From near and far.

Yet another news analysis about the ones that are currently making headlines. So, without much ado, let's get down to brass tacks.

 (a) The Chinese President's Visit to Nepal.

       Before landing in India to have his informal meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi,
       Chinese President Xi Jinping had visited Nepal. It's interesting to note the list of agreements
       signed between the two countries viz.:-

          (i) A 70-km rail link to connect Gyiron in Tibet with Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal as part
               of China's Belt and Road initiative.
         (ii) Alongside, a proposed 28-km road tunnel will more than halve the distance to the Chinese
               border from Kathmandu, saving on time and cost.
        (iii) Officials from both sides signed 20 deals covering trade, water supply and traditional
               medicines.
        (iv) Pledges $439 million assistance to help Nepal's development programmes, which will be
               provided over the next two years.
         (v) Upgrade the Arniko Highway linking Kathmandu with Tatopani transit point - it was shut
               down following the devastating earthquake of 2015 - and open more customs points to
               improve connectivity.

        The Chinese President was emphatic when he said, "We will help Nepal realise its dreams of
        becoming a land-linked country from a land-locked one".

        My take.
   
        China is not keen to have any rivals in the region and it perceives India as the greatest threat in
        this regard. It has been trying desperately to wean away the SAARC countries into its fold which
        has been its diplomatic strategy to contain India. Only Pakistan seems to have gone by its
        diktats; Sri Lanka has burnt its fingers with the Hambantota port development by the Chinese!


  (b) Neither Forethought nor Planning!

              The houseboats on the Vembanadu Lake in Alappuzha district have attracted tourists from
              far and wide and has a great money making potential. The greatest problem today is the
              discharge of sewage waste by houseboats that chokes the lake. The amicus curiae appointed
              by the High Court has suggested that action was required to prevent pollution and
              construction of resorts alongside the Vembanadu backwaters. The absence of a waste
              treatment plant in Alappuzha is considered a great deficiency1

              My take.

              When the project was thought of at the beginning, don't tell me that the planners never
              thought about the various contingencies and initiated necessary measures. Wonder how
              decisions are made? It's a sad reflection of our lack of thinking and original thought. Hope
              that the necessary remedial measures will be put in place at the earliest!


Tailpiece.

Had gone to town to give the clothes for dry cleaning, Lekha's watch for repairs, pay the monthly water bill and do up the puncture in the left rear tyre.

 

     
  

"Valiant were their deeds, undying be their memories".

This is the epitaph that greets a visitor at the IPKF (Indian Peace Keeping Force) Memorial, at Colombo, built by Sri Lanka to honour the soldiers and sailors of the Indian Armed Forces, who'd made the supreme sacrifice while defending that country consequent to the Indo-Sri Lankan Accord of Jun '87. I, too, was a member of the IPKF and the ship that I was commanding - INLCU L 36 - was operating close to the Jaffna Lagoon at the time of this incident.

Dateline 12 Oct!

Today, we pay homage to the brave soldiers of 13 Sikh Light Infantry(Then led by Maj Birendra Singh, VrC (P) and 10 Para Commando, commanded by Maj Sheonan Singh, VrC - part of the operation "Jaffna Helidrop". Launched on the midnight of 12 Oct 1987, the operation was planned as a fast heliborne assault to capture the LTTE leadership at Jaffna University building which served as the Tactical Headquarters of the LTTE.

Unknown to the Indian intelligence, the LTTE had intercepted Indian radio communications, had advance knowledge of the operation and had correctly identified the landing ground. Jaffna University had been turned into a fortress. Several 0.50 calibre machine guns had been moved to the north of the football field and LTTE cadres had laid an ambush for the Indian troops.

As the troops were heli-dropped, they came under intense fire. In many cases, the soldiers were not able to see the LTTE snipers and attackers. After the Sikh Li's radioman was shot early on, the unit lost contact with the Indian High Command at Palaly Air Base. Further insertions of Indian troops could not be made due to the firing and 30 Sikh LI soldiers were left in the battleground on their own devices.

