The Gift

For a moment, just think of this...

It is one of those random ordinary days, the birds are chirping sitting in the trees and the fan is whirring away merrily inside the room. You are going through your daily work the same you did yesterday and the day before. Suddenly, there comes a big package nicey wrapped and full of surprises in front of you.
You are bewildered, you are dumbfounded. How did the gift package make its way to you? Is it intended for you or does it belong to someone else? There is nobody around to unravel the mystery. You look around to spot someone and realise that yes, the gift is meant for you. You feel a little curious, a little elated and your heart starts pounding because you want to find out the contents of the gift box.
You cut the ribbon and open the box with nimble fingers. While you had been expecting to get just one gift, there were more than a dozen packed nicely inside the box. Now comes your time to feel dazed. How can someone do this, it is simply fantastic! The sender of the gift sure must have put his heart and soul into arranging the gifts and packing them together.
You start unwrapping the gifts one by one. Each gift brings a smile on your face, sets your heart aflutter. You feel on top of the world to know that someone cares so much that he spent days together hunting down things that you would like. Not even in your wildest dreams you would have thought someone make so much effort just for you. It is unbelievable, it is beyond ordinary. You simply love it.
So far so good! But hey, now that you have got your goodies and are riding the happiness wave sky high, how about letting the sender know how much you liked the gifts. Courtesy demands that you must atleast appreciate his wonderful gesture. You go out thanking people who have actually not done anything for you but fail to thank the guy who actually brought a smile on your face.

Now, whatever I have written above is not some imaginary story plot of mine but something that I have seen time and again, so much so that when it comes the time to gift somebody, I actually ask myself is it worth the effort.
The Magnetic Compass, Jonathan Livingstone Seagull, the Buddha Bar, the CD's/DVD's, memories etc - all got rusted and wasted. I guess I sometimes do way too much, I should hold back, not indulge so much on people.
I still don't understand why people are like this and so henceforth, I have decided that come what may, I am not going to go out of my way to make somebody's life special. Exceptions will always be there but then, one does feel bad when someone close does this to you.

Sifar - The ReAwakening

So many things to speak
And a lot many words to say
Some become the bounty green
While some remain in the hay.

Take a pinch of salt
Mix it in with lime
The sweet tangy taste entwined
Brimming over with salty brine.

Wonder where it all started
And I wonder how it stood
The test of time so mysterious and enigmatic
Can't believe nobody checked under the hood.

Zephyr it is that stays aloft
Floating leisurely miles above
Soaking up the heavenly glow
Spreading cheer down below.

Sifar is an existence
Ingrained with a delicate rhythm
Wonder where the glory goes
When she tucks in all her halo.

Peaceful coexistence and wonderful bliss
Happy rhythms with dollops of zing
Mile high dreams on towering beams
Sifar to Zephyr, the story begins.

The Beast

We drink, we fight
And sometimes we dope;
Once on the run
We never stop.

We relish mutton, pork, beef
And also prefer snakes and dogs.
If you dare
We might even go for your peacock.

We got the best girls
And they are Hot!
The guys are cool
And we never miss our shot.

Don't mess with us,
We might do bad;
If you must know
Our fist spells death.

We rule and we are
The Devils from the sky;
Don't mess with us because we are
Worse than Vipers crest.

Mess with the Best

Die like the rest!

*

Petit Méchoui. That's what we call it in French and I am referring to the picture above. Ok fine, you don't know French but hey, if I translate the word then I can bet that people will start fleeing away. Don't believe me? Here goes...

It was one of those lovely salubrious days with good easterly winds and a hint of rains in the atmosphere. We had a long day climbing down from the mountains and were too damn hungry.

After discussing (at length) what to do, we decided to go catch some snakes. But then, as they say, the slimy creatures were nowhere to be seen and our hunger had hit the roof. Somebody suggested 'Méchoui' and we were a little lost because it was nowhere to be seen.

Oh shucks, I forgot, you don't know French. Fine, Méchoui is Sheep and tastes very yummy though not as good as snakes but as I said before, the crawlies were nowhere to be found.

Anyway, we found out some nice sheep for ourselves, had it skinned and cleaned and started a nice charcoal fire. Once the marination was done and the Barbecue pit was nicely stretched out, the sheep was mounted on the skewers and slowly turned on a shallow fire.

