Semper Fidelis

2007 is coming to an end. Another few hours and we will be in a new year. What 2008 has in store, nobody can predict, it is something that only time will tell. However, basing my prediction on what happened in 2007, I guess it is safe to assume that 2008 will be an exciting year.

The year gone by has been a good one. Many things happened, some for the very first time. I got involved in a million different things, met people from all walks of life, experienced various different dimensions and enjoyed it all big time.

As always, there are way too many memories clouding my mind - some good, some bad, some delightfully beautiful while some downright atrocious.

I also met lots of nice people and some not so nice people. Some of them became a part of my life while the others blurred into obscurity.

2007 came with a lot many surprises. The biggest surprise has been the phase shift in my life. Change is good and I truely believe that nothing is permanent except change.

As I log out from 2007, here's wishing everybody reading this blog the very best in their lives. Go people, go touch the sky with glory. There is nothing impossible in this world. Dream, execute and reach your destination.

Semper Fidelis!

The "T" Factor

Tanya called up in the morning, way too early in the morning - 0330 Hrs. She pulled me out of the cozy comfort of my warm blanket. 0350 Hrs saw me standing on the main road, waiting for her to pick me up.

It was freezing cold today morning with a big fog cover hogging the ground. A cold wind was blowing through the trees and thank God for the MES, the street lights were all working. Seems like the AGE (E&M) has pulled up his boys before the New Year.

Tanya had got her car & the moment I entered it, a high db blast of Jim Morrison hit me. Nothing could have been better than hearing The Doors sing Light My Fire on such a cold, wintry morning. Something was amiss, Tanya listening to The Doors and not Led Zeppelin and that too so early in the morning was a bit strange. But then, I have never been able to understand her quirky nature. She is as crazy as it gets!

It was still pitch dark though the MES lights were throwing up haunted shadows through the fog cover. Tanya didn't tell me where we were headed, she just kept on in her sing-along voice. I was mighty pleased that she'd got some eatables and that quintessential of all fauji drinks - Rum and garam paani. If you haven't tried this combination, then do try it out. The Olive Greens, the Snow Whites and the Mighty Blues swear by this heavenly concoction!

We criss-crossed the Cantonment, through a few back roads which I'd never been to before and traveled up the nearby mountains. I heard the sound of booming guns and gave a quizzical look to Tanya. She just shrugged it off and lit up her saviour - Mr Gordon Light aka Gudan Garam. Now that was a heady mix of Mr Old Monk and Mr Gordon Light. Intensity personified.

After traveling a lot of clicks, we finally stopped at the foothills of the mountain. We got down the car and started climbing up through the dirt track that lead to the top. We took about half an hour to climb all the way to the top. Mr Gordon Light was firmly entrenched in her fingers and Tanya made a very dramatic pose on the hilltop.

The first rays of light had started showing up. The entire space was still dark but there was the faint eerie outline of dawn that I find really groovy.

I suddenly realised that we were not alone. There was that distant booming of gunfire yet again though I couldn't locate it with my eyes. Suddenly, Tanya tugged at my arms and directed my sight towards the NW. There, many clicks away, I saw the darkness getting pierced by tongues of flame.

We were on a hilltop, overlooking the Long Range and those orange-red coloured flames were coming out from the barrels of heated up guns. The chaps were doing their zeroing-in and calibration before their move to their KLP for the next few months.

2007 couldn't have ended on a better note. I was on a mountaintop with Tanya - my buddy, my closest friend, co-conspirator and accomplice in many crimes, enjoying a cold wintry morning and towering flames of lights piercing the darkness of the dawn. It was just the both of us out there and the AAD chaps at the Long Range. It was a very magical moment, something that I will always cherish for the rest of my life.

I don't need to say this but for the record, thanks Tanya for your crazy eccentricities! I would love to see you take the Point on our next expedition in Feb 2008.

N.B. - For all those wondering as to why I have put up this picture over here, well, the reason is known to those who know the reason well. LOL!

Aksshe Shatrun Jahi.

