PRELUDE TO THE CAR JOURNIES !

During our serving days we never had the pleasure nor the problems of owning a car . It is not that we did not have the need for it . With two growing sons and only a Vijay Super as a mode of transportation at Shillong , a four wheeler was definitely a necessity , but those were the days when other necessecities had priority over owning a car !

After retirement we settled down in Nagpur and when the younger son got admission in an aided engineering college , without capitation fee we were quite happy and used the dough ( kept aside for that very purpose , in case we ever had to pay the capitation fee ) , for buying a second hand Fiat for 55,000/bucks . Now with both the sons away and only two of us around the "necessity" part of the car was no longer an overriding factor.It was got for the convenience and the pleasurable part of it . What we had not bargained for was the problem part of it .

The engine used to over heat even after a small distance . As rectification we changed the four bladed radiator fan for five bladed one . It did not help much . Then the radiator it self was changed with a copper tubing radiator .

The battery was always down . It was difficult to get manpower for a push start at any and all places or times . So dynamo was replaced with an alternator . During our limited distances drives those problems did not bother us after these rectifications but they were spread over long period of time and had taken considerable amount of cash :-( .

At speeds above 45 kmph the nose wheels ( front wheels for the uninitiated) used to "shimmy" badly and the steering wheel used to vibrate and shake uncontrollably . Reducing speed was the only solution . No matter what we tried and how much we spent ,we could never get rid of this snag as long as we had that car .

In the mean time what with re-employment , pension , both sons away and one son earning , our finances were , for the first time in our memory , looking up . So , finally when the problem parts of the car far out weighed the pleasure part , we sold it off for a princely sum of 23,000/ bucks and actually considered ourselves lucky to have got that price !! With improved finances , a bit of bank loan and those 23,000/ bucks we got a base model brand new Maruti 800 car through the canteen on the 10 th of May 1998. It was a car from one of the very first lots to be received in Nagpur to be fitted with "catalytic converter" for better emission standards .The "pilots notes"("user manual" to the uninitiated )were replete with warning that "ONLY UN-LEADED " petrol to be used to prevent damage to the "catalytic converter" .{ a new one cost about 10 - 15000/- :-( } Those days un-laded petrol was not easily available any where as only few petrol pumps and that too only in bigger cities stocked the un-leaded petrol . It became quite common to hear people asking "where is un-leaded fuel available" , not to find the answer,but to boast to all within hearing range that he / she had latest model of Maruti 800 :-). The boasting was not misplaced . What a difference between our Fiat & this maruti ! It was like chalk & cheese !!!

It was the very first brand new car we had ever owned . I was 56 years old when that happened. Today the officers are owning better and bigger cars and that too at much younger age !!

We did not know it then , but this car was to bring us lots of pleasure and adventures !!

Velu.

EUREKA ! EUREKA !! EUREKA !!!

During the years 1999 to 2007 we had traveled extensively by road to all corners of India . I had prepared a road map on which full details of every journey under taken by us were recorded . All those who had a look at that map were suitably impressed ! My son suggested that I put them on the google "My Map pages " . It was a grand idea and helped me in spending considerable amount of my time in a very pleasurable hobby :-)and so the maps were duly made and posted on google "My Map pages " site after completion of the journey .

We are now in Gurgaon and have been for the last month plus to help out our DL (daughter -in -law)by doing some baby sitting and generally trying to be helpful . I have doubts about my contributions to both these tasks but I am sure and have no doubt that the DL will also agree that Priti has been doing both the tasks wonderfully well . In the mean time Google , Googgle maps , the Blog , the Gnat 50 years site and generally speaking the internet has been great help in getting me through the days and nights :-)

With time on my hand I thought of putting those maps on google earth . When trying to do that ( put my google maps on the Google Earth ) , I accidently discovered ( now you know the reason for the title of this blog:-)that google "My Maps "can be imbeded in the blog . After lot of trial & mostly errors I finally got the hang of how to do that .

It is a fair warning to all those very few followers of my blog { are there any ? :-( } that the next few days they are going to be over loaded by google maps and descriptions of our road journeys under taken through the years by car .

velu

Nagpur - Bangalore . June 1999 .

My reemployment at HQ Maintenance Command was to expire in November 1999 . By June of 1999 I had already asked for an extension of one year . However as I had already completed 5 years of re employment so the chances of getting another extension were rather remote ! However to our surprise my posting came to Hq Training Command Bangalore in that month . During those days there were rumors that in cases where Air Hq did not want to give extension to an officer without saying so in so many words , he was posted out to a faraway place . This automatically solved the problem of extension , as in most of the cases the officer did not want to move away from his selected place of re-employment and quit on his own :-)

So far as I was concerned , I was not playing the share market , doing side business in real estate or share brokerage during working hours , a routine practice with quite q few number of officers particularly those posted at Delhi . We had no school going kids and no over riding interest in staying at Nagpur so there was nothing holding us back from proceeding on posting! In any case we had decided that I would do my work to the best of my ability and not willingly let go of the IAF, unless they did not want me no more and said so in so many words with reasons as to why !

We thought about the posting . In the best of circumstances , that is if my extension for another year comes through I would then retire from The IAF from Bangalore in November 2000 maximum an year and half stay at that place . In the worst case scenerio I would retire in November 1999 that is after a stay of five months . Under these circumstances we decided to go on posting with least amount of luggage and go by car . It was a daring decision as I had never driven our maruti more then 40 odd kilometers beyond Nagpur and Priti had not driven even that much !! Our complete luggage consisted of 4 packing cases and one TV which we sent off to Bangalore . Priti's niece was married to a Naval Officer who was doing a course at that time at CDM in Secundrabad . Hyderabad being half way we decided to spend couple of days with them before proceeding to Bangalore .

