This year there's no Diwali for us due to the passing away of Lekha's dad and my mom but friends have been sending their wishes through calls, by What'sApp and SMSes. I must admit that it sure does give a nice feeling! The most poignant of them all was from Biju, this morning.
I'd met him, first, as a civilian bearer on board the Landing Craft Utility, L36, whose command I'd taken over in Jun '87. He was an efficient worker ensuring that my clothes - both uniforms and civil clothes - and connected accessories were in top form, always. He used to be an enthusiastic participant in the evolutions/exercises - there wasn't any need for him to participate in his official capacity but he participated in them on his own calling - be it at sea or in harbour. It was this keenness in him that got me to sponsor him for a naval recruitment, soon after my tenure on the ship. He passed the exams and was enrolled as a sailor in early '90 and from then on, there was no looking back as he did well in his professional career.
Whenever, he went on leave, he made it a point to call on my parents who, too, took a liking for him for his pleasing manners. He and his wife had insisted upon my dad and mom to initiate their children - a girl(Now in XII) and a boy(Now in VII) - into the world of letters and in return, they used to monitor their educational achievements very minutely.
He'd called up this morning and apologetically conveyed his Diwali wishes. Then, without warning, he broke down and went into a non stop volley of words about how my parents and I constitute his world. I could do nothing but to hear him out and must confess that I was thoroughly embarrassed - he was attributing too many of his accomplishments to me which I really don't deserve!.....He's under transfer to Visakhapatnam and has promised to call on us at 'The Quarterdeck', next time!
A flashback......We'd begun our life at 'The Quarterdeck' in Nov '13, much after the Diwali, that year. In '14, Sathi Amma, her husband, Dharmettan and her daughter were in attendance for celebrating the festival. It was Dharmettan's last Diwali, in that, he'd passed away two months later succumbing to the cancer that was gnawing him! Last year, in Nov '15 it was Preetha and her two sons who'd played Diwali with us!
Tailpiece.
It gives me immense pain and incites anger in the manner the bloody Pakistanis have mutilated our soldier, Sepoy Mandeep Singh, in the Machhil sector of Kupwara district of Jammu and Kashmir. The martyred soldier was mutilated by terrorists under covering fire by the Pakistani Rangers. It shows their barbarism and disrespect to a corpse, who they know won't retaliate. Well, you Pakis shall pay for this, the Indian Army will punish you appropriately!
I'd met him, first, as a civilian bearer on board the Landing Craft Utility, L36, whose command I'd taken over in Jun '87. He was an efficient worker ensuring that my clothes - both uniforms and civil clothes - and connected accessories were in top form, always. He used to be an enthusiastic participant in the evolutions/exercises - there wasn't any need for him to participate in his official capacity but he participated in them on his own calling - be it at sea or in harbour. It was this keenness in him that got me to sponsor him for a naval recruitment, soon after my tenure on the ship. He passed the exams and was enrolled as a sailor in early '90 and from then on, there was no looking back as he did well in his professional career.
Whenever, he went on leave, he made it a point to call on my parents who, too, took a liking for him for his pleasing manners. He and his wife had insisted upon my dad and mom to initiate their children - a girl(Now in XII) and a boy(Now in VII) - into the world of letters and in return, they used to monitor their educational achievements very minutely.
He'd called up this morning and apologetically conveyed his Diwali wishes. Then, without warning, he broke down and went into a non stop volley of words about how my parents and I constitute his world. I could do nothing but to hear him out and must confess that I was thoroughly embarrassed - he was attributing too many of his accomplishments to me which I really don't deserve!.....He's under transfer to Visakhapatnam and has promised to call on us at 'The Quarterdeck', next time!
A flashback......We'd begun our life at 'The Quarterdeck' in Nov '13, much after the Diwali, that year. In '14, Sathi Amma, her husband, Dharmettan and her daughter were in attendance for celebrating the festival. It was Dharmettan's last Diwali, in that, he'd passed away two months later succumbing to the cancer that was gnawing him! Last year, in Nov '15 it was Preetha and her two sons who'd played Diwali with us!
Tailpiece.
It gives me immense pain and incites anger in the manner the bloody Pakistanis have mutilated our soldier, Sepoy Mandeep Singh, in the Machhil sector of Kupwara district of Jammu and Kashmir. The martyred soldier was mutilated by terrorists under covering fire by the Pakistani Rangers. It shows their barbarism and disrespect to a corpse, who they know won't retaliate. Well, you Pakis shall pay for this, the Indian Army will punish you appropriately!
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