Signals - The Nervecentre of Warfare

Control of the battle has always been the concern of commanders down the ages and whoever could exert better control over his own forces and impress his will on his men won. When the armies were small and the distances relatively small, messengers on foot or on horseback sufficed. However, as the battlefields stretched out and the size of the armies increased, such means no longer sufficed. The coming of the artillery also underscored the importance of communications. Necessity being the mother of invention, such changes in the battlefield drove the evolution of the Signals and gave the Corps its unique place in the armies the world over. Signals are essentially the nerves of the Army. The Generals, being the brains of the Army, receive inputs from the troops in contact and from other sources through the Signals. These inputs are processed at the headquarters and converted into action plans. It again falls on the Signals to convey these operational plans to the troops who are to execute them. Feedback on execution gets conveyed back and the battle progresses. It is therefore obvious that the Signals are intimately intertwined in all aspects of the functioning of the army both in war and in peace and are present at all levels and at all places.

Army Radio Engineered Network (AREN): This indigenously conceived area grid radio communication system for the field formations launched more than a decade ago has since grown into a potent tool for the commanders to exercise command & control and automated interoperable information and decision support systems in their area of responsibility.

Army Static Switched Communication Network (ASCON): The ASCON was evolved to integrate the telecommunication infrastructure of the hinterland with the tactical communication networks. It is a digital, fully automated, secure, reliable and survivable static communication system based on microwave radio, optical fibre cable, satellite and milli-metric wave communication equipments. Value added services such as Fax, Telex, data transfer and video are also available to the defence users on this network. The ASCON network is currently being expanded to include all army commands and areas in eastern India and also finalising plans for future expansion of the network. In addition, ASCON's existing microwave links are being replaced with optical fibre cable for increased reliability in communication.

Troposcatter Communication Systems: The Corps of Signals have harnessed the potential of troposcatter communications basically to meet the requirements of mechanised formations operating in rapidly changing tactical environments and for responsive & quickly deployable mobile systems to provide cross linkages and integration with the communication networks in the tactical zones. The digital mobile troposcatter systems are operated by specialized signal groups.

Satellite Communication (SATCOM): Conventional communication systems derived over field & permanent lines and radios could not be satisfactorily established over mountainous and snow-clad areas of borders in India. Hence the Corps has developed expertise and are already exploiting the latest facilities available by using INMARSAT, INSAT, LCTs and ECTs in the low-intensity conflict areas. INMARSAT has been used by the Corps of Signals units deputed for service in Somalia, Rwanda, Mozambique, Cambodia and Angola.

Computer Data Networks: The Corps of Signals has done pioneering work in spreading computer literacy in the Indian Army since the 1960s. Right now the Corps is providing the pivotal role and infrastructure in exploiting Information Technology (IT) for data communications, weapon control and management systems. This fast proliferation of IT is providing an ideal incentive to the IT specialists for both graduates and post-graduates.

Electronic Warfare: This has become one of the most potent force multipliers and a technologically challenging field in which the Corps has developed tremendous expertise. EW has played a stellar role in anti-insurgency and low intensity conflict operations besides the conventional operations conducted earlier in Sri Lanka and recently in Kargil.

Information Technology: In the thrust of the Indian Army to usher into an era of acquiring maximum dividends from IT, the Corps of Signals is the torch bearer and facilitator. Fully automated offices with minimum paper work, improved response timings, fast information dissemination systems, hierarchical management information systems at all levels are some of the areas of thrust.

Static Peacetime Communications: Signals is providing standard subscriber communication services to the Army during peace time by way of telephone, telex, fax, e-mail, voice-mail and data transfer by establishing state-of-art communication systems and networks.

Automatic Message Switching / Handling Systems (AMSS): The Corps is also using a computerised AMSS for handling the high volume message traffic of the Army. This is network connecting the hierarchical nodes where the army formations are deployed.

Blogging In Photographs

Starting upon a new thread on photography, an all consuming passion of mine. I plan to put up some of the craziest pictures that ever came out a photographers camera.