Through the night, the Sikh LI fought fiercelessly even as the men fell one by one, Maj Birendra Singh and his Platoon Commander, Subedar Sampuran Singh fell to enemy fire sometime in the morning. By 1130 hrs on 12 Oct, Delta Company was down to three jawans surviving. When they ran out of ammunition, the three survivors attempted a brave bayonet charge. Two were cut down by LTTE gunfire and the last man, Sepoy Gora Singh, was taken POW. When the Indian Army finally reached the area after a week of heavy firing, they found the battlefield littered with pieces of Sikh LI's uniforms and equipment, along with thousands of 0.50 MG shells. Gora Singh, after his release, reconstructed the happenings of this day as one of the most poignant battles in the history of the Indian Army.

The fallen Sikh soldiers were stripped off their weapons, uniforms and equipment and their bare bodies laid out in a row at the nearby Buddhist Nagaraja Vihar temple. The mortal remains of the fallen troops were burnt with a barrel of oil.

In total, the Delta Company lost 29 men killed in action, accounting for almost all of the Sikh LI casualties. The Para Commandos lost six men in the battle.

The 13th Sikh LI now holds a special Ardas and Akhand Path on 12 Oct, every year, to honour their 30 fearless comrades on the brutal killing fields of Jaffna University. Salute to these brave men who lost their lives for a war which was not their own. They merely followed orders and fought for the #izzat of their 'Paltan', the Indian Army and the nation.

Jai Hind.


Tailpiece.

It was, indeed, a quiet Sunday and during the course of the day, the first set of clothes were washed and the unpacking was completed. Lekha's advice about returning yesterday itself was right.

Back at 'The Quarterdeck'.

We were up at a half past 5, had gone through our chores and left Suresh and Sindhu's house by a quarter past 7. Madhavan Nair sir had some nice words to say when I'd invited him to Guruvayur and he seemed to be keen!

Our first stop was at the Mohanachandrans'. He has improved to a great extent from what we saw of him during the Old Boys' day in July. He, now:-

  (a) makes eye contact while you speak to
        him and recognises people.
  (b) smiles as you recall anecdotes and
        narrate events.
  (c) walks with the help of a stick and with
        support.
  (d) reads the newspaper every morning.
  (e) gave Lekha and me a parting
        handshake.

After spending about 45' with him and his family, we resumed our journey and reached Lekha's sister's place for breakfast. We, then, drove to Raj Nivas and spent some time there. While waiting for the light at the Kottarakkara junction, a guy on a scooter rubbed his vehicle on the front bumper of the Chevy. Since we'd to go a long way with a lot many things to do, I'd not pursued him and let him go and the car had just come out of a long overhaul and touch up. Given a chance, I'd have given a tight slap across his face and asked him to get it corrected, pronto! 

Spoke to my parents as is my custom and loaded the washed clothes and a few other items that we'd left during the journey onward. The continuing rain has seen the sprouting of a fresh set of weeds much to my angst and we experienced rain - blinding, at certain places - enroute. Had topped up the Chevy and checked tyre pressure at the Kottarakkara bunk when Suresh, its owner who took it up on himself to service us, told me that the left rear tyre may be having a puncture but since it was tubeless, I could drive through without apprehensions! Lunch was at Motel Aram at Alappuzha where Tommy had looked after us. The choke points at Vyttila, Palarivattom and Aluva were clogged with traffic, with blinding rain in accompaniment and a lot of time was wasted.

On reaching Guruvayur, we'd stopped at the department store to buy fresh provisions. But the unfortunate part was that I'd forgotten to replenish one of Lekha's medicines. Bad show, Rajeev!

The Quarterdeck was opened up, a partial unpacking was done and the clothes for washing/drywash were segregated for handling tomorrow. Lekha had, meanwhile, rustled up a fine supper and it was 'pipe down' at our usual time.