Then the preparations for the car journey began . Got the maps studied the distances and asked various people about road condition, places to stay etc . We asked experienced travelers if we have to break journey and stay over night on the way to Hyderabad . We were assured that reaching Hyderabad from Nagpur on the same day was no problem at all . In fact we met one odd fellow who claimed to have made the journey all the way to Bangalore in one go as they had some emergency at home . After so many positive feed backs we we were assured and started feeling confident that "yes , may be we can make it to Hyderabad on the same day without any hitches ." Now , after all these years and having trapised all over India in our car we feel that all those ghuta hua travelers must have had a good laugh at our anxiety fears . Any way with all these experienced travelers we discussed the sun rise , sunset timings and also the discussed the best time to start . Due to bad habits of most of the Indian drivers and particularly of long distance truck drivers to drive with head lights on full beam I used to be almost blinded and found it most difficult to see the road ahead and on many an occasion had almost gone in a ditch or hit some thing by the road side . So It was decided to drive only during day light hours and call it a day & make night halt at which ever place we were before it became dark and made use of head light necessary . So the rule followed was start as soon as it becomes sufficient light in the morning and stop at any place before sunset . It was a wise decision which was to be followed in all future journeys.

During my morning walks I started going earlier just to check light conditions during dawn and day break to arrive at our wheels roll time ( starting time to the un-initiated ).

Finally the departure date as decided approached .

( TO BE COMPLETED )





View Nagpur - Bangalore , June 1999 . in a larger map

So Sorry . Write up on this photo will appear iin couple of days

Velu.

Yoga and Nature lovers at Japani Garden .
Morning of 16 Oct 09.

"SABRE SLAYERS"-A Coffee Table Book .

The draft was hibernating for almost 10 months or so.Finally with great resolve I decided to complete it and blog it today.

Hope you enjoy the read .
Dear Gnat People ,

For those who attended the 21 & 22 Nov 08 do at Bangaluru, and have a copy of "Sabre Slayers " and with due apologies to those who do not have a copy of this book .

SABRE SLAYERS - A COFFEE TABLE BOOK
A commemorative book released on 21 November 2008.

I have always been fascinated and very dearly wanted to own a Coffee table Book . However the cost of such books has always come in the way of full filling my desire with a result that I have never had /owned a "Coffee Table Book" ( CTB for short). Not withstanding my love for and desire to own a CTB I had my own ideas and definition of what is a CTB . To me a CTB was and still is a book which is :-
1. Very very expensive and costs the world..
2. Very well printed on absolutely top class paper .
3. Mostly contains excellent photographs with a little bit of text to say what the photographs are about .
4. Only the snobbishly rich people purchase the CBT, not for knowledge or to read or to see the photos but for the snob value and to impress the visitors who are less fortunate then them . Generally such people do not read these books nor do they go through them because they hase the moolah to buy them but dont have the time for them .

When I got the book "Sabre Slayers " along with other complimentary items courtesy HAL, I was very happy for very many reasons . First and foremost being the book is devoted to evolution,history and feats of the Gnat in IAF and I am a "Gnat People" and very proud of the fact , .Second being this happened to be the very first and only book,which I thought to be a CTB which we happen to own

Now having come in possession of a CTB or what I thought was a CTB,I decided to make sure that I knew for sure that it was indeed a CTB !!! For this I had to know the definition of what was a CTB . Thanks to the internet . finding what a CTB was only a matter few clicks away ! This is what I found :

From Wikipedia the free encyclopedia:A coffee table book is a hardcoverBook that is intended to sit on a coffee table or similar surface in an area where guests sit and are entertained, thus inspiring conversation or alleviating boredom. They tend to be oversized and of heavy construction, since there is no pressing need for portability. Subject matter is generally confined to non-fiction, and is usually visually-oriented. Pages consist mainly of photographs and illustrations, accompanied by captions and small blocks of text, as opposed to long prose. Since they are aimed at anyone who might pick the book up for a light read, the analysis inside is often more basic and with less jargon than other books on the subject. Because of this, the term "coffee table book" can be used pejoratively to indicate a superficial approach to the subject.

A group of art-related coffee-table books resting on a coffee table

From what my understanding of what a CTB was , I must add this definition . CTB " it is also a book which is frightfully expensive ". The owners who buy CTBs have oodles of money and buy them only " to sit on a coffee table or similar surface in an area where guests sit and are entertained," and purely for the snob value to impress the guests as they are entertained!! The owners themselves never ever open CTB or read them unless they happen to contain artistic reproduction of nudes .

From the above it is quite clear that " Sabre Slayers" except for a few exceptions does meet the requirements of being a CTB to a very large extent , even if it is not kept on a coffee table and I am particularly happy to own one! The exceptions are given in following paras.

1 . Sabre Slayers does not have a price tag . I have tried to find the price and no matter how hard I have looked the price is not printed any where .

2 .Every owner of the book has gone through it at least 4 to 5 times . First time just to leaf through it . Second time to see all the photographs and read their captions . Third time to see in how many photographs they themselves appear . Fourth time to confirm that their previous count was accurate . Fifth time to see how many of their buddies appear in these photos . Sixth and seventh time to have a look and savour their young and handsome visage in those photos of an age gone by . eighth time to see if their name appears in the list of Gnat qualified pilots . Ninth time to see if their buddies and friends also figure in the list .

3 . Tenth time just before writing a strongly worded mail to Gnat web site about the slip shod work done in preparing the list in that , so & so a kingpin on the Gnat does not figure in the list of Gnat Pilots etc. Quite a few of you may remember reading such letters within a few days of the get together . Such letters may have turned in to a deluge but for the mail by AD Chibbs to say how does it matter if the name is there or not and that it was childish to crib about such matter or some words to that effect . I personally feel Chibbs did a great dis service to the Gnat site by putting sudden and complete stop to such mails . I feel continued arrival of such mail would have been of great readable value and brought much more contributions for much longer time to the site :-)

4 . A large majority must have also read the book completely from cover to cover , I know because I did read it fully :) Some thing which never ever happens with a CTB.

5 . "Sabre Slayer" the book, may or may not be displayed. However whenever and where ever it is displayed it WONT be to impress any one . You see a Gnat pilot truly and firmly believes that his being a gnat pilot in itself is more then sufficient to impress the World !!

6 . I believe , the very people who conceived and brought the idea of "Sabre Slayers " to fruition and made this book possible had thought it be a "a commemorative book".

7. I believe it was conceived as "a commemorative book" but given a CTB look .

8 . Contains far too much text in proportion to the photographs as is normally a case with real CBT

9 . I feel it does not really weigh as much as a CTB should .

10 . There is lot of "jargaon " as compared to a real CTB .

