Down memory lane!

Saw a news column in the NIE, today, that two students of a college in Coimbatore died due to drowning at the Walayar dam. Shanmughan and Tirupathi were doing BTech. What a sad end to two promising lives! Heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families. Om Shanti! Sadgati.

Was taken back in time to Jul 1984 when I'd joined INS Agrani, at Coimbatore, as the management expert on completion of the LLMC (Long Logistics and Management Course) at INS Hamla. I was given a warm welcome and assigned the duties of the Officer-in-charge, MCPO Pre-promotion Course.

The Bureau of Sailors prepared the list, every year, of CPOs (Chief Petty Officers) who were cleared for the next rank - MCPO II (Master Chief Petty Officer Second Class) and sent them in batches every month - all through the year - to do the four-week course at INS Agrani and pass out as MCPOs, on completion. On the last day of the course each of them went up to the Commanding Officer on the 'Requestmen Table' and they were presented with a pair of stripes of the MCPO rank. The sailors celebrated their promotion by wearing the new pair of stripes and joining the training staff at a farewell lunch.

The stipulation that was passed on to us at the teaching faculty was that a guy could fail only once in the course wherein such a trainee went back to his ship but would return to do the course a second time, within that calendar year, and it was mandatory that he had to pass then. One of the first things that I did, with my Commanding Officer's consent, was to clear everyone and make it an all-pass course. I could achieve it by giving a 'retest' for the failed students and cleared all of them, eventually. This was to prevent unnecessary wastage of government money, in the form of TA, on the guys who had to return to do the course where they'd to be mandatorily passed. (This dichotomy was changed by the introduction of a CPO Management Course, wherein, Chief Petty Officers were sent to Agrani to do the course and those who could not pass would not be considered for further promotion). 

I was also made the Secretary of the CSA (Coimbatore Sailing Association). The Commanding Officer was the Commodore of the Sailing Club. Every Sunday morning we used to travel 35 km to Walayar Dam, where we had our sail boats and accessories along with the rescue boat, a powerful motor boat at the stowage accommodation. It was a great attraction, so much so, that the civilian members found it enthralling and joined us in droves.

On my first outing itself, I'd made it clear that while exploring every scope of enjoyment, the participants had to rig up their own boats and secure them, after sailing, with a strict stipulation that beer and lunch would only be rolled out after the completion of all sailing activities. 

We enjoyed the sailing activity at the picturesque Walayar Dam every Sunday and when I read about the mishap, I was saddened. It would have been due to negligence in taking care of the safety aspect, for sure!

An add on

The entire INS Agrani rejuvenation team - under then Captain THR Iyer - was in place by Jun '84 and its reputation as a tautly run establishment, spread all over the Indian Navy.

The other members of the rejuvenation team were as follows :-

         * Lt Cdr AC Jose                 Executive Officer

         * Lt Cdr Ravi Ponappa        Logistics Officer

         * Lt Cdr PK Banerjee          Training Officer

         * Lt Cdr L Radhakrishnan   Education Officer

         * LT (SDG) GS Deol            Syndicate Officer

         * Lt HS Sidhu                                   "

         * Lt K Rajeev Nair                           "

         * Lt DS Kannan                                "

         * Lt RBG Nair                                   "

         * Surg Lt G Vishwanath         Medical Officer

         * Lt (SDAE) SR Murthy         Oi/c A & EHU

Lt Col CT Somaiah, the CO of the 110 TA Battalion, nearby, stayed in the mess and he was an active member in all our activities.

Of the above, Cdr AC Jose, Lt DS Kannan, Lt Cdr (SDAE) SR Murthy and Lt Col CT Somaiah have passed into the mist of time. Tears and prayers for the departed souls!

Tailpiece.

Got up at a trifle before 6, the chores and Rajish's medical team had come by a half past 7 to draw my blood for the FBS and for the PPBS, after two hours.

Was ready by a half past 9.

The maid took a day off as her granddaughter had taken ill.