FON HAS A SMALL MESS BUT ITS OFFICERS HAVE LARGE HEARTS
Originally posted on 27 Sep 2010 : Agra is well known for the Taj Mahal. However, what is less known is that it also houses the 509 Army Base Workshop (nicknamed FON), which is unique in more ways than one. They hold what is called a “FON Milaap” at regular intervals for which veterans are also invited. The latest one was …
QAYAMAT KA DIN
Originally posted on 16/07/2010 : JAANE KAHAAN GAYE VOH NDA KE DIN!!! We all enjoyed ourselves at the Academy. The pictures which I have of that period tell the tale better than the best words which any of us can write. But I suspect, we did not know it when we were living in Khadakvasla or Dehradun. I do not …
FATHOMLESS WORDS OF BABA SHAIKH FARID SET TO MUSIC BY JAGJIT SINGH
Originally posted on 23/01/2011 : Within a space of two days, we lost two men of substance. Why it hit me hard was that one of them was barely one year senior to me. Death, the natural culmination of life seemed perilously close, and I started looking for words to soothe myself. In my shelf I found a CD of …
Can Prohibition Succeed in a Land Where Even the Priests Drink?
Originally posted on 30.06.2011: KahaaN maikhane ka darwaaza Ghalib, aur kahaaN waaiz? Some of my very esteemed friends, including Gen ‘Yogi’ Sharma and the erudite Mahibhushan Johri have chided me for my ‘misplaced’ cynicism on the ‘Lokpal’ bill. They are sanguine that this bill will check graft and usher in an era of good governance and prosperity for our country. …
IF THE CURRENT EVENTS ARE ANY INDICATION, DEMOCRACY HAS NO FUTURE IN INDIA
Posted on 20/07/2010 I have just seen the news covering the proceedings in the Bihar Assembly this morning. They first shouted ,then threw mikes at the speaker. Not satisfied with that, they picked up a large table and smashed it. Those who are familiar with what happens in the Parliament are not surprised. Our elected leaders are willing to go …
LAW OF UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES
The attached picture have been sent to me by a venerable veteran, Col Bhanu K Rai. As I was looking at them, my mind’s eye went to the following sociological changes which I have personally seen in my life : During 1953 – 55, we lived on The Mall in Delhi Cantt (bungalow number 24) We could pedal down from …
The Advantages of living after 50
Originally posted on 22 May 2011 : Living after fifty has some advantages, but living after sixty, seventy, eighty, ninety has many more. Raj Chatterji is ninety five, and in his inimitable style, he has said something in one of his middles which should be etched on stone and be made compulsory reading for every child who goes to the …
A COMMON HERITAGE
Originally posted on 2nd March 2011 : I find that our Police force has inherited its ethos from the legacy of the colonial era. I have received a link to a youtube clip of a TV program in Pakistan, which depicts the functioning of the police on the western side of our border. It has been created in the lighter …