So , as far as I am concerned copy of " Sabre Slayers " does not fit in to the definition of a CTB .

I am personally very unhappy about my own findings and conclusions as I have been very dearly wanting to own a CBT. After so many years coming in possession of a book so close to a CBT , only to conclude that it is not a CBT makes me sad :(

Will knowledgeable persons of the vast GNAT crowd like to write some words to say whether " Sabre Slayers " IS a CTB or not ? Preferably to prove that it is a CBT

VELU.

The Falcons .

I was posted to 101 Squadron Air Force , then based in Tezpur, in December 1966 . This was my first operational squadron as such I still remember it fondly .The squadron was equipped with Vampire trainer aircraft . The sqn operational role was Fighter Reconnaissance . The Vinten F-90 cameras fitted on the aircraft were of excellent quality . Photographs taken during training sorties those days included boats on the river Brahmaputra , village belles at various locations like river banks , by the water wells etc in various situations & poses , also buses, trains , bridges , wild life if spotted out side the Kaziranga sanctuary were all photographed .In fact we used to click any and every thing which caught our fancy and looked good and interesting ! Today I regret the fact that I never kept any of those photos /negatives . They would have made tremendous collection of some very very interesting and hair raising photos ! In due course I was declared "Fully Ops in F/R role" on type . We had wonderful time . But I was posted out in May 1968 . In fact all the squadron pilots were posted out as the squadron was converting to SU -7 s . Getting posted out because the squadron being re-equipped to better / newer type of air craft was not a new experience . In fact immediately on passing out in the 95 th Pilots Course almost This

Getting posted out because the squadron was being re-equipped to better / newer type of air craft was not a new experience . In fact immediately on passing out in the 95 th Pilots Course fighters guys were posted to three vampire squadrons 220,221&45 located in Pune . five of us were posted to 45 . When we reached Pune we found that other then on Flt Lt and one Fg Offr every one including was posted out as the Son was getting re equipped with MIG 21 !

To be completed

Letters to the Editor .

Here is my latest offering to the Editor of The Hitavada . I will let you know the fate of this offreing in couple of days .

Sir ,

Once the great lady Sonia Gandhi mentioned that in these hard time all need to follow money saving ways , most of the ministers and politicians have jumped on the "austerity band wagon ". Austerity has become the latest buzz word . After ensuring adequate publicity , travel by train and by "cattle class" in airlines has become the norm . Latest to join this band wagon is our respected Corporate Affairs Minister Mr Salman Khurshid who has come out with idea of placing a cap on the salaries of CEO's of India Inc.Latest statement is "display of affluence is unacceptable".
I would like to submit the following for consideration of general public , the AAM ADAMI & those in the Government .

1. Marriages of sons/daughter : We all have seen photographs and news coverage of marriages of sons and daughters of these elected representatives . I am sure all will agree that austerity was the last thought in these worthies mind when they were celebrating these functions!
2. Costly cavalcades .Between April 2005 and March 2008 ministers and officials of 44 ministries travelled over 11.40 crore KMs locally and spent 58.54 crores or Rs 7.9 lakhs per day . An Average sarkari car travels 157 km per day . ( Source : India Today October 5 , 2009 .)
3. Jumbo Cabinet : India had 18 Ministries in 1947 . Nehru's cabinet had 22 ministers.Must the Government have 78 Ministries? If 20 ministries which are outdated and where the onus of implementationis is with the States are wound up the Government could save over Rs 75,000 crore. ( Source : India Today October 5 , 2009 .)
4. Palatial Plots : Between 2005-09 93.5 crore was spent on the up gradation of houses of MPs and Ministers . Since June 2009 eight ministers have renovated offices for Rs 78.41 Lacs. Should they be put up in bangalows valued at over Rs 100 crore . ( Source : India Today October 5 , 2009 .)
5. Gross leakage : This year Rs 1,24,000 crore will be spent on rural development and poverty reduction.But do the benifits reach the poor . Rajeev Gandhi had said only 15 paise of a rupee reaches the poor . To deliver subsidised grain worth Re 1, Govt spends Rs 3.65. Why this can not be fixed . ( Source : India Today October 5 , 2009 .)
6. Project Delays.: As of May 2009, 310 of the 591 Government projects are delayed. While the sanctioned costs have already gone up by nearly 10 per cent to Rs 5,74,429 crore, final costs are estimated to go up by 38 per cent or Rs 1,70,000 crore . ( Source : India Today October 5 , 2009 .)
7. Pay & Perks of an MP .:On paper, the salary of an MP in India is Rs 144,000 per year (about $3,200), which works out to just Rs 12,000 (about $266) per month.

But it is meagre only if you don't consider the numerous allowances and freebies an MP is entitled to. Here is a look at the allowances and perks that every MP -- India has 790 of them -- enjoys.

Each Indian MP gets:

• Rs 14,000 (about $311) for office expenses every month, which includes Rs 3,000 for stationary items, Rs 1,000 on franking of letters and Rs 10,000 for secretariat services.
• A monthly constituency allowance of Rs 10,000.
• A daily allowance of Rs 500 when Parliament is in session. Parliament has three sessions every year. The Budget Session (February to May), Monsoon session (July to September), and Winter session (November and December).
• A daily travel allowance of Rs 8 per kilometre.
• Each MP and his spouse or companion are entitled to unlimited, free, first class railway travel anywhere in the country.
• They can also travel anywhere in India -- with a spouse or companion -- 40 times by air free of cost every year, business class.
• An MP gets a sprawling bungalow in the heart of New Delhi [ Images ] for which he pays a rent of just Rs 2,000 (about $44) per month.
• Each MP gets near-free electricity of 50,000 units every year. And free water.
• The MP's bungalow is furnished -- with air conditioners, refrigerators and television sets -- free of cost. Maintenance of the house -- including washing of sofa covers and curtains -- is done free of cost by the government.
• MPs are entitled to three phone lines and 170,000 free local calls every year.
• When an MP travels abroad officially, he is entitled to free business class air tickets. He is also paid a daily travelling allowance, which varies depending upon the country being visited.
• Most medical expenses of MPs are taken care of by the Contributory Health Service Scheme of the Union government.
• Each MP also gets Rs 20 million (about $434,782) each year from the Members of Parliament Local Area Development Fund. But the MP does not get the money directly. Instead, it is transferred to respective district headquarters where projects are being implemented.
• After an MP completes a term in office, he is entitled to pension. The basic monthly pension amount is Rs 3,000 (about $66). But it goes up according to the number of years an MP has served in Parliament.
• The Comptroller and Auditor General of India last year alleged that many MPs have violated norms in the usage of this money. ( Source http://www.rediff.com/news/2005/dec/13spec.htm )

Those in the Government, Ministers , MPs ,MLAs , MLCs , The IAS cader et all will do well to do some thing about the above mentioned factors and lot more aspects of similar nature before opening their mouth about the word AUSTERITY.