I ain't much of a Chef and my culinary skills are normally restricted to savouring the delicacies and so to cut a long story short, the sheep that we had was very juicy, nicely done and yummy to the core. Lemme know if you want our 'secret' recipe, its worth the taste!

Together - You and Me.

Here I am sitting with my best ink and paper

I have a feeling I am thinking, I am peeping deeper.

Is this the way I wanted my life to be

Is this where my destiny had to take me?

Sometimes in life things do happen

Happenstance by chance, things going dapper.

Deeper than water, bluer than the sky

Good things do happen and so be the eager Beaver.

I have a heap of questions

I have a clump of notions...

Love, hate, relationships, illusions, reality matrix

But some things happen that I can never fix.

O! What is a heap of questions?

It can never be bigger than a mouthful of sky.

And what about the clump of notions?

It can never be larger than the Zephyr.

Love the good, hate the bad,

Relationships happen, illusions become snappier

Reality is a fix, the big seated matrix

Many things happen, why should you get fixed?

These words mean so much to me,

Never have I been answered with such an unanimity.

I am now in love with the mouthful of sky,

The relationships, the illusions, the notions.

I feel those words reflect me, my self, my unexplored me.

A new dimension these words have given me

And now I want to feel them till my core and

Understand me.

*

17 Jul 2007

1935 Hrs

It was another of those random monotonous days when boredom hits the ceiling and leaves you high and dry. I was sitting and talking with Minki who is the sweetest of all my friends.

The AC was at full blast, we had created a frigid zone at the place we were in and having exhausted all options to kill time, we hit upon a brilliant idea. Minki and I decided to start writing something, anything. As long as we got to kill time, we didn't care a damn about what we could conjure up.

And so, up we grabbed our pen and paper and let our grey cell's do the thinking. We decided to write a poem, one paragraph at a time. Minki expresses herself in very creative ways and I asked her to set the ball rolling and then I followed suit.

Apart from all the crazy lil' things that we do, I love Minki for one thing - it was because of her that I explored a totally new area. Sharing one's thoughts and matching them with another's expression and coming out with some creative streaks sure is a herculean task.

Thought this poem was our first collaborative effort, it certainly isn't our last. We have also written a nice sweet story set in the blue waters of an Indian Ocean island and the last word written saw us swimming in the crystal clear ocean water.

Yeah I know you're reading this Sheryl and trust me, even Minki had been talking about getting you back over here.

Humour Across the Border

True story from the 1965 India-Pakistan War

Khalsa troops posted near the border had hung their Kaccha's and Baniyaans on a barbed wire running along the perimeter of their post. It is a usual practice to fence off a minefield with barbed wire so that accidents can be averted but in this case the wires had been erected by the Khalsa troops just for the purpose of drying clothes.

Funnily though, an advancing column of Pakistani tanks thought otherwise and assumed it was a ploy on part of the Indians to make them think it was not a minefield. As a result, the Pakistanis made use of their 'brilliant' tactics and applied their ever so superior tactical minds and changed their axis of advance. Consequently, they wound up in the actual minefields located on the sides of the post and the entire Pakistani armoured thrust came to a screeching halt.

So, in this fight between the Kaccha's and the Pakistani tanks, the Kaccha's saved the day! In fact, not only did the Kaccha's save the day but also helped the Khalsa troops to live another day and wear the Kaccha's again! Hehehe!

Khalsa Roulette

Khalsa troops caught a Pakistani soldier on our side of the fence.This Pakistani chap (the brave soldier that he was!) started pleading the Khalsas to let him go.

Khalsa: OK! We'll play a game. Take this dice and roll it. If you get 1,2,3,4 or 5 you'll die.

Pakistani: So if I get a 6, I'll live and you'll set me free?

Khalsa: No! In that case, you roll again!

What a Pakistani Does Best!

Two Pakistani Ranger's are driving around in their vehicle, looking for something to blow up with their G-3 rifles and 9mm pistols. They are just having a regular good time listening to some crappy songs and cursing their CO when all of a sudden they see this goat with it's head stuck in a fence.

