A heady mix!

Reminiscences of a man in uniform.

What is Army?

Army is :-

When a cold and shivering jawan gets you a cup of hot tea on a patrol break at 13,000 ft.

When your sixth sense tells you there is something wrong with a guy at 50 metres.

When you meet with an accident and the first thing you check is the serviceability of your legs.

When you speak the language of your boys.

When you sit from dusk to dawn in an ambush on Valentine's day, you know army is giving you the
red rose.

When you are a master at pump stove, lanterns, solar lights, bukharis and travelling in trains without
reservations.

When you know more about cramps and cold injuries than your average doctor.

When a girl in the pub is indicated by clock-ray method.

When only your sahayak can dig out the thing you want from your rucksack.

When your pain submits to your will.

When you find it funny when your relative says he's going on a holiday to a hill station.

When your profession is a matter of discussion during marriage proposals.

When you do not believe in ghosts but do believe in Peer Baba and other high altitude babas.

When you know the real meaning of camouflage, in field, in parties, in unit routine and in your own house.

When you can live anywhere, with anybody, on anything nature can offer.

When you know this LMG will be resited by everybody up the ladder, till it comes back to where you had sited it initially.

When somebody asks, "Do you play Golf?" and you look at the brass on your shoulder and say "Not yet".

When you are the biggest consumer of foot powder, DMP oil, water sterilization kit, ORS packets and Meals-Ready-to-Eat-in-the-Army.

When you give it all that you have got and some more.

When you are the only one to get trained in bayonet fighting. And expect it to happen.

When your girlfriend thinks you are Rambo, Commando, Gladiator and Braveheart, all rolled into one. Your Commanding Officer, by the way, thinks you are none.

When the Politician and the Bureaucrat state, "What is so special about the Army", without realizing that an Army-man can do their job, better than them, but they cannot do an Army-man's job and it is the same Army-man who bails them out whenever they fail.

When you get lost in a multiplex with signboards but are at ease in a jungle with a compass.

When you can die for, what you've lived for.

That's the great INDIAN ARMY.......People call it ARMY, We call it LIFE.

This is what is meant by being, "Unashamedly sentimental".

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I've become a great fan of Wheelchair Basketball, of late, because a classmate of mine, Captain Louis George, IN is the national women's team's coach! Our class has adopted Ishrat Jahan from Kashmir!! Pinpointing her location at Anantnag, in Kashmir and making it possible for her to attend the coaching session in Madras - prior to the recently concluded Oceania Championship at Pattaya, Thailand - was thanks to the painstaking efforts of Colonel Isenhower, who is yet another classmate of mine.

SPORT CLASS

In wheelchair basketball, all players are classified accordingly to their level of injury/ability to move on the court.

The players who are agile and are able to perform all duties well - catching, bending, throwing etc get a classification of 4.5.

The lowest classification is 1.0

Spinal cord injury players are generally low classification players.

Players who are amputees are generally 4.5

During a match, the total classification of all the playing five should not exceed 14.0 points.

So classification points could be :-

1.0
1.5
2.0
2.5
3.0
3.5
4.0 or
4.5

Spinal cord injury players are normally 2.0 or below.

Other injuries could be single leg amputee, double leg amputee, amputation below the knee, amputation above the knee, polio, spinal bifida, spinal cord injury etc.


Tailpiece.

A quiet Sunday. Lekha and I had gone to the super market, nearby, to purchase grocery just prior to lunch.

Memorizing Sanskrit Mantras Makes You Super Intelligent.

Don't teach us Ba Ba Black Sheep, Teach : Vakrathunda maha kaaya........

Western researchers reveal why children who memorize Sanskrit 'mantras' become super intelligent as they grow up.

Neuroscience shows how rigorous memorizing can help the brain. The term 'Sanskrit Effect' was coined by neuroscientist, James Hartzell, who studied 21 professionally qualified Sanskrit pandits. He discovered that memorizing Vedic mantras increases the size of brain regions associated with cognitive function, including short and long-term memory. This finding corroborates the beliefs of the Indian tradition which holds that memorizing and reciting mantras enhances memory and thinking.

Dr Hartzell's recent study raises the question whether this kind of memorization of ancient texts could be helpful in reducing the devastating illness of Alzheimer's and other memory affecting diseases. Apparently, Ayurvedic doctors from India suggest it is the case and future studies will be conducted, along with more research into Sanskrit.