PM Velankar, Nagpur .

Invitation Cards : 5 B R D A F

It has been a very long time since I wrote last in contributions or to Gnat 50 Years addresses. One reason was that I was put off by the fact that my reports on the proceedings on 21 , 22 November did not see the light of the day and were never published . I finally put them on my blog which you can visit at this site http://velusr.blogspot.com/. The heading for this piece is

Invitation Cards for parties in 5 BRD circa 1978 to 1983.

During the spring cleaning and getting the house painted for Diwali we found few invitation cards for the parties held at 5 BRD which Priti and I had made , with the help of Nanku and had preserved them all these years due to their sentimental value . Those cards have inspired me to sit on the key board again and write this piece.

I did two tenures in 5 BRD spread between the period 1976/78 to 1984 . I was doing the post production , Storage and calender Air Tests on Gnats , Kiran Mk I , Cheeta , Chetaks , HT-2 . For the choppers Nanku Pande , my course mate and a chopper TP was great help and taught me quite a bit about helicopter flying !

As during most of the year flying was minimal , it picked up only by November or so of the year and or may be for other reasons as well about which I remained ignorant, during most of my stay I was PMC , Entertainment Member , Library Member ( by choice ) .

Conducting Ladies Night and Husband Night parties were couple of highlights of the Officers Mess Social life . We , Naku , Priti and I spent long hours thinking different and innovative invitation cards for these occasions . Some of the cards found from the old saved papers were badly damaged and I could not do any thing with them . The photos of three of the invitation cards which were in reasonably good condition are a attached . If any of the Gnat / 5BRD old timers of those days remember those glorious days I will consider my efforts well rewarded .

After having a look at the photos it will be realised as to the efforts which must have gone in to making them and why I consider it worth writing about them :)

Invitation Card 1



This was a card for husbands night party . Unfortunately I now find that date of the party is not mentioned any where on the card . Now of course I can not think how such a slip -up had occurred still it should be around years 1979 to 1981.. Getting 40 odd identical plastic photo frames itself was problem . Brother Officer's cooperation in providing their photograph and their wedding dates was commendable . Alongside the photo couples wedding date was given . The party itself we had erected KalayanMandapam and conducted marriage ceremony of Ashish Naik ( Bridegroom) and the young doc as Bride , Poor fellow had to shave off his mu stash of which he was quite proud.

Invitation Card 2


This was another card for the Husbands Night party held on the Independence Eve of the year 1982.It was a scroll printed on satin cloth mounted on wooden baton turne out by the carpentry shop of the unit and had provision to hang it for display , if one had an inclination to do so we had done it for some time ! It was " designer card " ( a term not in vogue in those days ) , in the sense that the card was made specifically for "A" lady whose photo in the left seat of a Cheeta Helicopter was affixed to the card . A Cheeta was positioned on the tarmac and all the ladies were taken to the tarmac for the photo session . One has only to imagine the efforts it must have taken to get all the ladies with family and kids on the tarmac at the appointed time on the appointed date . So Photo Section , the Carpentry Shop the MT Section , all were involved . Needless to say that all this was possible only because of the support and the backing of the C O .

Invitation Crad 3.



This was made for a " Husband Night " party to be held on 17 March 1984 . As was appropriate it was made by the ladies . We , the men folks were not involved as will be also apparent from the material and artistry used in making of the card . If I recollect rightly the idea and "manufacture " of cards was done under the supervision of Mrs Sanjeevan .

Invitation Card 4



As can be made out from the material used , dry decorations , fevicol , stiff paper , etc that this card was also made by the ladies for "Husband Night " party to be held on 23 Jan 1982 . This was also a " designer card " in the sense it was made "Rank Specific " The photo here is a card for an officer of the rank of "Squadron Leader"( yours truly a S/L at that time ) . You will notice that all the rank tapes are not similar . That is because some where some time in all these years the top flying officer's rank tape had gone missing and I found the card with bottom two tapes one of a P/O and one of F/O tape only . As getting a fresh F/O's tape was just not possible I used some imagination and used coloured felt pens to make the additional tape to make it a S /L "rank" . Priti tell me the idea for the card and making of it was done under the guidance of Mrs Ramdas .

PM Velankar " VELU"

The Falcon Memento .

The photos of this blog were lost in cyberspace.

Photos inserted and Blog edited on 18 September 2021.

( It is still shining AFTER 54 years !!!)

The Falcon Memento.

I was posted to 101 Squadron Air Force, then based in Tezpur, in December 1966.  This was my first operational squadron as such I still remember it fondly.

The squadron was equipped with Vampire trainer aircraft. The sqn operational role was Fighter Reconnaissance (FR). Vinten F-95 cameras fitted on the aircraft were of excellent quality.  In case of hostilities in case the army wanted intelligence about enemy deployment 101 squadron was tasked to go on a recce mission. Take photos of the enemy deployments and later drop the developed photos at the army unit. Necessary information about enemy deployments was then determined by the trained photo interpreters of the army. Just before the commencement of 1965 hostilities Fli Lt Chhetri of 101 Squadron was awarded a VRC for bringing back tank tracks and tanks hiding in sand dunes of Ran Of Katchabout which the army was unaware of.

  Photographs taken during training sorties those days included boats on the river Brahmaputra, village belles at various locations like river banks, by the water wells etc in various situations & poses, also buses, trains, bridges, wildlife if spotted outside the Kaziranga sanctuary were all photographed. In fact, for practice, we used to click any and everything which caught our fancy and looked good and interesting! Today I regret the fact that I never kept any of those photos /negatives, they would have made a tremendous collection of some very very interesting and hair raising photos!