Paki-1, being the Johnny-on-the-spot, jumps out of the vehicle, drops his trousers, and, well, you know, does what a Pakistani does best.

After the initial "josh" wears off, Paki-1 looks back and realizes he's been ignoring his best friend. So he looks over his shoulder and says, "Hey! You want some of this too?"

Paki-2 is thrilled - he can barely believe his good luck. "Yeah, sure!" Excitedly, he quickly jumps out of the truck, drops his trousers, and sticks his head in the fence!

Pakistanis and Female Donkey

This scene is set sometime during the Kargil war near the Line of Control in PoK (Pakistan occupied Kashmir).

A senior Pakistani Army General decides to go to a front-line village and inspect his troops. When he arrives in the village, he is very surprised to find a female donkey in the camp.

"Lahole-villa-Kuvat," he yells, "Why is there a female donkey in this battle field?"

"Well," the Pakistani soldiers answer with embarrassment, "The Indians are bombing this place since several weeks, and all the village girls are gone. So, uh, when we need women, we only have this donkey to... ... ..."

"Fucking hell!" the General angrily interrupts the soldiers, "We are the great Pakistani Army! How could you do such disgraceful things?! I don't want to see this donkey around anymore!"

So the Pakistani soldiers chase the female donkey away. In order to strengthen the discipline and keep an eye on his soldiers, the Pakistani General decides to stay in the village and commands the operations.

And the Kargil war goes on...

After a couple of weeks, the General starts to feel the need of ... !

"Well," he thinks, "My soldiers may be right. Life is tough here without sex especially under such a heavy Indian shelling!! After all, a female donkey is better than nothing...". So he orders his soldiers to find the donkey back.

Once Pakistani soldiers bring back the donkey, the General jumps out of his office, unzips his pants, stands behind the donkey and starts to F*ck the animal.

When he finishes and feels finally released, he notices that hundreds of soldiers - amazed and stunned - are looking at him with big eyes.

"Come on, guys," the Pakistani General says, "Don't look at me like that. Isn't it the way you all have been doing before?"

"No, Sir", answer the Pakistani soldiers, "Before, we used to ride this donkey and find women in the next village."

The Train Ride

An Indian chap and his pregnant wife were traveling on the TGV in France. A few Pakistan Army officers were also traveling in the same compartment.

As every body knows, the Pakistanis think they are a little too smart and also try to show their superiority in all aspects, and so they tried to act little smart and embarrass the Indian. They thought at the same time, it would be a good way to pass time too.

So, one of them went and sat beside the man.

The 'Smart' Pakistani officer asked the man, "Are you an Indian?".

"Yes", our chap replied proudly.

The officer then said, "Is your wife pregnant?".

"Yes", replied the man. He was a bit annoyed by the question as it was obviously visible that his wife was pregnant and the officer still asked that question. But he kept quiet.

Now, the Pakistani officer thought it was time to have some fun.

He asked the Indian, "If it is a boy, what would you like him to be?????"

"I'd make him a Software Engineer", the man said proudly.

"What if it is a girl?" asked the Pakistani officer.

"I'd make her a doctor", the man replied.

Now, the Pakistani officer gave the man a naughty grin and said, "What if it is neither a boy nor a girl?"

The smart Indian realized the whole point of this officer speaking to him. He realized that these Pakistani Army officers were trying to embarrass him so he decided to give it back to them.

The Indian chap thought for a second, returned the same naughty smile back to the Pakistani officer and said,"In that case, he will join the Pakistan Army!"

The Good Humoured Soldier!

Time Check

During his peace tenure, a seasoned Para Colonel found himself at a gala event at a posh hotel. There was no shortage of extremely attractive, idealistic young women in attendance. One of them approached the Colonel.

"Excuse me sir, but you seem to be a very serious man. Are you this way all the time? Or is there something that's bothering you?"

"No, I'm just serious by nature."

Looking over the colonel's ribbons, the young lady said, "You seem to have seen a lot of action."

"Yes, a lot of action," said the Colonel rather curtly.

Finding it hard work trying to start a conversation with the colonel, the young woman said, "You know, you should lighten up a little . . . relax and enjoy yourself."

This didn't seem to move the Colonel, who just looked at her very seriously. Exasperated, the woman said, "You know, I hope you don't take this the wrong way, but when was the last time you had sex?"