While we all know the benefits of mindfulness and meditation practices, the findings of Dr Hartzell are truly dramatic. In a world of shrinking attention spans, where we are flooded with information daily and children display a range of attention deficit disorders, ancient Indian wisdom has much to teach the West (and their 'modernised' intellectual serfs in the East). Even introducing small amounts of chanting and recitation of the common Sanskrit mantras like 'Gayatri Mantra' daily could have an amazing effect on all our brains.

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A Military Trivia

Who was Eve Yvonne Maday de Maros?
Unfortunately, most of us may not have heard of her........she was

 * a Swiss child of a Hungarian father and Russian mother.
 * a painter, a dancer, an artist and a student of Hinduism.
 * a love struck teenager who eloped to India.
 * a polyglot fluent in English, French, Hindi, Marathi, Sanskrit, etc.
 * wife of the GOC, Delhi at the first Republic Day parade.
 * author of "Saints of Maharashtra" and sadhvi of the Ramakrishna Mutt.

She was born on 20 Jul 1913. Her father fought in the Hungarian army in WW I and was later a
professor of sociology in Geneva. Her mother had been a student of her father and was later a teacher at the Rousseau Institute. As a 16 year old, the precocious Yvonne met a handsome cadet of the Royal Military Academy while holidaying at Chamonix. She followed the cadet to Sandhurst and realised that he was an Indian. Despite parental opposition, she came to Bombay and then to Auranfabad and married Capt (Later Maj Gen) Vikram Khanolkar!

But the reason that Indians should know about Eve Yvonne Maday de Maros (aka Savitri Khanolkar after marriage to Maj Gen Vikram Khanolkar) is because of a task that was given to her by the Adjutant General of the Indian Army - Maj Gen Hira Lal Atal. He had asked her to design gallantry medals for independent India. It was she who designed the Param Vir Chakra, Maha Vir Chakra, Vir Chakra, Ashok Chakra, Keerti Chakra, Indian General Service Medal, etc.

Incidentally, Savitri Khanolkar's daughter, Kumudini got married into a much decorated military family. Savitri's son-in-law Lt Gen Surinder Sharma, PVSM, AVSM became the Engineer-in-Chief of the Indian Army. His younger brother General VN Sharma, PVSM, AVSM was the Chief of Indian Army when Savitri died in 1990. Their eldest brother, Major Somnath Sharma had died in battle while fighting infiltrators at Srinagar airport in 1947. He was the 1st recipient of the Param Vir Chakra designed by his brother's mother-in-law!


Tailpiece.

An uneventful Saturday. Around a half past 6, a tearful Girija, my cousin called up to say that her husband, Venugopal passed into the mist of time in the wee hours of the morning. She'd lost her brother-in-law - differently abled since birth - 50 days back. Venugopal was dull ever since!

FAQs regarding CAB (Citizenship Amendment Bill).

I thought I must remove doubts that many people might have regarding the just-passed Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) passed by the Parliament. Here are a few frequently-asked-questions (FAQs) 
and their answers.

 1. Does the CAB affect Indians (Hindus, Muslims, anyone)?
    No. It has nothing to do with Indians in any way.

 2. Whom does it apply to?
     Only to Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists and Chtristians from 3 countries - who are facing
     religious persecution - in those countries and who are already in India before 01 Dec 2014.

 3. Which three countries?
     Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.

 4. In what way does it benefit Hindus, Sikhs, Jains and Christians from these three countries?
     Their residency requirement has been reduced from 11 years to 5 years. They can claim
     citizenship as a right under this law.

 5. Does this mean that Muslims from these three countries can never get Indian citizenship?
     No. But they will go through the usual process of acquiring citizenship through naturalization
     rules......11 years of residence etc..

 6. Will illegal Muslim immigrants from these 3 countries be automatically deported under this 
     Bill?
     No. The usual process applies. Their application for naturalization may or may not be granted
     depending on their eligibility.

 7. Can Hindus facing persecution in other countries apply under this law?
     No.

 8. Does this Bill apply to other forms of persecution - political, racial, sexual etc?
     No. The Bill is very specific in its intend - Hindus....religious persecution....3 countries.

 9. Why only these three countries? And why only religious persecution of Hindus?
     These 3 countries have a track record of pervasive, systematic and institutionalised persecution
     of Hindus.

