The sum of all mistakes…

It was a rainy afternoon and I was watching my favorite mega-serial on my not-so-favorite 21” very much old Keltron TV. My TV was confirming that it is a colour TV to me again by showing shades of colour in all the corners even when switched off!

With a mobile in my left hand (obviously kept near my ears) and a remote in my right I changed the channel during an Ad-Break (nowadays these TV channels are showing 50 minutes ads and 10 minute serial in an hour….). The English news channel which I was viewing showed a scrolling news item that really shocked me. A news reported that the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) had arrested a serving military officer on the charges of terrorist activities and it took me by surprise.

As it is always obvious, Indian Army is an institution which is well known for its integrity, impartiality and discipline. After independence we had a set of wars with our neighbors and some natural disasters during which we had a glimpse of the extra-ordinary qualities of the Indian Army. Even in the recent Kargil operations our Indian Army showed very good fighting capabilities (I cannot describe the Kargil operations as a war). It is really justifiable to the motto of the Army “LAST RESORT AND FIRST RESPONDER” as stated by Gen. Deepak Kapur.

But it is a fact that the highest standards set in the Indian Army by people with the ranks of Gen. Thimmaiya, Field Marshall Sam Maneksha and others has been gradually dwindling or downgrading to alarming levels. It is an equally intriguing fact that the recruitment of officers in the forces is still very strict. The SSB interview conducted by the forces for recruiting officers in the forces is a gruelling process consisting of 5 days of serious scrutiny. Yet we see indiscipline gradually creeping in the forces.

We have a handful of officers with corruption charges relieved from service and fighting their cases in civilian courts. On the other hand we have women officers complaining sexual abuse by senior military officers and some even reached the extreme of committing suicide due to sexual harassment by superiors. Even a year ago we had a case of an officer captured by local people when he tried to rape a girl in Kashmir.
One cannot forget the sufferings inflicted on each other by the Indian Army and LTTE (obviously due to the mischief of R&AW) and the raping of local Srilankan Tamils by some jawans of the Indian Army which made the Srilankan Tamils to name the Indian Peacekeeping Force as “Indian Child Giving Force”.

Why go to the North and Eastern Srilanka ? Even a glimpse at the North East parts of India will give you an idea of the dubious rape record of the Army. One cannot forget the protest of Manipuri women in front of the Indian Army Regional Headquarters in North East by stripping themselves and holding a banner “INDIAN ARMY! RAPE US!”. Thangiyam Manorama’s ghost will daunt the Army for nights to come.

When a former Naval Officer casually strode inside the highly sensitive Naval War Room or the Directorate of Naval Operations least of them had an idea that he was there to copy some files from the computers on his pen drive, it is hard to believe that “That the files contained 20 years naval strategy against Israel” and now he might have sold it to the highest bidder or probably Mossad. Obviously the person mentioned above is Ravisankaran a former Naval Officer now being searched by the Interpol.

Almost four years ago, another man flew to the US via Nepal. But this time it was R&AW Deputy Director named Rabindra Singh. He gently escaped the net spread by the CBI and settled in US. Actually he is Maj. Rabindra Singh an Army depute and a CIA mole.

An year ago, our newspapers reported a new phenomenon called “Fake Encounters”. Even though the Police Force inside the country seize the credit for innovating this new phenomenon, it is the Army that took that innovation to new heights. We have had some officers charge sheeted for the fake encounters in Kashmir.

As a jewel in the crown or thorn in the flesh, whatever you call, came the recent break in the Malegaon blast case where the culprits were found to be retired and serving officers of the prestigious Indian Army. When Maj. R.C.Upadhyaya and Lt. Col. Purohit were arrested by the ATS with the permission of the Army it was a shocker to everyone. Recent reports that Lt. Col. Purohit sourced Army RDX for the blast is a terrible blow to the conscience of the Army. To make things even worse, there was also a news report that VHP cadres were combat-trained in the Bhosla Military School.

