😎THE OBSERVER (M-6): CHIWDA TIMES--BOOZE 😎
23 June 2020 / 14:04
The first-born of Tamilian parents in Shimla, I was probably given my first teaspoon of brandy during the first snowfall when I was 3 months old. What I do remember clearly is that as a toddler, whenever I got back indoors after playing in the snow, my father would make me have 'eggnog' with a spot of brandy. I loved the warm sensation as it went down the throat. As I grew older, I would sometimes be given a tot of rum during parties. Also a glass of beer during picnics. Once I started travelling for badminton tournaments, senior players would give me a peg or two. It was only when i joined the hostel at DAV College, Chandigarh, that I had a full bottle of beer to myself. In college at Delhi, we would have a bottle of beer now and then and pretend to be very drunk. Jhang at the Tibetan Monastery was much cheaper. When a friend passed through Delhi on his way home to Port Blair by train after passing out of IMA, I was very much impressed by the sight of him and his batch-mates in uniform at the station. That was when I first began to think of a career in the Armed Forces seriously. Later, he joined his unit in Leh and said he would be passing through Delhi on his way home.I requested him by inland letter to get me "some" booze. When I went to meet him at the station, he handed over a crate of rum to me. I simply could not believe my eyes, I had expected a bottle or two at the most. I pleaded with him to accept payment, but he replied that the cost was negligible - only three rupees a bottle! Then and there, I decided that the Army was the place for me.
Stashing away three bottles in the hostel room of a non-drinking friend, I handed over the rest to my dad. On New Year's eve, I was walking up and down the Delhi Univ roads, with one bottle on each side of my overcoat, offering a swig to one and all.The third bottle, I kept reserved for celebrating after the CDSE results. I had already appeared and cleared both written and SSB. When the result was announced, I went to my friend's room to collect the bottle kept in reserve for the purpose. He hesitantly replied that he had finished it all gradually over the days, starting with a teaspoon to taste. I did not talk to him for many days after that. Meanwhile I appeared in the ten papers I had accumulated over my three years stint in college doing BSc. Gen. The day of the results, I phoned a friend to check out. He checked and bluntly broke the news to me - I had failed in all ten papers. There was shock all around.
I sat again for CDSE and cleared the written and SSB, this time in Dehradun for the Air force. I cleared the medical also and stood high in the order of merit. Now I failed in one paper by two marks. Since I had been part of the Delhi Univ team that won the All India Inter Univ badminton championship in my final year, I went personally to request the VC. He told me to apply for re-evaluation and on doing so I got the reply that that there was no mistake in totaling. I was told later by well-wishers that I should have sorted matters out at a much lower level. I had no choice but to appear once more in CDSE, clear SSB and await results. There was a strike in the University and results were not declared in time for me to join IMA. With the kind help of a Cabinet minister of the time, I managed somehow to get my result conveyed directly to Army HQ at the last minute for joining OTA. I took immense pleasure in burning all my science books thinking I would never go anywhere near those subjects again. I reported to OTA after the course had already commenced, in a walking-wounded condition after a bike accident that followed a drinking session in IIT, Chennai.
So imagine my state when I was informed just before passing out that I was to join the Corps of Engrs!
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