10. What about Sri Lankan Tamils?
      (a) the war has been over for a decade now.
      (b) There never was any persecution on religious lines. It was on racial lines.
      And for over the decades of civil war, the Sri Lankans have put an end to institutionalised
      discrimination of Tamils.

11. Doesn't India have an obligation under the UN to take care of refugees?
      Yes, it does. And it is not shying away from it. But it has no obligation to offer citizenship.
      Each country has its own rules for naturalization. India is not going to turn away other refugees
      under this law. It will play host to them under the UN rules, in the implicit expectation that some
      day they will return to their homelands when the conditions improve.

12. Why shouldn't Baluchis and Ahmediyas in Pakistan, Rohingyas in Myanmar not be
      considered for this kindness?
      They will be considered under the existing laws, not under the special category.

Note. Thus we find that it does not affect anyone of us within India but agitations, egged on by certain mischievous elements, continue. Governments of non-BJP states pass resolutions against the CAA in their Assemblies. If it's not affecting anyone, why are we fighting against it? A mischief in the making?


Tailpiece.

It was another quiet day when we went about doing our usual work. Sorted out a few problems for people whom I'd promised. Glad that I was able to do them!
     
     

Where has all the money gone from the system?

At the moment, it does look as if people are waiting. Waiting to Individual spends over a certain amount now need an identifier - PAN or Aadhaar.

What's happened to the Indian economy? From an aspiring 10% growth, we are struggling to do half of that. The mood is down. Consumers are not buying. Household savings are at a low. Corporates are not investing. Gold prices have fallen. Real estate is still comatose. Just the stock market has the steam to keep rising higher. Clearly, there is something deeper to this story - what's going on with the Indian consumers, savers, investors and entrepreneurs? And why is the market up, when data on consumption, spending, confidence, jobs and growth shows only gloom. On one side, the reasons for this skid off the growth path are said to do with demonetisation, a botched GST, the persistent bank NPA problems, the shadow banking mess and hardening of rules. The other argument looks at this being a result of an attempt to switch the Indian business model towards formalisation. Whatever may be the reason for the skid, the result right now is a slump in the mood of the economic participants.

One way to look at the problem from 30,000 feet and connect the macro dots and the other is to try and stitch together a narrative based on conversations, interactions and stories gathered over a few months. One such story that has begun to emerge out of such conversations across a wide spectrum of stakeholders is this : a part of the discretionay spend in India has been linked to non-tax-paid money since most Indians do not see the sense of paying the government a share of their incomes (the number of individual taxpayers remains at a tiny 8 crore out of a population of 137 crore) and have found plenty of ways to stay out of the tax net, including multiple PANs, benami properties, cash payments for high-value goods like cars and so on. A large part of the circle of cash has been anchored in real estate - that was both the sump as well as the generator of more non-tax-paid cash and would lead to more discretionary spend in cash. The crackdown on corruption by the Narendra Modi government has created a strange situation where there is a circling of the cash economy using a multi-pronged approach so that cash and its use will come into visibility, but the root cause of cash - corruption - is not yet in check. The rates for violating a rule have actually gone up rather than down, rent seeking rates are up, the cash component in property deals is up rather than down (but it must be said that the availability of all white deals has improved) and the municipal, police and government corruption has not abated. So cash is still getting generated but its use is now in question.

People with cash need to either spend or invest. But spends over a certain amount now need an identifier - PAN or Aadhaar - and while multiple PANs are still there, the tax-PAN-Aadhaar link makes it more difficultto use them. Benami large-ticket purchases in cash have not disappeared but are getting more difficult. People with cash seem to be responding with either reducing the value of their purchases or simply delaying it. If you can't spend, then you need to invest it. Cash can go into gold or real estate, but even gold purchases over Rs.2 lakh need a PAN. Real estate is the last surviving sump of cash - this is one asset whose ownership is not linked to Aadhaar all over the country - but there has been an increase in the scrutiny in this space as well, especially with the Benami Transactions Act getting teeth. But the slump in the sector makes real estate a poor investment for those wanting to rotate their money. Also deals over Rs.10 lakh need a PAN card. Again, the PAN , tax, Aadhaar link makes using multiple PANs difficult, though not impossible yet. So, is the money going to the stock market?