Tailpiece.

Was back after a break of 16 days. The newspaperboy has been told to drop the newspapers from tomorrow. Our landline telephone is unserviceable and I believe that the entire BSNL network is down! 

Back at Thiruvananthapuram.

The day had begun liesurely for us at 6 AM. Went through our chores and were ready well on time. Vichita, the lady-chef-on-trai ning from Kasaragod made a lovely omelette for me as I struck conversation with her. She has spent just three months and has another year and seven months to go, to complete her training.

Our sa'arthi to the airport, Mr. Saan, had parked his vehicle well away from the hotel's approaches and it was after Vijayakumar had asked the tour operator regarding his whereabouts, that, he came huffing and panting, saying that he had arrived there quite early.

He drove through a shorter route and reached the airport taking only an hour. The flight to Kuala Lumpur was short and uneventful and we'd about 8 hrs to kill before our connecting flight at 2205 hrs. Snacks and coffee, alongwith a take away sandwich as pre-flight dinner snack were collected followed by window shopping couldn't eat away the hours of the long wait. However, it was managed through the browsing of a long list of What'sApp messages and the perusal of the mail. Lekha was also able to pick up a couple of things that she'd planned before. I dunno why I did it but had given her a dressing down, making her break into tears. Realising my boorishness, I'd apologised to her soon after. Wonder whether it took away the singe of the episode?

The boarding gate was shifted half an hour prior to boarding, creating a bit of confusion among the passengers! The flight was full of Malayalees, who were announcing their subsequent plans on the top of their voices. And most of them were armed with liquor bottles bought from the duty free shops!

The return flight had taken off half an hour late but made good the loss during the journey. On landing, the immigration guys were pathetic - their aim seemed to be to  simply harrass, for example, one guy wanted us to remove the belt while the other didn't! The Mango Cabs' driver, Sebastian, dropped us at Suresh's house soon after.

Can never gorget the sight of Madhavan Nair sir wide awake and eagerly awaiting our arrival!


Tailpiece.

A nice, cute holiday and a great experience.

To Phi Phi Island and back.

The day had begun at 4 AM for us. There was a nagging worry in my mind - on account of Lekha - on two counts viz.:-

    (a) the irregular sleeping times that we
          have been following, dictated by our
          travel/sight seeing requirements.
    (b) the inter boat transfers involved in
          today's outing.

We were ready on the dot, after breakfast.
The vehicle was anout 15' late to arrive. The drive to the Paddadda Pier took almost an hour because of the morning, office going
traffic. On reaching the pier, the grouping of the guests was done in a professional and systematic manner. The six of us were slotted into the 'Green group' - which allows the organisers to seat us in the boats for effective headcounts on transfers and for lunch.

We'd boarded a sleek ocean going yacht, with three decks, which ferried us for over two hours till a smaller landing craft into which we were transferred to head for the Long Beach Island of the Phi Phi group of islands. Tcraft had done an excellent beaching giving us a hard, dry ground to disembark but the clearance of the ship's ramp door, from the beach, was a bit higher than normal. Lekha had begun to step down when her left knee had bent and to my utter horror, I saw her lying on her back on the ramp door with her left leg bent grotesquely, with her foot dug into the sand. I grabbed her foot and released it from the sand quickly and eased her on to both her feet - thankfully, averting a disaster and a quick recheck confirmed that there was nothing to worry! Phew!

For the next two hours, we were on our own and we chatted about a whole lot of things, while our friends and the others were busy with other activities like snorkeling and swimming. Lunch was at a half past 12 and by a half past 1, we were transferred in small boats to load the landing craft which, in turn, brought us to the mother ship which transferred us to the pier by a quarter past 4. The air conditioning within it was uncomfortably harsh and I required all levels of control not to make it an issue. On disembarkation, each of us got a porcelein plate that had our photographs imprinted on it.

We returned to the hotel and after that, I'd gone across to a nearby bank, to exchange into local currency as there was a crunch in my valet for Bahts.

