“There is not a word yet, for old friends that you’ve just met” – Jim Henson We were a batch of 297 coursemates at the National Defence Academy (NDA). And even though we all went our separate ways towards careers in the Army, Navy and Air Force on graduation in…
Fauji Motto – If it is simple, make it difficult!
As most of my 12 readers will know, I spent 35 years plus in the Navy. And, I loved every moment of it – the camaraderie, the ceremonies, the uniform, everything. The stand out feature of the Navy however, was the ability of the powers that be, to add a…
May God Bless Ms Madhu Sapre – a True Miss Universe!
Most of my 12 readers will know that the Navy conducts a ‘Navy Nite’ (earlier called the ‘Navy Ball’) every year sometime in early December as part of the Navy Week festivities. This Ball is quite popular amongst the citizenry of some of our major cities, especially Mumbai, Delhi and…
What’s in a Name? Or for that matter, in a Number?
The Navy decided one fine day, sometime in 2011, that handsome Captain RK Dahiya (my seven readers will know that that is me) was the most appropriate guy to commission (ceremoniously induct) a new ship for our Navy from, and in, Russia. Excited at this honour, and pumped to the…
Robbery at the Salon!
Though humans have always had a strange fascination for hair (You can read about my earlier article about this here), the Armed Forces care little for vanity. Consequently, having joined the Navy 35 years ago, I must confess that ‘salons’ were uncharted terrritories things for me. Haircuts in the Armed…
‘Cross country runs’ and ‘hell’ are surely synonyms
This post is dedicated to our dear departed course-mate, the ever smiling, ever positive, Joginder Chandna. Chandna was born to run and was, to my amazement, happiest when participating in Marathons, burning up the miles with his graceful and fluid running strides. May his soul rest in eternal peace. My…
What is the greatest equaliser? Try Naval life!
Having just been promoted to Captain in the Navy, I was called to Naval Headquarters, New Delhi for some work. Ordinarily, an official move such as this should be a smooth affair, with vehicle and accommodation being arranged by the Navy. Equally ordinarily however, the vehicle remains elusive. But surprise,…