The Colonel replied back, "1955".

"Well no wonder you're the way you are! You really need to chill out a little and quit taking everything so seriously. I mean, no sex since 1955 is a little extreme!"

"I don't think so, it's only 2130 now!" the Colonel said.

Exercise

Annual exercies in Army are quite a boring affair. Hitting dummy targets, killing dummy soldiers, negotiating dummy obstacles and blah blah blah. The Referees and Umpires act like very very tough school teachers.

Once during a Corps level excercise in Thar, two Referees were watching a Brigade crossing a river (ofcourse a dummy one).Then they saw one infantry column crossing the river but not using the bridge. Technically speaking the infantry chaps were crossing the river on foot.

Immediately the Referees jumped in their Jonga and sped towards the erring column. Upon reaching near to them they saw the leading person carrying a placard stating "Hum Tair Rahe Hain" (We are swimming)!

GC Capers

A GC filled Army Aviation as his choice during the choice of arms. When told that he cannot directly join Army Aviation and has to give some other option, he opted for AAD.

His reasoning - 'IF I CANNOT FLY, NOBODY WILL FLY!'

The Owl

The "Owls" are quite a famous lot in the Armed Forces. These are the Staff College qualified chaps and there are many jokes floating around about them. Here are some...

Op Discussion
During one of the serious discussions on the tactics for attack, the Corps Cdr asked one of the bright looking Owl's...

Corps Cdr: CO, tell me whats your plan of action and how do you wish to capture the post?
CO: Sir, its very simple - two of my Coy's will advance, one from the right flank and the other will give fire support .
Corps Cdr: How much time do you think it will take to capture the post?
CO : Sir not much , my boys are well trained and will be able to get them within 2 hrs.
Corps Cdr: Two hours? Are you joking my friend?
CO : Nope Sir, we'll take about 30 mins to reach the target. It is clearly evident for the enlargement, as the crow flies, the disance from the the FUP is hardly 900mtrs and can easily be covered in 30 mins, and rest one and half hrs for capturing the enemy post.
Corps Cdr: My friend I appreciate that you made your judgement about the distance from the enlargement. But, you forgot about the ground realities. Well if I am not wrong it will take u atleast 36 hrs to capture that post as "AT THIS ALTITUDE NOT EVEN THE CROW FLIES"!

The Poster

One of the most famous posters in the military depicts a road leading to a glacier. By the side of the road is a big board which reads...

NO PSC OFFICERS ALLOWED BEYOND THIS POINT - ACTUAL WAR IN PROGRESS!

Voyage d'aventure Fini

It has been a real long time since I last posted anything on my Blog and frankly speaking, I am little lost as to what to write as there are way too many things going on in my mind right now. Mixed reactions all. LOL!

The past few months have been real exciting and full of adventure for me. Though I could not execute all my adventure plans (due to a variety of factors such as weather conditions, money...hehehe) I certainly had an amazing time. As always, I came across things which brought a smile on my lips, saw something that endeared itself to me, met up with awesome people (and some not so awesome one's too) and discovered a little bit more of this mighty world that we live in.

Sunrise is always exciting as it brings forth the promise of a new day, a new beginning. Sunset on the other hand is associated with a certain degree of mistrust as it is the harbinger of the oncoming darkness. I for one don't believe in any such assumption because for me every sunrise is the promise of a new adventure and every sunset guarantees me a few wonderful hours whence I can check out the bright stars, the shiny planets and the reflection off the Strobe lights of the high flying aircraft's.

The voyage of adventure upon which I had started off in January has now come to an end and I am finally back on terra firma with no more shaky ground to tread upon, no more rocky mountains to climb, no more snake infested jungles to cross and not wanting to chalk out a routine so that I could enjoy the surprise of a new adventure each day.

These past few months have also seen quite a few things crop up, some pleasant and some not so pleasant. Life however goes on.

I am an intrepid adventurer, love travelling to the unknown and taking a walk to the back of beyond. As Nicholas Hulot used to say in Ushuaïa, le magazine de l'Extrême... "Let the adventure begin!"

NB: And for all the curious one's who managed to see the photograph in full zoom, yeah, that's a TomCat flying towards a darkening horizon. Super Sexy!