In due course, I was declared "Fully Ops in F/R role" on the type. 

 The crowd ( Boman Irani, Chhetri, Gaurishankar, "Badda" Kochhar, Shivdas, Naliyan, P Singh, Bamzai, Dhillon, Bhasin, Malkani, Ramesh Gosain, Bo Phatak, Popo Sahay, my course mates Suraj Kumar, Ghalot, Vinod Kumar, Don Jonas (& then there were some youngsters whose names, alas, have now been erased from the memory) was great. We had a wonderful time. But as the title suggests I am writing this blog about 101 Squadron memento. 

There may be another blog about the good times we had but for now, I will stick to 101 Squadron memento! 

 I was posted out of the Sqn in May 1968 to 7 Squadron which was located in Hindon in those days. In fact, all the squadron pilots were posted out as the squadron was converting to SU -7 aircraft. There was a spate of farewell parties as one by one the fellows were bidding goodbye to the unit. Gosain, if I remember rightly, was in charge of the flight fund. The unit had a limited number of mementoes to be presented, of course, no one had anticipated that we will need such a large number of mementoes in such a short time. So by the time my turn came for the farewell party and to receive the memento, it was not available as all were already presented and were out of stock. 

The memento was a piece of very well crafted "Falcon on a closed fist" mounted on a wooden pedestal. It was of excellent workmanship, quality and a memento worth having not only because it was a memento of the unit where you had the best of times, where you were declared fully ops on an aircraft for the first time in your life but also because it was simply so beautifully made that one had to have it. The artist had caught the wild spirit, the deadliness of the beak, bone-crunching power of those lethal talons and the powerful body and the mighty chest whose impact would render its pray senseless. All done very beautifully and in vivid detail. Even the eyes looked ferocious !! It was a work of art and as I said one had to have it. So I kept pestering Gosain to do something so that I get one and made his life miserable. 

As I was posted to Hindon and had to go to Delhi I was given an authority letter addressed to Whora Brothers, Jewellers & Watchmakers, Cannaught Circus, New Delhi authorising me to collect one Falcon memento on cash payment of Rs 100/- that being the cost of the memento. 

I was also given Rs 100/, a princely sum in those days, from the flight fund so that I could make the payment otherwise who had that kind of money. (Remember Rum bottle in the valley was only Rs 2, so the memento was worth 50 bottles of rum. (Over the years I have realised and you better believe me when I say that it was worth every rupee and every peg of each of those 50 bottles !!!). By the time I reached Delhi and Hindon after spending 15 days holidays at home in Kannod, M P, I realised that all the money I had was spent, including the 100 bucks received from the 101 sqn flight fund. I had no money to give to Whora Brothers for the Falcon, which I had wanted so badly. To cut a long story short it was almost six months before I could collect the coveted trophy! 

Over the years we have collected a lot more mementoes from almost all the units we were posted to. Exceptions being 220 the very first squadron we were posted to as it was a training squadron, at CDM, at DSSC and at ASTE, as at all these places we were told that under trainee pilots/ officers were not given any memento of the unit. Whatever the logic behind this argument I have failed to understand it even today. 

With all these mementoes, we have been spending a lot of time in silvo"ing" and Brasso"ing". Over the years quite a lot of mementoes have lost their silver polish and look yellow and so over the years instead of "silvoing" them we had to switch over "brossing" of those items. Some just refuse to respond to your loving care and simply refuse to shine no matter how much trouble you take. But not so "The Falcon ". It was bright and shining in all its silver glory the day I had collected it sometime in 1969 and it is still bright shining in all its silver glory even today after each silvo polish. 

To this day it remains our most loved trophy. Of course, the paint from the wooden pedestal has been chipped and it looks a bit battered and for the fear that local carpenters may not be able to do a good job, I have left the pedestal without any effort of restoration. Those who have been unfortunate enough never to have owned the falcon or even looked at it, here is a photo taken of our beloved Falcon on 09 September 2009. Looking at it it is hard to believe that it still retains its beauty and grand looks even after 40 long years .

From the Bharat Rakshak website, I learn that the Squadron is now located at Naliya. However, I do not know if the unit has still retained the same "Falcon" as farewell memento for its officers or not. 

If it is changed and if so what is the new memento and if the new one would still be loved even after 40 years as we love our FALCON !!!!! 

 VELU. PS : click on the photo and feel the impact of the Falcon.

Return after a gap .

Returning after a looooong looooong gap .
Read our Foreign Minister SM Krishna's remarks published in news papers of 8 Sept 09 and just could not help myself from reacting . So , dashed off a letter to Editors of The Hitavada and , India Today .

Letter is already published in the paper . Happy to see that this time the Editor was kind enough to publish the contents as they were written . So here is what I had written :-

Sir ,

The statement by Foreign Minister SM Krishna that action of Chinese Army in case of border violation by entering up to 1.7 KMs and spray painting in red colour words " CHINA " as "There is no issue on that. There is no problem on that " , is most shocking to say the least .

Due its firm and principled foreign policy during the Nehru era of non -alignment, India was respected and had a very high standing in the comity of world of nations . Even during the days of Indira Gandhi , she had , in-spite of all her faults , managed the foreign affairs extremely well . Due to the deft handling , she had managed to gain world sympathy about the problem of millions of refugees from erstwhile East Pakistan.This enabled us to liberate Bangladesh without inviting adverse reaction from other world nations .

It is sad state of affairs that since those days , India's foreign policy has steadily gone down hill . It has become ( The foreign policy ) spineless and totally non assertive . De-linking of terrorism with resumption of talks with Pakistan was the most recent example of this spinelessness , totally non assertiveness and bending over backwards to accommodate opponents point of view. After the latest Chinese intrusion, the least people of India expected was Chinese Ambassador being called to South Block and asked for an apology and explanation in sternest of terms . However the comments of our Foreign Minister indicates that our spinelessness has reached the lowest point ever . India has lost the respect of world community it once had .