Markets rise when investors put more money into it than take it out. The high valuations point to a thick pipeline of institutional and retail money through SIPs and a part of the real estate money that got tired and has begun to shift to the market. This money is now a part of the formal economy. And this money is hungry for an investment opportunity - look at the over subscription of the IRCTC issue, in particular and most other IPOs getting the money they need off the market.

But there is still plenty of money waiting on the side. What happens to the cash money? Will it come into the system or keep waiting? At the moment, it does look as if the people are waiting. Waiting to see the old way come back where the circle of cash can resume and in the meantime they are just sitting on cash. While holding cash, they worry about the Rs.2,000 note that could get replaced by the Rs.1,000 one anytime. That they will find a way to convert that useless into a useful note one more time is sure, but the effort and cost is getting tiring. If the old way does not return, then this cash will have no option but to come back into the system through consumption and investments. Which will happen first is possibly the question on which India's future as an economic power depends. Will this government be able to kick-stsrt consumption to tide over the current slump and rekindle the economy, hold on to power for the cash economy to give up or will the push back against formalisation find a political voice. I had thought that the 2019 election was that moment where the politics was going to define the economics, but it seems the wait is still on for the cash-wallahs on a political change that will bring back the cash way.

Monika Halan is consulting editor at Mint and writes on household finance, policy and regulation.

My take.

An interesting articulation!


Tailpiece.

The morning walk was refreshing and nice. Lekha had gone to the Guruvayur temple as part of her weekly tryst by about a half past 9. Couldn't make much headway regarding the perusal of the draft biography!  

Emotional education.

An emotional education may require us to adopt two different starting points. For a start, how we are taught may matter inordinately because we have ingrained tendencies to shut our ears to all the major truths about our deeper selves. Our settled impulse is to blame anyone who lays our blind spots and insufficiencies bare, unless our defences have first been adroitly and seductively appeased. In the face of critically important insights, we get distracted, proud or fidgety. We may prefer to do almost anything other than take in information that could save us.

Moreover, we forget almost everything. Our memories are sieves, not robust buckets. What seemed a convincing call to action at 8 AM will be nothing more than a dim recollection by midday and an indecipherable contrail in our cloudy minds by evening. Our enthusiasms and resolutions can be counted upon to fade like the stars at dawn. Nothing much sticks.

It was the philosophers of ancient Greece who first identified these problems and described the structural deficiencies of our minds with a special term. They proposed that we suffer from akrasia, commonly translated as "weakness of will", a habit of not listening to what we accept should be heard and a failure to act upon what we know is right. It is because of akrasia that crucial information is frequently lodged in our minds without being active in them and it is because of akrasia that we often both understand what we should do and resolutely omit to do it.

Alain de Botton
The School of Life : An Emotional Education.


Tailpiece.

Got up a trifle late by a half past 5, went through the chores and was out of the house, for my walk, by a 5' past 6. Lekha had gone to the Mammiyoor Siva kshetram by about a half past 9. Are the auto rickshaw drivers, of our stand, resentful of the fact that we only call for either Hamid or Sijo, to run our errands?

The draft of Muthachhan's biography, in English, reached by speed post this morning for corrections. I've got three days to do it.

Onions, yet again!

                                   NO ONION MONTH

The Japanese have a tradition wherein for sometime they stop consuming anything that has witnessed an unprecedented price hike.

This leads to a fall in the prices of that commodity.

We should also either completely stop or minimise consuming onions just for a month or 15 days.

This will have a demoralising effect on the hoarders of onions.

Not only that, it will also bring down their prices within one week or ten days.

It's a matter of Demand and Supply!

Spread the word to as many people as you can. Let's see if this small initiative of yours can help bring down the prices of onions.

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An English Translation Of A Tamil Onion Story

An onion, potato and tomato went to the beach. Potato went too far in and drowned.

While returning home, with tears in their eyes on the loss of their friend, the tomato was run over.

Now only the onion was left with tears and God, happy with his devotion, gave him the 'boon' that anybody present when onion is killed, will also cry.

That explains one part.

Soon people started to heat the onion before cutting and did away with tears.

God got angry and said that in future, people will cry even when they buy onions.

And that, friends, is why onion prices are high.

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Interesting Information


Do you know that a simple "hello" can be a sweet one?

