IN A ZONE WITHOUT SMARTPHONES
Introducing Ms Pranjal Subhash I first met this charming young lady in Neelambur, where her father, Dr Subhash Kumar was serving as the Principal of PEEVEES Public School, in Nilambur, near Kozhikode (Calicut) in Kerala. He had invited me for their Founders’ day. I must confess that I enjoyed every minute of my sojourn in that fabulous institution which was extremely well managed by …
Visit to Shangri La
Visit to Shangri La by Air Cmde (Retd) AD Chhibbar Introduction We have all heard the famous words attributed to Gen Patton, No bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making some other poor dumb bastard die for his country. One tried and tested method of protecting one’s own skin in …
What Makes Kerala Distinctive? (Reformatted ) -by Joseph Thomas
Preface Born in Peshawar, and brought up in North India, I had seen very few South Indians during my childhood. And the only Christians we saw were either Anglo-Indians or teachers in the elite schools. All this changed, when I joined the NDA, in Jan 1958. I met Thomas, and I got to know all that I know on …
What Makes Kerala Distinctive? -by Joseph Thomas
Preface Born in Peshawar, and brought up in North India, I had seen very few South Indians during my childhood. And the only Christians we saw were either Anglo-Indians or teachers in the elite schools. All this changed, when I joined the NDA, in Jan 1958. I met Thomas, and I got to know all that I know on …
God’s own country : Kerala by Brig Surinder Singh
FOREWORD If I were to tell you that I like the poems written by Rabindranath Tagore, it would be an under-statement of titanic dimensions. If I use words like admire or adore, I would be closer to the truth. However, the fact is that I revere Gitanjali and place it on par with scriptures. Over the years, I know many of …
A VISIT TO ‘SIMPLY NATURAL’ DAIRY AND CREAMERY BY JOSEPH THOMAS
Editor’s Note Milk is an essential part of human diet. It has been so, since times immemorial. Our ancestors around the globe, learnt to domesticate milk yielding animals and they became part of their families. As far as I know, every house had a few cows and buffaloes, and therefore, ‘dairy farming’ was not an exclusive business. Until as late as just …
BEYOND THE DESTINATION
Foreword A few minutes before the Sun rises tomorrow, I will have turned seventy three years old. In our part of Punjab, when a person showed the first signs of senility, the people around said, “this man has become ‘sattare bahattare’ (which means seventy-seventy two years old) Therefore, do not take him seriously!” Now, I have crossed even that milestone! I beseech …
NAIN SINGH; AN INTREPID EXPLORER
NAIN SINGH RAWAT (1830-95) By Joseph Thomas Only those who have marched through the Himalayas know how difficult it is to march from one place to another. It was even more difficult when people did not have proper maps and other navigation aids. During my service in Bhutan and Sikkim I got a taste of the hazards of this challenge. …
‘Harmony Islands’ in ‘Kalepaani’
Take a good look at the map below. The Islands you see to the left of the ‘Andaman Sea’ are the Andaman & Nicobar Islands. You do not need a scale or any other geometrical instrument to prove that these islands are closer to Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia than Bharat. In fact that the Southern tip, known as the Indira Point is less than …
A TRYST WITH OUR ROOTS
Originally posted on 16 Dec 2010 : The Indian Military Academy in Dehradun is the alma mater for most of our Army officers. That is where they don the uniform and learn the rudiments of soldiering. However, for me and my younger brother, Brig Surinder Singh, it is a lot more. We went there as little children. I was eight …