I suggest that if this sort of behaviour is considered "There is no issue on that. There is no problem on that " by our Foreign Minister and the Government of India , they should authorise Indian Army to intrude 1.7 KMs in Chinese territory , paint "INDIA" in saffron colour on all the boulders they can find and watch for the reaction of Chinese Government . See if they also feel and consider such an action on the part of Indian Army as "There is no issue on that. There is no problem on that "

Mera Bharat Mahan .

PM Velankar , Nagpur .

Letters to the Editor .

Occasionally,I keep writing letters to the Editor of The Hitavada , our local news paper , on the subjects which agitate me greatly .Some get published , some don't . Most of them get edited . In some the scissor is kind in some it is so brutal as to hurt :-(
When I narrated the story of one such brutal cutting to Jayati , she suggested that I put up a scanned copy of the published letter and the one which was written originally , people will know what you felt and how the Editor had altered your mail . I was not able to trace the paper , so that can not now be done , may be later if I ever find it .

Here is one more letter which I have written this time I have sent a copy to India Today as well. I do not know it will get published or not . One thing is sure no one can stop me from puttingit up in my blog :-)

1. 288 CANDIDATES WITH CRIMINAL BACKGROUND IN POLL FREY, actual number is far more , as this figure was only for 2nd phase of polling.

2. BAN ENGLISH .

3. BAN COMPUTERS .

4. Reservations for SC, ST , OBCs and whole heap of ABCs & XYZs, sans merit , in IITs and IIMs .

5. Reservations for SC, ST , OBCs and whole heap of ABCs & XYZs, sans merit , in Government Departments and Public Sector Undertakings.

6. Promises to bring Reservations for SC, ST , OBCs and whole heap of ABCs & XYZs, sans merit, in PRIVATE Sector .

7. Promises for reservations in all possible openings for MUSLIMs .

8. Demand for reservation of 80 % vacancies , sans merit OR employability in all fields and openings, in ALL STATES for the "SONS OF THE SOIL"
9. In spite of assassination of Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and countless sucide bombingsand other terror activities, LTTE is NOT a terrorist outfit .

10 Free electricity & Water to farmers .

11. Rations at Rs 2 per Kg to all below poverty line .( ? )

12. Politics based on Mandir , Masjid , Church & Gurudwaras , cast & Creed , the list is end less............

Sir ,

Taliban , Al - Quida , I S I , Pakistan or China , none of them have to lift a finger to destroy our mahan Country which is mera Bharat ! Our esteemed Netas are already well the way to achieve the destruction of this country .

Jai Hind.

PM Velankar , Nagpur .

Gnat 50 Years Celebrations -22 November 2008 .

21 November 2008 functions were unforgettable . The programme for the 22 Nov was visits to HAL heritage centre followed by divisions . In the evening at 1900 hours departure for ASTE Officers Mess for contributory Dinner . However 22 Squadron crowd had their own agenda starting around 1230 to 1300 hours as We had to be at PK Tayal's Place as he and Mamta had called over all the 22 Squadron people for a lunch .

Any way missing out on the heritage centre was also not too palatable so lot of us decided to make the maximum of the opportunity and visit HAL heritage centre till the last moment and then by 1230 or so leave the main group for PKT's place . Leaving the group transportation the Volvo , and go on our own ways was possible only because of the plentiful transport arrangements made by the HAL as Chato and Mike had asked for and were provided with separate cars which made it possible .

We got up bright and early . Had breakfast and were ready by 1100 hours , the appointed time to board the Volvo to proceed to HAL Heritage Centre . The centre is a short distance from HMA . We went first to the Museum . It has aircraft and aero engines on display with which HAL was connected and involved in any way . It also has photo gallery which was very impressive specially in historical value . It records the photo history of HAL from the time the first building was constructed . Hats off to the foresight and interpuneral capability of Seth Hirachand Walchand who had formed aircraft manufacturing company in 1940'S, which was later to become the HAL . An irony and sad part is that the heritage center does NOT have a Gnat / Ajeet on display

Half the time we were also looking at our watches and left the main group at 1230 hours . The skies also opened up then and it started raining as if the weather gods were also feeling sad at our departure !

Mamta and PKT have a very nice and sprawling bunglow . The full 22 crowd soon gathered . It was then a good long drinking and yak-yak session .We had a wonderful time . The food was good . For a change I also had food and did not live on liquid nurishment alone Mamta and Pradeep were very good hosts and a very happy and contented bunch left their house around 1500 hours or so . Most unfortunately I had forgotten to take my camera , SU was the fastest to send the photos . Unfortunately there was some F***up as the quality was not good . PKT was also fast in sending the photos . Photos sent by him are produced below . Titling etc my effort

TWENTY - TWO CROWD AT PKT's PLACE 22-11-08.
L to R rearmost ,
Mike Wilson , Steve Datta, Don Lazarus , MM Baliga , AK Brahmwar , PK Tayal , GSN Prasad
Front row ,
Ajit Lamba , DJS Kler , Adi Ghandhi , PM Velankar , AV Bhagwat , V Pashupathi , AK Shyam
Kneeling in front ,
Chris Chatterjee , Sunith Soares .

TWENTY - TWO CROWD OF 1971 INDO-PAK WAR.
L to R , rear row
Don Lazarus , MM Baliga , AK Brahmwar , Chrish Chatterjee "Chato ", PM Velankar"Velu" , PK Tayal "PKT" ,
two in the middle
Sunith Soares "SU" , GSN Prasad ,
front row
AK Shyam "Babu Moshai" , Steve Datta , AV Bhagwat"Bhaggu" , V Pashupathi "Pash" & DJS Kler

LADIES OF TWENTY TWO

from L to R:standing
Mrs AK Shyam , Mrs Sandhya Bhagwat , Mrs Don Lazaras , Mrs Mamata Tayal , Mrs Neena Baliga , Mrs Matti Ghandhi , Mrs Sudha Patwardhan .
sitting in front
Mrs Suchi Kler , Mrs Guddi Lamba , Mrs Neeta Brahmwar .

+++++++

Evening 1900 hours found us once again in the now familiar Volvo to set course for ASTE Officers Mess.

The Volvo passangers were the first to arrive and received by the AOC . Before we could go to the lawns , he requested us to autograph a blow up photo of Gnat in flight . Being the first to do the honours we singed our names ensuring that none had signed on the Gnat photo itself , Chato did that and was the first to sign on the nose of the aiecraft .