I received one recently from my friend, in a mail she sent to me. Here's what she wrote :

    H = How are you?
    E = Everything all right?
    L = Like to hear from you.
    L = Love to see you soon!
    O = Obviously, I miss you.....

So, HELLO!

It has made me smile every time I say hello since then......

             *                          *                            8

How many of these did you know....?

 (a) Babina.              British Army Base in Asia.
 (b) Mhow.               Military Headquarters of War.
 (c) Ambala.             Army Maintenance Base and Logistics Area.
 (d) The Mall.          The Military Administrators Living Line.
 (e) Mess.                 Members of Equal Social Status.
 (f) Yo L camp.        Young Officers Leave camp. As young British officers used to spend their
                                  leave instead of going to Goddamn sick place called London.


Tailpiece.

Today is 'Thrikkarthika'. Ramesh was the first one to knock at the door, to hand over the 21 earthenware lamps. Had gone to the town to buy grocery and fruits. The gas was delivered by lunch time exactly, 24 hrs after Lekha had booked for the replenishment! The lamps were lit up in the evening, 15' after sunset! 'The Quarterdeck', with the lamps lit, looked nice.

An interesting articulation!

A friend of mine had forwarded this articulation which got me thinking......

                        TO BE A SOLDIER OR A CRICKETER?

                           Colonel PS Sangha, Vir Chakra (Retd)

I have a course mate from the Army days who gave me some surprising news. In his younger days he had played cricket for the Services at the Ranji Trophy level. His younger brother, a civilian, was also a cricketer and played one Test match for India. The news was that both these guys were on the pension roll of the BCCI. My friend, who had played more than 25 Ranji Trophy matches, was getting Rs.15,000/- per month as pension and his brother, with his single Test match was getting Rs.3,75,000/- per month. In addition, the BCCI has given a lump sum going up to Rs.1 crore to ex-Test cricketers to help them in their sunset years. Well, I thought that this was indeed a grand gesture of the BCCI to recognise their effort........

It got me thinking on the value system that prevails in our country. I was a soldier in the Army for close to 29 years before I called it quits. During this period I fought in the 1971 Indo-Pak war and was awarded the Vir Chakra for gallantry. This is the third highest gallantry award after thr Param Vir Chakra (PVC) and the Maha Vir Chakra (MVC). The government gives a decoration pay while in service and later as part of the service pension. It started at a low amount which increased with each pay commission. At present I get Rs.3,500/- per month as the decoration pay. For a MVC it is Rs.5,000/- and a PVC gets Rs.10,000/-......

What set me thinking is the value put on a soldier's life.

Most of the gallantry awards are given posthumously. So the awardee is already in the happy hunting grounds and his heirs are left to handle the situation. The dead soldier's family gets a lump sum amount of a few lakhs from the group insurance fund and the pay/pension. All this is a pittance compared to the BCCI dole to ex-cricketers. I remember getting Rs.25,000/- in lieu of 5 acres of land from the Punjab Government for my gallantry award. Compare that with the lakhs and crores you can make for getting medals in Olympics, Asian Games and Commonwealth Games. The conclusion is that a soldier's life is cheap.........

Which brings me to a comparison between a soldier in the battlefield and a cricketer on the pitch. Both face projectiles of differing variety. For the cricketer it is a red/white ball which could be coming at you at a speed close to 150 km/hr. For the soldier it can be a bullet, a bomb or a missile travelling at speeds beyond the speed of sound. The cricketer can hit that ball for a six or just duck under it, or at worst, get hit on the well protected body. The soldier can just pray that the bullet, splinter or missile misses him.....

Both the soldier and the cricketer are doing something for the nation. The cricketer on losing a match just says, "It is only a game". The soldier just cannot think or afford to lose in the battlefield. Also consider that as a cricketer you can get a "Bharat Ratna" for your outstanding achievement. But Field Marshall Sam Manekshaw has not been given that honour despite leading the Army to its greatest military victory which resulted in the formation of Bangladesh........

I sometimes wonder what would be a greater catastrophe to the Indian psyche : losing a cricket match or losing a war to Pakistan?

It makes you think : To Be A Soldier Or A Cricketer????

Tailpiece.

The morning walk was nice. Our dhobhi, Selvam, is convalescing from a minor surgery back at his home town. Clothes had accumulated, over a period, for pressing. Today, his nephew had come by to finish up the backlog.