1. How Narayana Murthy reached the top with Infosys!

2. C-130 crash in Iraq - Classic case of why NOTAM's are important.

3. C-130 crash in Iraq - Birds eye perspective.

4. Thunderbird Ejection - An Aviators dream turned into horror.

5. Bird Hit - Is that Tandoori Chicken by any chance :)

6. The Special Forces Club at Phu Bai - Picture from another era (Vietnam War).

If Aviators Became Directors...

711

Aa Ab Loop Marein

Aerodynamics Koi Khel Nahi

Go Round Kiya To Darna Kya

Hamari FRC Apke Paas Hai

Jaanam Fly Karo

Kabhi Spin Kabhi Eject

Landing Ho Naa Ho

Maine Bees Rupaye Ka Form Kyu Bhara

Mi Wale Congo Jayenge

There She Goes...

It all starts here...at the wheels

Next comes the Engine...

Then we add on the fuselage & get onto a dream...

And then finally, we reach out for the stars!

Ushuaiah, the journey begins!

Sky Unlimited

Soft grey clouds interspersed with wafts of cotton white enveloping the sky and making patterns of varying hues on the surface of water. Land sizzling high, water splashing wild and the clouds wafting languorously across the sky. Picture perfect, just the way an ace photographer would have liked to have in order to capture the scenic beauty of this world.

The things that we take for granted the most are the ones around us that help us overcome obstacles, keep our sanity intact and give us a reason to smile. We all are humans and with due apologies to Mr Julius Cesar, I would like to rephrase his oft repeated quote by saying that it is for us humans to err and then make that mistake all over again. My post (Storm & Petals II) is a living testament to this.

Anyway, this post is not on Storm & Petals because that's something which happened in my past. What is now more important for me is to live the present and construct something good for the future. Call it a noble mission or anything else, I am secure in the knowledge that there are a few good men and one less woman to help me out. However, this is not about them but about somebody about whom I have never spoken before.

Have you ever experienced the thrill of riding out a storm, the ecstasy of conquering blinding snow and a terrible blizzard or the euphoria of having tamed a tempest? Have you ever come across a toughened soldier or met a seasoned sailor or maybe came face to face with an aviator who has seen it all while throttling down to earth from high up in the sky? For once try and unhinge your mind from the vagaries of daily life and think about the most beautiful thing that you have experienced in your life so far. Close your eyes, take a deep breath, imagine yourself standing on some lofty peak with the pure mountain air filling your lungs. What do you see? A dream, right?

I am no Paulo Coehlo yet, I know the power of dreams. I firmly believe that dreams are the stepping stones to reality. There is nothing wrong in dreaming, no matter how big or audacious our goal, it is always a good idea to dream. However, we must always be rooted to reality or else we will lose control over who we are.

This post is dedicated to a friend of mine who almost scuttled her dreams once. Something had shattered her, a broken remnant of her past which haunted her no end. But the will-power to overcome obstacles and human endurance finally paid off. My friend is back on track, back to the azure blue sky she loved watching, back to the clouds she loves flying through, back to the stars which she one day wants to touch.

Never stop dreaming my friend because dreams will one day take us to the final fantasy. The endless Space beckons us all. Viva le ciel!

Storm & Petals II

The picture that you see above is that of a Hawker Tempest Mk. V. Made in the heydays of the second world war, the Tempest was in service with the RAF.

It indeed is a Tempest that I find myself in right now. Never thought that such a thing would ever be possible. I was naive enough to believe whatever was said. I should have been more prudent in approach & shouldn't have taken everything at face value.

Have you had the chance to read Robert Frost's The Road Not Taken? The poem starts beautifully with...

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth.

The poem is as much an assertion of individualism as it is a scathing mockery of people who are perennially hesitant to walk the right path. The best part in the poem is in the last stanza wherein Robert Frost says...

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

Something sure has made all the difference, something that never occured to me before. I'm still finding it weird to realise that I went along with it all these days. Feelings, emotions, the time spent together, the things shared between us, the said, the unsaid, the felt and the understood. Was it all a lie? Was it nothing more than a play of words? No matter how much I try and be rational over here, it just doesn't add up.