Your's truly putting his mark on G bird.

Lot of people will know lot of marks!

After this we all proceeded to the lawns where the party was organised . Two airmen were detailed to collect the contribution which was fixed at Rs 400/- per head .

The party was a grand success . Group photo session which was missing at Ghatge Convention Center was very much in evidence here . Awating eagerly to get hold of the same . People told anacdotes , jokes and stories . The shortest and one of the best was by Benjee . It went , "hum peeten hein whisky , hum peeten hein whisky ; kabhi iss ki kabhi uski ". Don told about the PAF pilot he had shot down , and who went on to become Chief Of PAF . and how he wrote to him and got a reply There were many many more good ones and we stayed till well past mid - night . On the way back , Chato again regaled every one with his limmeriks . At HMA bid every one good night and went to bed .

Most sad that I do not have any photos of the evening function .

Even though contented and happy , sleep would not come for a long long time . Events of the last 48 hours were going past the mental screen as if a 70 mm DVD video was on , with replay button pressed . Old friends all showing their age , some of them so changed that they had to introduce themselves . As was the case with me as lot of old friends did not recognise me due to the changes wrought about by age

But there was no problem and difficulty in recognising the pride each and every one had felt to be a part of the " Gnat Brotherhood " and having participited in the " Gnat 50 Years celebration " over the last two days . Not one of them is ever likey to forget those priceless , nostelgic , happy and memorable two days .

Next morning caught the train for Nagpur and it was back to " Ops Normal " as usual .

Velu .

Gnat 50 Years Celebrations . 21 November 2008 .

I had written about the arrangements made by the Organising Committee in my last post . As written , it was just too good . I was coming to Bangalore by train . As usual the train was late . It started by getting late even before its arrival at my boarding place , Nagpur , where it came late by 2 hours .The train kept loosing time and by the time we were approaching Bangaluru it was 4 hours late . Right time for arrival at Bangaluru was 2100 hours and with all these delays I would reach Bangaluru at an ungodly hour of 0100 hours . As train was getting further and further delayed , I was getting worried about my reception . But thanks to all the " toing and froing of information " , I knew that Mr Ananda was in charge for receiving the participants at City Railway Station . I also knew his mobile number . By the same logic , Mr Ananda also knew my arrival details and my mobile number . Mobile phone , what a fantastic invention and means of communication .From the moving train , miles and miles from Banguluru , I could inform him about the lateness of the train , my coach number and that I would be in an ethnic dress of pajama & cream coloured kurta :-) On his part he assured me that no matter what time the train comes he would be there to receive me . That took a great weight off my mind . Finally train reached station at 0130 hours . Mr Ananda had no difficulty in identifying me by my kurta & pajama . Mr Shamsher Singh was also with him and they had come in a Indica taxi to receive me . It was great to have been received in such grand style , particularly when one considers the lateness & time of the night !! On returning to Nagpur when I sent a thank you letter to the Chairman HAL , I had also sent thank you cards to Mr Ananda & Mr Shamsher Singh . Apparently Mr Ananda did receive my card because I received a SMS message from him wishing us a happy new year couple of days back . I believe the reception arrangements for all were equally good !!!! We reached HAL Management Academy by 0200 h . A room was earmarked for me and the staff waiting . The room was quite comfortable and from the print-outs kept there I knew the complete programme . I knew what time the programme would start , what time breakfast would be served what time transport would take us to the programme venue . The attention to details in making the arrangements were amazing !! With no doubts in my mind and at complete ease I had a good night's sleep .

Even though I had slept only for few hours I got up refreshed, On the breakfast table met Pashupathi & Bhuwana , friends from 22 squadron days of early seventies !! They had come all the way from Thailand .We were meeting after almost 19 to 20 years and were trying to catch up with all the news . There were some others but I did not know them . I was a bit surprised , in my vanity , I had thought that after so many years on the Gnats I knew every one who had any thing to do with Gnats . How wrong I was . The Gnat world was / is pretty big !!

Breakfast spread was impressive . There was Idli Sambar , Dosa Chatny , bread butter and eggs , Tea coffee and fruit juices . We finished the breakfast and went in the lobby . Volvo coach was to leave for Ghatge Convention Hall at 0830 hrs . By now others had also gathered . I think there were about 10 to 15 officers staying at HAL Management Academy and we all used to travel collectively for all the programmes in the Volvo . It was a/c coach and very comfortable . It was good arrangement . We reached the Convention Hall well in time . Much before the programme was to start . Programme for "Gnat Vigenettes" is given below . Hopefully if you concentrate you may be able to read it :-)

The Ghatge Convention Hall is located in very well maintained grounds . Beautiful lawns , lots of ornamental trees . The weather in Bagaluru was fabulous . Ghatge Hall for decorations has beautiful and BIG air craft and helicopter photographs produced by HAL adorning the walls . The ambience is very "flying" . With Gnat Photo exhibition in the verandah , which had some good vintage and rare Gnat photographs of historical value the atmosphere was tremendous and very " Gnatish " . .The photo exhibition was worth a dekho . Rear lawns had arrangements for breakfast and lunch . Which were equally impressive .

On arrival , We were presented with a laptop carry bag , a documentary film CD titled " The Gnat Brotherhood " produced by Dipti Bhalla & Kunal Verma , a CD on HAL , a coffee table book by Pushpinder Singh titled " Sabre Slayers " , a note pad and a pen along with clip on name tag by the Reception Committee . It was a good memento of the occasion