Yankee Humor In Action

USA and Osama bin Laden

After getting nailed by a Daisy Cutter, Osama made his way to the pearly gates. There, he is greeted by George Washington.

"How dare you attack the nation I helped conceive!" yells Mr. Washington, slapping Osama in the face.

Patrick Henry comes up from behind. "You wanted to end the Americans' liberty, so they gave you death!" Henry punches Osama on the nose.

James Madison comes up next, and says "This is why I allowed the Federal government to provide for the common defense!" He delivers a kick to Osama's knee.

Osama is subjected to similar beatings from John Randolph of Roanoke, James Monroe, and 65 other people who have the same love for liberty and America. As he writhes on the ground, Thomas Jefferson picks him up to hurls him back toward the gate where he is to be judged.

As Osama awaits his journey to his final very hot destination, he screams, "This is not what I was promised!"

An angel replies "I told you there would be 72 Virginians waiting for you. What did you think I said?"

Radio Conversation

This is the transcript of an ACTUAL radio conversation between a US naval ship and Canadian authorities off the coast of Newfoundland in October 1995.

Radio conversation released by the Chief of Naval Operations 10-10-95.

Canadians: Please divert your course 15 degrees South to avoid a collision.

Americans: Recommend you divert your course 15 degrees North to avoid a collision.

Canadians: Negative. You will have to divert your course 15 degrees to the South to avoid a collision.

Americans: This is the Captain of a US Navy ship. I say again, divert YOUR course.

Canadians: No. I say again, you divert YOUR course.

Americans: THIS IS THE AIRCRAFT CARRIER USS LINCOLN, THE SECOND LARGEST SHIP IN THE UNITED STATES' ATLANTIC FLEET. WE ARE ACCOMPANIED BY THREE DESTROYERS, THREE CRUISERS AND NUMEROUS SUPPORT VESSELS. I DEMAND THAT YOU CHANGE YOUR COURSE 15 DEGREES NORTH, I SAY AGAIN, THAT'S ONE FIVE DEGREES NORTH, OR COUNTER-MEASURES WILL BE UNDERTAKEN TO ENSURE THE SAFETY OF THIS SHIP.

Canadians: This is a lighthouse. Your call.

Bravest of the Brave

Top brass from the US Army, Navy and the Marine Corps were arguing about who had the bravest troops. They decided to settle the dispute using an enlisted man from each branch.

The US Army General called a private over and ordered him to climb to the top of the base flagpole while singing "The Caissons Go Rolling Along," then let go with both hands, and salute. The private quickly complied.

Next, the US Admiral ordered a sailor to climb the pole, polish the brass knob at the top, sing "Anchors Aweigh," salute smartly and jump off. The sailor did as he was told and landed on the concrete below.

Finally, the US Marine was told to do exactly as the Army and Navy men had done, but in full battle gear, pack filled with bricks, loaded weapon carried high. He took one look at the Marine General and said, "You're out of your mind, sir!"

The marine commander turned to the others. "Now THAT'S guts!"

Some of the Greatest Military Jokes

Time

Air Force Stn Lohegaon shares its runway with the civil aviation. One day the ATC tower at Lohegaon received a call from an aircraft asking, "What time is it?"

The tower responded, "Who wants a time check?"

The aircraft replied, "What difference does it make?"

The tower replied "It makes a lot of difference.

If it is an Indian Airlines flight, it is 3 O'clock.

If it is an Air Force plane, it is 1500 hours.

If it is a Navy aircraft, it is 6 bells.

If it is an Army aircraft, the big hand is on the 12 and the little hand is on the 3".

Girlfriend

A soldier at the border received a letter from his girlfriend back home:

Dear Ricky,

I can no longer continue our relationship. The distance between us is just too great. I'm sorry. Please return the picture of me that I sent to you.

Love, Becky

The soldier, with hurt feelings, asked his fellow soldiers for any snapshots they could spare of their girlfriends, sisters or ex-girlfriends. In addition to the picture of Becky, Ricky included all the other pictures of the pretty gals he had collected from his buddies. There were 57 photos in that envelope along with this note:

Dear Becky,

I'm so sorry, but I can't quite remember who the hell you are. Please take your picture from the pile, and send the rest back to me.

