THE OBSERVER-(M-15)

 😎THE OBSERVER-(M-15)😎

……..contd from M-14…….

Sun 09 Aug 2020

Had this been a movie or video form of narrative - here is where one would have gone into flashback or b/w mode.Just to recapitulate….i had completed my BSc Degree after a big struggle and literally made a bonfire of all my Science & Maths books prior to joining OTA. i was doing reasonably well all-round in OTA and was expecting to get my first choice of Arm(Inf) without difficulty.In the second term in OTA, i found myself being appointed PUO of our Platoon(N-8) .That was quite a task and a half but i rather enjoyed it, reporting to Capt Gill.The whole platoon simply adored him. On being ordered by him, i used to faithfully make all the two-mile failures run after dinner and report their timings the next day.Nothing could make me give him a false report and  i enjoyed his trust. All seemed to going pretty smoothly till the start of the infamous Ragda. One after the other, guys kept getting blisters and similar injuries and finding it difficult to attend parades, esp the first one.

i found my own way of covering up for guys by showing them as Sick In Lines ( as opposed to the official SIQ awarded by the Doc ) in the report to the Drill/PT instructors and they swallowed it. As we neared P.O.P; rehearsals for the Social Events started in earnest. One day, our Bn Cdr  ordered that we should practice our music items after dinner. There was the usual fall-in of the whole Course in FSMO at the Drill Square.So here we were, some ten-odd GCs practicing our music numbers in the ante-room facing the Drill Square while the entire Course was getting the attention of the Adjt. When he heard the noise of the band emanating from the ante-room, he dispersed the Course and ordered us guys to fall-in in FSMO. Ustads, carry on, in sab ka subah tak khoon nikal do were the loud instrcns. Andrews was my partner in this ex. While wheelbarrowing, he would keep dropping me out of fatigue. Ramu,   the Para ustad would shout at him loudly - Gerta hai, GC gerta hai ! Quietly, he would then tell me to exchange positions.At the end of it all, when we were broken off some time early in the morning, Andrews simply dropped into an armchair in his packs, was motionless and staring at the sky. i somehow managed to make him take off the packs and convince him to lie down and take some rest before the morning parade. That day, we (maybe some twenty) were given the treatment by the Adjt personally, assisted by ten drill ustads and the SM. On one of the i mornings following this, my room-mate Kang announced that he would not be able to make it to the morning parade and to show him as Sick In Lines ( never happened earlier). i also did not feel like attending( for the first time). Before i could decide whom to inform, Venki came down to our room and announced that he also wanted to be Sick In Lines that day. i tried telling him that the PUO, CSM and Seargent all being Sick In Lines at the same time would be asking for trouble, but he just would not listen and rushed off to his room. Kang and i decided to call his bluff. All three of us were caught and detabbed as a result, just a week or two before P.O.P. i took the detabbing in my stride but being alloted Engrs,seemed to be rather  too much.While others were bragging about their respective dining-in parties with cocktails and showing off their regimental regalia, we Sappers had a samosa-jalebi party in the M.E.S. office where we were handed over a thin blue lanyard and simple-looking cane, period.Till then, i hardly had any idea of what the Corps was all about. i had been quite impressed by the then Maj Nobel Thamburaj, when he gave a demo, but his successor, Maj Hannover did not inspire much confidence. So this was the frame of mind in which i reported to B.E.G. & Centre, Kirkee for duty, full of misgivings.From the word go, i just could not get myself interested enough in bridging, minelaying, demolitions, electric and water supply and so forth.It all seemed so dull to me compared to my expectations of Army life when i had taken the decision of joining.

Meanwhile, the old-worldly, colonial charm of Kirkee and Pune were beaconing with open arms.

I actually started enjoying affixing my signatures to any document put up to me duly rubber-stamped. I discovered that for the Sappers, the time between 0930 and 1000 hrs is sacred - Chai time. In all training programs - this time is religiously noted down and catered for. Maybe that is why they call the accompanying snacks - program. Chai would come to me from all directions and soon I became fond of asking - What's today's program? There was a severe shortage of junior officers at that time and the older ones were all holding many portfolios. Most of the senior lot was busy doing their MBAs or catching up with their pending domestic commitments. Amongst other things, I was made in-charge of the athletics team. I stayed and trained with them for some time. As it is, I had to spend most of my nights in Dighi Camp in the Duty Officer's Room. Whenever an officer was required to spend the night in Dighi Camp, the lot seemed to fall on me. Great feeling that, like being a King - receiving salutes all the time for a change, no senior around for miles.

Food tasting in the langar  became another favorite pastime especially on Rum issue days.We were actually supposed to sit through the rum-distribution followed by dinner , listening to all the prattle . Of course, the first thing these guys did when they saw a Duty Officer coming was offer him a stiff one, followed by meat curry and pappad, salad and so forth. End up by signing in the register maintained for the purpose - Write under the remarks column “Excellent " and watch the langar Commander's face light up. Throughout my career, I rarely found any langar below that standard. Stock-taking - never ending chore with elaborate inventories in triplicate. The items on ground never tallied with the ledgers. In fact, none of the written records ever tallied with the ground reality - and there was always a ready genuine & practical explanation for the lacuna. I learnt very soon to enjoy the proferred samosas, burfi and chai rather than press a point too far.When I checked the stock of the unit canteen and tried to put some existing facts on paper, I was called over to the office of the Canteen Officer and given a lecture on the "practicalities of life". Accompanied by a high tea, it did not take very long for me to see sense.