It feels as if suddenly something has become disjointed from you. The abruptness of it all has certainly taken me by surprise. Maybe it was my fault that I didnt read the signals along the way. When I look back, there were things, blaring and screaming at me. I knew them also but everytime I tried discussing them, it was brushed aside. And then yesterday, the whole thing blew up.

Looking at it right now, I can make out that it wasn't abrupt at all. It was a very gradual yet secretive thing that build up over the past few months. And like a fool I had blinkers on my eyes and was made to feel as if things are going in the right direction. Yeah, right direction it sure is but on a different path. Like Robert Frost, I have always travelled the road less travelled but this time I wanted to do something more common. Probably it was intentional that I was pushed onto it this time around.

Are you wondering why I'm writing all this? To be honest, even I don't know. Probably because I never expected this to happen, atleast not this way. It would be an understatement if I say that I'm feeling cheated and made fun of. And to think of, all this had been happening for quite some time. Probably I'm writing this because I don't know what else to do or whom to share this with. My life is an open book but this will go down with me to my grave. Apart from me, there is only one other person who knows this.

We always take for granted what is around us. So this mean that I also do something drastic like a majority of the people normally do? No, I refuse to be bound to customs and traditions.

Does this change anything for me? Yes and No. Yes, it sure has hurt me like hell but No, I won't let this bog me down. Life still continues, doesn't it?

Coming back to the Tempest about which I spoke in the beginning of this post, the last couple of months I'd got settled into my own comfort zone. Never in my life had I ever got into one because I've always known the negative fallout of being in a comfort zone. The day you get into your comfort zone, you become careless and lackadaisical in life. Nothing could be more dangerous than getting into a situation that will throw you into danger.

But this time, I allowed myself to sit back, threw all cautions to the wind and enjoyed the short comfortable stay. No more, never again. Yet again, I've learned one of the biggest lessons of life through a small yet very significant event.

Enough of the problem definition I guess. What about the solution? Simple, I've already put this behind me. I've phenomenol tolerance for such unpleasant surprises that life sometimes throws up at you. For me this event has already paled away into insignificance.

Did this entire thing change me? I guess not, I hate losing my originality. I'll now be more cautious about what happens around me. Enjoy, I will. Fun, I always have. The only thing that is different is that henceforth, it'll be difficult for me to enjoy the good old things in the same manner. In corporate jargon they call it Opportunity Cost.

As always, I don't have any regret nor do I harbour any hurt feelings. Just a wish that Storm & Petals (http://zephyrinsky.blogspot.com/2007/10/storm-petals.html) hadn't withered away like this.

The letters never got replied back or even acknowledged. The SMSes stopped coming long time back. The phone calls have already stopped, infact the cell has not rung in the past 72 Hrs. I'm still at a loss as to whether the innocence and freshness of being somebody's best friend also died an unnatural death.

2007 is coming to a close but this is not the way I wanted to celebrate New Years Eve this time. Nobody wants to be sad while celebrations are happening dime a dozen around you. But oh, what the heck, life goes on. As B*witched sang long ago, 'C'est la vie!'.

Les amis à jamais

She is back. Back with a bang!

It was yesterday when the wheels of change started turning again. She walked in from the main gate, straight down the foyer & into my arms. Sounds way too filmy but thats how it was.

I was talking to a friend over dinner when I sensed her coming to me. I didnt even have to turn back to know that she was there. I knew it. It was in the air. I excused myself from my friend, turned around, my arms automatically opened up, I offered my hand to congratulate her (she'd just done something very big in life) & in less than what it takes you to blink your eyes I found ourselves hugging each other. I am not lying but this was the best embrace that I've had in my life so far. Nothing else mattered to me at that instant, everything around us faded away to obscurity.

She is back & things are back to normal. I always knew (http://zephyrinsky.blogspot.com/2007/09/band-of-brothers-spirit-of-friendship.html) that one day we'll get back together, it was just a question of time.

It feels great to have you back buddy. I know that we've missed out on many things over these past few months but hey, we can always catch up.

Mercedes Benz, Rolls Royce, Boeing & finally Arianespace! They all are up for grabs.

Welcome back!