-Ricky

Moral of the story: If you can't change your fate, change your Attitude.

The Field Telephone

Once there was a newly commissioned officer. One day he went to the Long Range and was just checking out the area when all of a sudden he thought of calling his girlfriend. He ran to the desk to ring her and was greatly relieved not to find anyone on duty. This officer was about to make the call when suddenly the phone rang.

Rrriinggggggggggggg!!!

He ignored

Rrrringgggggggggggggggggg!!

He ignored again

Rrrriinnggggggggggggggg!!

He got irritated and picked up the reciever and the following conversation took place:

Officer: Whats wrong with u a$$hole?

(It was Base Cdr calling )

Base Cdr: (Stunned!) Do you know who I am?

Officer: No! Who are you?

Base Cdr: This is Base Cdr speaking!

(The new officer was a quick witted type)

Officer: Do you know who I am?

Base Cdr: No !

Officer: Thanks!

...and ran away.

World War II

It's war time, the Battle of Britain is raging and the War Office decide that the pilots morale needs to be kept high so they come up with a plan for the pilots to take a break now and then to spend some time with the fine young ladies of the aristocracy at evening get-togethers.

Of course, no unseemly business must be allowed, so chaperoned by some of the military bigiwgs, the young ladies are assured only the most civilised behaviour.

At one such do, young Paddy is delighting a group of sparkling debutantes, who are quite taken by his strong good looks, and strong good Irish brogue. As his Wing Commander is passing the little group, he catches Paddy describing his daring escape from attack in the sky, saying "And just as Oi was sweating that Oi'd never have enough fuel to get back, these three Fokkers come swooping down on me!"

Fearful the young ladies would misinterpret the Fokker aircraft for Paddy's legendary sprinkling of the language with expletives, he stepped in to make an explanation to protect their sensibilities.

"If I may, Paddy, ladies. A Fokker is one of the finest aircraft operated by the Luftwaffe, and as Paddy is saying, they do tend to give us in the RAF a lot of trouble in this conflict. Thank you Paddy, you may go on."

"Oh yes indeed Sor," says Paddy, "The Fokker truly is a great machine and all. But these particular fokkers were Messerschmidts."

The General on Radio

This is an exact replication of National Public Radio(NPR) interview between a female broadcaster and US Army General Reinwald who was about to sponsor a Boy Scout Troop visiting his military installation.

INTERVIEWER: " So, General Reinwald, what things are you going to teach these young boys when they visit your base?"

GENERAL REINWALD: 'We're going to teach them climbing, canoeing, archery, and shooting."

INTERVIEWER: "Shooting! That's a bit irresponsible, isn't it?"

GENERAL REINWALD: "I don't see why, they'll be properly supervised on the rifle range."

INTERVIEWER: "Don't you admit that this is a terribly dangerous activity to be teaching children?"

GENERAL REINWALD: "I don't see how, ....we will be teaching them proper rifle range discipline before they even touch a firearm."

INTERVIEWER: " But you're equipping them to become violent killers."

GENERAL REINWALD: "Well, you're equipped to be a prostitute, but you're not one, are you?"

The radio went silent and the interview ended!

Work or Pleasure?

Two Majors are in the field area arguing.

The first Major says sex is 90% work and only 10% pleasure.

The second Major argues the opposite: 90% pleasure and 10% work.

They can't agree, so seek a 3rd party to arbitrate. The only person around is a Private doing latrine orderly duty. They ask him his opinion. He asks them if he could speak freely, and they tell him to go ahead.

He answers, "Well, if you really ask my opinion, I'd say it's all pleasure, for if there was any work connected with it, you SOB's would have me doing it!"

Medal of Honour

Two soldiers were boasting to each other about their old army days.

"Why, my outfit was so well drilled," declared one, "that when they presented arms all you could hear was slap, slap, click."

"Very good," conceded the other, "but when my company presented arms you'd just hear slap, slap, jingle."

"What was the jingle?" asked the first.

"Oh," replied the other offhand, "just our medals."

The Military Chain of Command

THE CO TO THE 2IC: At nine o'clock tomorrow there, will be an eclipse of the sun, something which does not occur every day. Get the men to fall out in the company street in their fatigues so that they will be able to see this rare phenomenon. Should it rain we will not be able to see anything, so take the men to the gym.

