IS THE TAJ MAHAL A SYMBOL OF ETERNAL LOVE?
Originally posted on 2 Oct 2010 : A CRITIQUE OF THE TAJ MAHAL AND SHAH JEHAN I first visited Agra with my cousins Amarjit and Bir in 1956. An older cousin, (the late) Capt SS Chawla was posted there and he took us around all the monuments. The two which I remember the most are the Fort and, of …
IF THE COPS ARE “CLEAN” THE CITY BECOMES “PRISTINE”
Originally posted on 24 Aug 2011 : The first command is like the first love : you can never forget it. In my case, it was an EME Battalion located in Sikkim. The current CO, Col Puneet Kapoor was kind enough to invite us and spent a few days there last month. Whilst nearly everything about Gangtok is exhilarating, what …
BAHUT HAI MUSHQIL GIR KE SAMBHALNA...
Originally posted on 9 July 2010 : After a long time I saw a soldier on the cover of a popular Indian weekly. It caught my eye. And this time the cover story was not about killing militants or capture of arms and ammunition. It was something far more difficult. This is an account of building bridges with people in …
JAI JAWAN ; JAI KISAAN !
Originally posted on 16 Oct 2011 : Agriculture or farming is the most appropriate sequel to soldiering. Our cantonments are more akin to small towns and villages than the concrete jungles that our metropolitan towns have become. When thrown in the midst of the slimy people who live in cities, we are like fish out of water. Last week, I …
Subah se shaam taq bojh dhota hua ; Apni hi laash ka khud mazaar aadmi
Originally posted on 31 Oct 2011 : Over the years I have seen a lot of people spend their precious lives in quest of earning money, so that they could build sprawling mansions and drive in luxury cars. Of the many who got into this rat race, a few succeeded. But at the end of the day, they found that …