It was a quiet evening and we'd our dinner at our hotel itself. It was also an occasion for an early pipe down.


Tailpiece.

Surprisingly, both of us - Lekha and I - did not feel tired, the lack of the afternoon siesta, notwithstanding.
          

At Phuket.

The day had begun at 0530 hrs, we had gone through the chores and were ready on the dot. By a half past 8, we'd set off for Bangkok, the sad part was that we couldn't meet up with Crees before our departure. Mr. Naan was our driver and he finished the Pattaya-Bangkok stretch in just about two and a half hours! We were at the Bangkok airport before 11.

The check in formalities were quickly completed and we'd packed our lunch from the Burger King stall at the airport. The flight was on time and it had taken off by 1325 hrs. The lunch was wolfed down soon after take off, so hungry were we then!

Our flight had landed before 1500 hrs and Phuket was in my sight for the first time - had heard about it being the US Navy's Rest and Recuperation port and had also used it for launching forces during many-a-wargame at the Staff College. The beauty is that it has retained much of its old world charm and that's its attraction. We're put up at the Hotel Horizon Patong overlooking the beach.

Emm, at the reception was cheerful and very helpful. The bellboys were tipped with the stock of Baht coins, that I and Lekha had by now sufficiently piled up .over the last week and weren't they thrilled?

After an hour's break, we were back in our maxicab, hurtling towards the drama spectacular, "Fantasea - the fantasy of a kingdom", which boasted of a large star cast! Dinner had preceded the show.

It was comparatively an early evening because, tomorrow we begin at 7, for the outing to Phi Phi Island and the serial is gonna take up the entire day!


Tailpiece.

The backlog of washing the undergarments was sorted out before we had cast off for the evening's programme.

A day that was spent well.

The day had begun on a depressing note that was an extension of an unpleasant episode that took place last night. The guy at the reception had misbehaved with my friend, Vijayakumar, who had asked for additional tea sachets and had added that the hotel should be lavish in the provisioning of such basic things to the guests.

The guy - sadly, an Indian married to a Thai woman - heard it as 'rubbish' and had taken off on that, bad mouthing all Indians saying that they needed everything free! Completely unaware of the episode, I'd called up the reception for the same stuff only to be told that I'd be supplied with it in the morning. And when I'd called him up this morning at 0600 hrs, he said that the house keeping staff would report only at 0800 hrs and I'd to wait until then. Mind you, this is happening in the hospitality sector!

Anyways, on our way to the day's event at around a half past 8, his boss, Crees, was apprised of the matter and the matter was resolved amicably after an apology was tendered by the errant staff.

The day's event was our visit to the Cocoa Island. It involved changing two speedboats midstream which was difficult for Lekha and a few others in the group but Lekha, being a fighter, gave it all her heart and all her soul and did brilliantly well to tide over the difficulties. Parasailing, snorkeling and handling water scooters were the activities and we were on a spectator mode. A nice lunch was served on completion and after an hour's break in our hotel, we were taken on a city tour by Mr. Chang who became our guide and photographer. The visit to the Gem Museum, followed by the trip to the hill temple, gave us nice sights of the city of Pattaya.

We, then, had returned to our room to give Lekha's feet a much needed rest and had ordered dinner to our room. Our friends had gone for the evening outing and once they were back, insisted upon us to join them which we utilised for a freewheeling conversation.


Tailpiece.

Two queries were uppermost in my mind after having spent so many days in Thailand viz.:-

 (a) Why does the Hotel Grand Bella, that
       thrives on Indian tourists, misbehave
       with them? It needs to stop this
       practice forthwith.

 (b) Why does flesh trade thrive in this
       proud and well behaved country? The
       sight of very young girls soliciting for
       customers, in the vicinity of Walking
       street, was a depressing sight.

I'm of the opinion that a country whose citizens are very well behaved - seldom use their vehicular horns even in the thickest of traffic - deserves a better deal.