THE 2IC TO THE ADJUTANT: By order of the CO, tomorrow at nine o'clock, there will be an eclipse of the Sun; if it rains, you will not be able to see it from the company street, so then, take the men in fatigues to the gym. The eclipse of the Sun will take place in the gym, something that does not occur every day.

THE ADJUTANT TO THE JUNIORMOST OFFICER: By order of the CO in fatigues tomorrow at nine o'clock in the morning the inauguration of the eclipse of the sun will take place in the gym. The CO will give the order if it should rain, something which occurs every day.

THE JUNIORMOST OFFICER TO THE SENIOR JCO: Tomorrow at nine o'clock the CO in fatigues will eclipse the Sun in the gym, as it occurs every day. If it is a nice day you will fall out in the company street.

THE SENIOR JCO TO THE CHM: Tomorrow at nine the eclipse of the CO in fatigues will take place because of the Sun. If it rains in the gym, something which does not take place every day, you will fall out in the company street.

COMMENTS AMONG THE PRIVATES: Tomorrow, if it rains, it looks as if the Sun will eclipse the CO in the gym. It is a shame that this does not occur every day.

Excerpts from my first Blue Book (Flying Diary)

Week 1
Monday: Met announced a prolonged spell of bad Wx condition. Went back to studying the FRC's and Pilot Notes.
Tuesday: Rain. Surprise Gen Test on airfield procedures and emergency actions. Within an hour we all were hanging upside down and then started cream-rolling. Ouch!
Wednesday: No rain; no visibility either. Rig check up. Some more cream-rolling followed by endless runs of touch and back.
Thursday: Met declared Friday good for flying. Instructor and Flight Cdr asked all of us to have lunch and report for flying. Entire Squadron pounced on us for 'light exercise'.

Friday: Fly! Do first stall and second stall during same manoeuvre. Cover instructor with lunch. After landing came back to hangar rolling from the cockpit. That was funny!
Saturday: Flight Cdr took our happiness in real fauji style! Hehehehe! We all gave our sweat and blood to the tarmac. By the end of it, my Sqn apron was shining!

Week 2
Monday: My buddy and I were fooling around with a parked aircraft inside the hangar and managed to set off the ejection system. Things went out flying crazily in all directions. We got jacked back in the Sqn. They call us the 'Ejection Boys' now!

Tuesday: Instructor wants me to stop calling throttle "THAT BIG KNOB THING." Also hates it when I call instruments as "GADGETS". Got my visor and oxygen mask broken due to 'vital actions' carried by the Instructor during approach.
Wednesday: R/T is always garbled or the radios won't pick up on the alloted frequency. So I turned them off. Instructor seems to think I missed something.
Thursday: Learned Rate 1 bank is not a steep turn. Did stall again today. Lost 2000 feet. Instructor said that was some kind of record -- my first compliment. Hehe! Loved it!
Friday: Did steep turn. Instructor said I was not ready for inverted flight yet.

Saturday: Time for the weekely Bajax session. I loved it!

Week 3
Monday: Instructor called in sick. New instructor told me to stop doing steep turns. He said I had to have permission for inverted flight as I have not been cleared for aerobatics yet.
Tuesday: Instructor back. He got mad when I pulled power back on takeoff because the engine was too loud.
Wednesday: Instructor said after the first 20 hours, most students have established a learning curve. He said there is a slight bend in mine. Aha --progress! Yippee!
Thursday: Did stalls. Clean recovery. Instructor said I did a good job. Also did turns around a point. Instructor warned me never to pick up the swimming pool as point again when lady officers are undergoing their swimming classification test.
Friday: Did circuit work. Instructor said that if downwind, baseleg and final formed a triangle, I would be perfect. More praise! I have started liking it now.

Saturday: Special gift of Love from the Commandant - we got to see the moon, the stars and the lovely sky at night-time!

