM was the happiest as once he said that earlier when he went to the office, no clerk was ever respectful to him. Even a recruit clerk would show him eyes and now he gets a VIP treatment as the clerks are mortally scared that they would be teamed with the telephone line laying party. The line laying party is the first to set out on any outdoor exercise and the last to come back after reeling in all lines after the exercise.
May be, I am from an old school, wherein the importance of handwriting was stressed as the most essential quality a primary student had to develop. So we had the writing book, two lined and four lined for Malayalam and English. I cannot count as to how many times I got castigated by Ms Murphy, our English teacher, for my illegible hand. In order to develop writing skills in our son, I decided to procure a fountain pen for him. To my surprise I found none available in the Toronto Area. Some arts shops carried calligraphy pens, but not the good old fountain pen. Then I requested my brother to procure half a dozen of them from Kerala and send it with a friend of ours visiting Kerala.
Fountain pens are nowadays used mainly by Urdu and Chinese language writers. In these languages, calligraphy plays an important role as the strokes and their thickness may alter the meaning of the words. Then why use a costly fountain pen when 100 pens for $2 deal on disposable ballpoint pens are there in the market and when we are mostly writing in English language?
Many of the people using fountain pens today grew up doing so. Fountain pens used to be on the list of required school supplies. Those writers may simply be accustomed to using fountain pens or enjoy the nostalgic feeling that comes with it. Using a fountain pen may remind people of simpler times, when good handwriting skills were praised, rather than how many words per minute you can type.
A student using a fountain pen may attract comments from his friends like “a grandpa’s times pen”; “why are you using a stone-age tool?” or “Hey, that’s really cool”. In a sea of laptops, ipads, and tablets, a student using an actual pen, let alone a fountain pen, can be shocking, and on some occasions, very much appreciated. Our son says that at school he stands out real cool as he is the only one using a fountain pen.
There are also technical advantages of using a fountain pen. The liquid ink flow requires less pressure when writing which reduces cramping and overall discomfort when writing. Fountain pens are great for those with weak wrists or hands, and carpal tunnel. The quality and variety of fountain pens is also very attractive. Fountain pens, if well maintained, can last for decades.
When you write with a pen rather than typing it on a computer, the writings last as there is no “Backspace” or “Delete” button. Whatever one wrote remains on paper and can be referred to later, even though one did not like what one wrote at that time. May be in a different context or situation it may come handy. Think your creation which you wiped off on a computer screen with the delete button. At many times, you cannot recover it.
Fountain pens may be more expensive than a pack of ballpoint pens, but they last for a lifetime, making them much more ‘eco-friendly’ than your usual disposable pens. There is also more variety when it comes to fountain pens. They can be tailored to suit the needs of their user. Left-handed options, pen styles, nib sizes, and the vast spectrum of ink colors allow users to customize their pen to fit their unique personal style. In addition to their unique design, fountain pens offer a larger range of writing styles. Depending on nib, hold, and angle of the pen, writing styles can be altered and changed accordingly.
So why, with all these advantages are people still buying disposable pens? . Fountain pens need careful maintenance in order to prevent leaking and promote long lasting use. Refilling your fountain pen can be messy and tedious. This task would be a great exercise for children in enhancing their concentration and delicate handling. Taking fountain pens on airplanes can be risky because the air pressure changes at high altitude may cause ink explosions, and unless you like to unintentionally dye your clothes, most people view this as an inconvenience.
Fountain pens will surely improve the handwriting of the person using it, it also make you feel different and your creativity will surely be better than using a ball-point pen or typing out on a computer screen, Why don’t you try it for once and see the difference.
REJINCES 