Backdrop.
Sometime back, a well wisher and friend had sent me the photographs of the decommissioning ceremony of my ex-ship, INLCU L36 at Port Blair. I was extremely sad and heartbroken that the ship's present incumbents had not bothered to invite me for the ceremony - a privilege and honour for all those who'd spent their time on board, in the course of their professional assignment. I'd, therefore, reacted strongly on that message on Facebook.
There were many close friends who'd reacted to that post of mine, sharing my anguish and wondering as to what had happened to the well known naval traditions and customs! I'd given it up as a bad dream and was anyways busy with the yatra that was taking me around Kerala, giving me an education on a broad canvas - linked with the pulse of the people - which I couldn't have got from anywhere else.
The Aftermath.
Commander Deepak Dhankher, the Officer-in-charge of the decommissioned ship, one day, had called me up with a profuse apology for not inviting me and had said that he'd like to pay a visit to my place at Guruvayur so that he could meet me in person to say a few things and convey his apologies. Knowing the arduous journey from Port Blair to the mainland and back, I'd told him that such an exercise solely for tendering an apology could be avoided as it involved spending a lot of public money. I'd let it at that, thinking that he'd taken my sage counsel.
The Apology.
Yesterday, Deepak had called me up from Kochi inquiring about my presence at home today so that he could drop by. I was only glad to meet up with him. Accordingly, he'd come by this morning around a half past 11. He was profusely apologetic and told me that the team that was organising and co-ordinating the decommissioning ceremony was not able to collate the information of all those who'd served, including the retired brethren, even after contacting the directorate in the Naval Headquarters that looked after related matters. It was an explanation that could not be digested especially in these days of digital connectivity and I stated it rather bluntly for which the youngster had no reply and left him flummoxed. I'd asked him to tell his bosses to make out an SOP(Standard Operating Procedure) and to get an online connectivity - that is, if it didn't exist, as of now - with all the regional Navy Foundation Charters that have their respective directories which bear detailed information of all naval personnel of the past!
He'd brought in a lot of small mementos like a miniature version of the ship enclosed in a glass case(A Cute one), a white metal plaque with the ship etched on it with the requisite captions, a cap, a tea mug, the metallic scroll containing the names of all those who'd commanded the ship - the fact that I was the second and the only decorated skipper, among the 27 names over a span of 32 years of its commission pumped that extra adrenaline into my system - and a scrap book along with a compact disc covering the decommissioning ceremony.
Earlier, I'd told myself that I'd decline anything sent to me as an after note, consequent to the unpardonable gaffe, but decided to climb down from my rigid stand seeing the trouble that he'd taken and I'd this sneaky suspicion that there was pressure from some quarters after my public airing of disgust.
My only regret was that Lekha wasn't privy to this exchange as she'd gone to Palakkad, this morning, to complete a couple of personal jobs and would be back by tomorrow morning.
Tailpiece.
My classmate, Vipinachandran(Roll No. 432) and his wife, Leena had come calling just before sunset. They'd arrived, earlier in the day, at Guruvayur to attend a family wedding and decided to drop by. It was nice of them to have found the time and I didn't know as to how time flew as Vipin and I nursed a sun downer! The normally quiet Leena was at her conversational best and the three of us got to know each other better by the end of it all.
Learnt a new thing from Vipin. As we're leaving the house, I'd put off the flame of the 'pujamuri' lamp by waving my hand with adequate force. Vipin said that I should avoid it from then on because by doing so I was forcibly putting down the flame, which is another form of the goddess and not considered appropriate! Instead, the flame should be doused with a flower or a leaf or simply by pulling the wick back into the lamp.
Well, there's no end to learning and thanks, Vipin for the lesson!
Sometime back, a well wisher and friend had sent me the photographs of the decommissioning ceremony of my ex-ship, INLCU L36 at Port Blair. I was extremely sad and heartbroken that the ship's present incumbents had not bothered to invite me for the ceremony - a privilege and honour for all those who'd spent their time on board, in the course of their professional assignment. I'd, therefore, reacted strongly on that message on Facebook.
There were many close friends who'd reacted to that post of mine, sharing my anguish and wondering as to what had happened to the well known naval traditions and customs! I'd given it up as a bad dream and was anyways busy with the yatra that was taking me around Kerala, giving me an education on a broad canvas - linked with the pulse of the people - which I couldn't have got from anywhere else.
The Aftermath.
Commander Deepak Dhankher, the Officer-in-charge of the decommissioned ship, one day, had called me up with a profuse apology for not inviting me and had said that he'd like to pay a visit to my place at Guruvayur so that he could meet me in person to say a few things and convey his apologies. Knowing the arduous journey from Port Blair to the mainland and back, I'd told him that such an exercise solely for tendering an apology could be avoided as it involved spending a lot of public money. I'd let it at that, thinking that he'd taken my sage counsel.
The Apology.
Yesterday, Deepak had called me up from Kochi inquiring about my presence at home today so that he could drop by. I was only glad to meet up with him. Accordingly, he'd come by this morning around a half past 11. He was profusely apologetic and told me that the team that was organising and co-ordinating the decommissioning ceremony was not able to collate the information of all those who'd served, including the retired brethren, even after contacting the directorate in the Naval Headquarters that looked after related matters. It was an explanation that could not be digested especially in these days of digital connectivity and I stated it rather bluntly for which the youngster had no reply and left him flummoxed. I'd asked him to tell his bosses to make out an SOP(Standard Operating Procedure) and to get an online connectivity - that is, if it didn't exist, as of now - with all the regional Navy Foundation Charters that have their respective directories which bear detailed information of all naval personnel of the past!
He'd brought in a lot of small mementos like a miniature version of the ship enclosed in a glass case(A Cute one), a white metal plaque with the ship etched on it with the requisite captions, a cap, a tea mug, the metallic scroll containing the names of all those who'd commanded the ship - the fact that I was the second and the only decorated skipper, among the 27 names over a span of 32 years of its commission pumped that extra adrenaline into my system - and a scrap book along with a compact disc covering the decommissioning ceremony.
Earlier, I'd told myself that I'd decline anything sent to me as an after note, consequent to the unpardonable gaffe, but decided to climb down from my rigid stand seeing the trouble that he'd taken and I'd this sneaky suspicion that there was pressure from some quarters after my public airing of disgust.
My only regret was that Lekha wasn't privy to this exchange as she'd gone to Palakkad, this morning, to complete a couple of personal jobs and would be back by tomorrow morning.
Tailpiece.
My classmate, Vipinachandran(Roll No. 432) and his wife, Leena had come calling just before sunset. They'd arrived, earlier in the day, at Guruvayur to attend a family wedding and decided to drop by. It was nice of them to have found the time and I didn't know as to how time flew as Vipin and I nursed a sun downer! The normally quiet Leena was at her conversational best and the three of us got to know each other better by the end of it all.
Learnt a new thing from Vipin. As we're leaving the house, I'd put off the flame of the 'pujamuri' lamp by waving my hand with adequate force. Vipin said that I should avoid it from then on because by doing so I was forcibly putting down the flame, which is another form of the goddess and not considered appropriate! Instead, the flame should be doused with a flower or a leaf or simply by pulling the wick back into the lamp.
Well, there's no end to learning and thanks, Vipin for the lesson!
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