Week 4
Monday: First landing at a controlled field. Did fine until I told the captain in the Il-76 ahead of us on the taxiway to move his bird. Instructor says we'll have ground school all this week on radio procedures.
Tuesday: Asked instructor if everyone in his family had turned grey at such an early age. He made a 'Flying Maharaja' out of me! We did takeoff stalls. He says I did just fine but to wait until we reached altitude next time. Aircraft cowl number Two Nine Seven One will be out of the T&SS Hangar (workshop) in three days when the new strut and tyre arrive. Instructor says his back bothers him only a little.
Wednesday: Flew through clouds. I thought those radio masts and Radar towers were a lot lower. I'm sure my instructor is going grey.
Thursday: Left flaps down for entire flight. Instructor asked why. I told him I wanted the extra lift as a safety margin. More ground school.
Friday: Asked instructor when I could solo. I have never seen anyone actually laugh until they cried before.

Saturday: We were ordered to flatten out the grass next to the runway shoulder. Some of us wondered where the heck did the airfield maintenance tractors go?

-X-

Did I do anything wrong, duh?

Voyage d'aventure

05 Jan 2008, 1907 Hrs.

The last few days have gone by in a blur for me. I got involved in a lot many things and many a times, it became a tad bit too tiresome. Thank God that it is all over now.

Tonight, I am setting out for yet another adventure which will take me through the jungles, across valleys, over the mountains, through thr mighty rivers to the wonderful sights and magnificient natural beauty of India. The next three months I will be living off my rucksack. I am going out on an adventure trip.

I am very excited about this trip not only because I am going for an adventure trip after almost a year but also because I will be meeting a lot of my coursemates, friends and a few long lost pals with whom I managed to re-establish contact after many many years.

One of my closest pals from school days is posted in Udhampur and I will be paying him a surprise visit. The bugger has no idea that I will be crashlanding at his place! LOL!

Just like all my previous trips, I will try and make this one as adventurous as possible. Though for a major portion of my trip I will be having the company of a few good men and women :) , there are points wherein I will be doing the travelling all alone. I will be using a variety of transport mediums - bus, train, boat, aircraft etc. I have also made a conscious decision not to carry my SLR camera along as this time I truely want to enjoy the adventure without feeling the urge to capture the moment through the lens. I know that it is a good practice to click photographs for the sake of nostalgic memories but hey, I live in the present and not in the past and so let me try out this thing too. Incidentally, I happen to be a photography aficionado and it sure will be difficult for me not to feel the need to click photographs.

This brings us to the end of this post. As I will be gone for a while, there won't be much activity here. However, I will surely be updating my stuff the moment I am back. So please do keep visiting my blog and do let me know in case you need a picture postcard of the wonderful places I will be visiting! LOL!

Adios!

Flight Simulator

For all the wannabe Aviators and those passionate about flying, here is a cool tool to take you through the paces. Click on the picture below to find out what it is like to be in the cockpit.

Enjoy your sortie!

2008

Seasons Greetings
&
Best Wishes
For a Vibrant and Prosperous
2008

On 01 Jan 1983, TCP/IP first came into existence. Today, as we celebrate the 25th milestone of the invention that directly led us to the Internet, it indeed feels great to be able to witness such a phenomenal moment.

Silver jubilee's have always been a source of inspiration to millions of people. In the technological domain, every developer looks forward to his golden sunset when he can bask in the aura of his invention having lasted a quarter century of existence.

01 Jan 2008 will in all probability go down in the history of the Internet as one of the golden days not only due to the silver jubilee celebration of TCP/IP but also because what has happened in the preceding two years. If 2006 was the year of Web 2.0, 2007 became the year of the You Tube. Any guess for what 2008 will be? My take is that Social Networking will become the biggest buzzword on the Internet in 2008.

People have been hankering about Facebook but the way I look at it, it doesn't interest me a wee bit. I like the Google Technology at work in Orkut and I'll bet my money on it. Ever tried Virtual Life existence? If not, then go get your presence registered on Second Life. You can find me there under the moniker Raymaker.

2008 has started and Google ushered in the New Year by putting up a doodle of the TCP/IP invention on its page. Way to go Google. I love you people out there.

Coming over to my hopes and expectations, well, there are dime a dozen things which I plan to accomplish in 2008. Though I am not the kinds who makes a New Year resolution but, just like 2007, I wish to achieve all that I dream about in life.

Here's wishing everybody the very best in 2008.

God bless ya all.