Corrupt officers , rapist jawans – ( of women in their own country and foreign country where assigned of peacekeeping duties), fake encounter specialists, terrorists – (activities including bomb blasts and training to non military cadres), stealing military secrets, moles etc. and the products of Indian Army goes on endlessly. I cannot avoid the fear that soon the Indian Army will have officers who are “the sum of all mistakes and indiscipline”.

What happened to the Army? What happened to the rich traditions and the highest level of impartiality and disciplinary standards imparted by officers like Timmy (Thimmaiya), Kariappa, Sam Manekshaw.
The sacrifice of huge number of officers like Capt. Vikram Bhatra, Maj. Saravanan, and other countless officers and jawans who braved adverse weather conditions and firepower to save the prestige of the country will go in vain, if the Army fails to introspect itself and re-look into its recruitment procedure.
The Army in-spite of all its screening and filtering in recruitment and highly standard SSB interview is still getting a handful of corrupts and womanizers as its officers.

It is the duty of this prestigious institution to ensure that it is getting honest and ethical soldiers as its officers. Else, it will be shrunk to the level of being labeled as “a bunch of corrupt and rogue men” instead of being run by “A FEW GOOD MEN”.

The Classical Comedy of governmental errors

When I was casually “browsing” the channels on my TV in which very rarely rain allowed cable connection to survive, I got a glimpse of a news item (plz DON’T read as new item). The news read the words of Honourable Governor of Kerala Mr. Gawai. He stressed that “We have no problem when Tamil and Sanskrit were accorded Classical Language status. But while giving classical language status to Telugu and Kannada, why not the center consider giving classical language status to Malayalam.”

It is not clear whether the above were the views of the Governor himself or the concern of the Government of Kerala . Whatever the case may be, Keralites have played the game cleverly by expressing their desire via a constitutional authority and that too by a non-malayali. We have to wait and see whether the kind hearted Manmohan Singh and his govt. accord classical language status for Malayalam too.

It was yet another day and I was watching an English News channel. This time the bottom line corresponding to another item impressed my eyes (obviously it was a news item ). The news scrolled in the bottom read like this, “Forward Block demands Classical Language status to Bengali…”.

Taken by surprise, I wondered what will happen in the future if the trend moves on like this. You are invited to the weird world of my wild imaginations……

The govt. of India made an announcement that read like this, “Considering the role played by the Bengali , Malayali, Oriyan, Konkani, Tulu, Dongri, Urdu and Hindi language for the enrichment of the composite culture and development of the unity of the country, our government is pleased to accord classical language status to the above said languages. Even though languages like Tulu and Konkani don’t even have script and are only dialects, the govt. gracefully made a decision to create a special status called “Script-less Classical Languages” and accord the special status to Tulu and Konkani. All other languages spoken in India will be gradually accorded classical status irrespective of whether that language has script or not. If any language has a written script it will be immediately considered for classical language status. Any language which has script, but not enough literature need not be demoralized. All you have to do is just write your names in a paper in your language and hand over the papers to your local M.L.A, and definitely your language will get classical language status. Another short cut way to get classical status for your language is to just attack your neighbors who don’t belong to your language, it is assured that you will get immediate attention and Hurray!!!! Your language will be accorded classical status.”

After another week, the Honorable PM of India while delivering his speech in United states where a lot of Indians were present announced something like this, “ By seriously taking into account, the important role played in educating the Indian masses with latest technology; thereby allowing them to secure highly paid jobs elsewhere in the world and inturn helping to increase the “Foreign Exchange” reserves of the country, our Government takes the pride to announce classical language status to English, JAVA, C and C++. We are willing to give the same status to French, Spanish and Hebrew if sufficient representations are made…”

Suddenly a voice from the audience interrupted the PM’s speech. A tall Israeli stood up and shouted like this “Sorry Mr. Prime Minister, Hebrew is already a classical language and I want you to #@#$@$..

The meeting ended abruptly when I heard my mom shouting “Hey stupid! Stop your imagination and go to bath……”