BY 1000 hours all the participants had gathered . Knew lot of people . Had heard of lot of people and had neither heard nor met some people . Meeting some people after a long long time , in some cases stretching to 10 to 15 years plus gap. Going around and meeting others brought out that people had turned up from far and wide . Pashu & Bhuvana ( Wg Cdr V Pashupathy VM , who had commanded the first MIG 29 Squadron to be formed in the IAF ) had come all the way from Thailand ! Don and Anita ( Gp Capt D Lazarus Vr C , hero of the 1971 war , person who had shot down future Chief Of the Air Staff of PAF ) had made it all the way from Malaysia . Air Marshal CS Naik , Air Marshal MSD Wollen , Air Marshal Pk Dey the grand old men of the Air Force who were there at Chilbolton UK in 1956-57 where it had all started , The Keelor Brothers , legends of 1965 war ,. Anandeep Pannu a young man with encyclopaedic knowledge of aircraft and a generous contributor to the cause had come from Seattle USA. . Air Marshal Adi Gandhi & Matti , Buzz Datta & Shaila and Limey , the motive force and organisers of the first ever "Gnat Brotherhood" gathering in 2006 , had come from Pune . Incidentally "Gnat Brotherhood" get together in Sept 2006 in Pune was the source event which prompted Air Chief Marshal Tyagi to suggest to HAL Chairman to examine and if agreeable to organise Gnat 50 years Golden Jubilee celebrations in partnership with the IAF . Group photo of Gnat Brotherhood 2006 is attached . Sudha Patwardhan had come from Pune . "Pat" was with us in 22 . Though he is not with us these past many years , Sudha considers herself from Gnat Family . She was there in 2006 in Pune and she was here in Banguluru in 2008 . Her presence in these two functions , I feel is a great tribute to the " Gnat Spirit " . My hats off the the lady for keeping alive that " Spirit " .

"Gnat - Brotherhood-2006" , Pune .

you wont be able to spot me but Priti , ( as you see the photo) is

sitting on the extreme right !

There were many many more Gnat Lovers who had come from all over the Globe and India . From Mumbai , Kolkota , Chennai , Delhi , your's truly from nagpur , And of course all the Bangaluruians !! Rakesh Sharma , the one and only Indian Astronaut , literally one man in a billion , was there . In fact we are all waiting for the directory written about by Kapil Sir , of all those who attended . It will be a very valuable and keepsake document as it will be a one source document of who and where-about of all the Gnat crowd . Spotted Ajit Lamba , my Squadron Commander in discussion with some one .He is some one for whom I have tremendous respect & all the time in the world . A very good officer , a thorough professional a very good CO. Though we never said "lamba is god and God is lamba" , because it does not rhyme as well as "greene is god and god is greene", the sentiments were similar . Of course the fact that he never recommended my name for QFI course as I was not exceptional , still rankles some times . Made a bee line for him . Wished him , even though he was in discussion with some one . Realised that they were discussing some thing serious , may be the late / non arrival of the CAS and how the programme to be altered , So did a hard turn and got lost in the crowd . Here however the "Squadron Spirit " forces me to state that of all the eight Gnat Squadrons, 2 , 9 , 15 , 18 , 21, 22 , 23 , 24 , the representation from 22 Squadron was maximum . Adi Gandhi , AS Lamba , GSN Prasad , Don Lazarus , Sunith Soares , AV Bhagwat , MM Baliga , AK Brahmwar , AK Shyam , V Pashupathi , PK Tayal , Stave Datta , Chattarjee , DJS Kler , Mike Wilson , Velu Sudha . Except for two , every one who was there in 1971 war a total of SIXTEEN from one squadron were there In fact 22 had its own agenda to follow as PKT had laid out lunch on 22 Nov for 22 fellows .That was very well done indeed . The full credit must go to Sunith Soares who traced all , found their contact numbers and motivated them to attend in such large numbers .

The start of the function was not all that encouraging as initial information was that the aircraft of the CAS was delayed and so there will be some delay in commencement of the function . This was followed by the info that due to some unavoidable reason , Chief Of the Air Staff could not make it and VCAS would be representing the CAS . This entailed some changes in the programme and high tea was preponed . After a scrumchus high tea we all settled down in the hall for the programme to begin.

The programme commenced with the inaugural ceremony and addresses by Director ( Personnel ) HAL , Chairman HAL and The VCAS . There after the programme comprised reminiscences by the guest speakers , inter spread with film snippets . Ajit Lamba was the compère / MC / conductor of the programme . The way he conducted it was really good and for the first time I realised that he also had good sense of humour as each speaker was introduced well and with a Joke !!! The speakers were AM CS Naik , AM MSD Wollen , AM PK Dey , AM D Keelor , AM P Rajkumar , Gp Capt D Lazarus , Wg Cdr Soares .and MR Jayamohan .Conclusion was by Air Chief marshal SP Tyagi (retd) . All spoke wonderfully well . I particularly liked speeches /reminiscences by
AM CS Naik , AM MSD Wollen , They spoke of the times and working at Chilbolton and at A & ATU at Kanpur , all those years back . They spoke of Saranjan Das and Sudhakaran and all those who made the Gnat what it was to become . They told us of how the world aviation faternety was stunned and impressed by the Gnat air display given by Saranjan Das at Farnborough Air Show . How no one could ever replicate the "Saranjan Das Roll " the way he used to do it in a Gnat . They told us how on 26 January 1958 the vast maltitude on Rajpath in New Delhi were astounded and amazed and left speechless by a silverstreak as it went thundring past at low level and then go off vertically , to vanish in the sky . It was the FIRST EVER 26 January Fly Past by a Gnat being flown by Sudhakaran . For his initiative Sudhakaran was given a warning by Arjan Singh for coming too low . AM PK Dey (whose only regret is that he could not fly Gnat in Farnborough Air Show ), Air Chief marshal SP Tyagi (retd) and Mr Jayamohan who was the only civilian speaker and spoke lovingly about the fabulous frame 18 and aluminium forging of the Gnat !! All spoke with emotion , passion , love for the Gnat and so eloquently that it touched the heart and brought a lump in the throat !!! It was total " NOSTALGIA " All in CAPITALS . All modern auditoriums have speech recording facilities , The speeches /reminiscences were so good I wish they are included in future reprints/ editions of the book "Sabre Slayers" . There are people who come live and just pass on , there are people who by their deeds become part of history and then , there are people who create history . These were the people who created Gnat history . It was indeed a great honour and privilege to be part of this august crowd .

Lunch was as good as all the other arrangements . A very good spread . Left for HAL Academy happy , contented and full of nostalgia .

The Volvo was ready and we left for the Le Merridian at appointed hour . It took more then one hour and forty-five minutes for us to reach the venue from the HAL Management Academy . This inspite of the fact that the driver had taken longer and supposedly less congested traffic route . Apparently the traffic in Bangaluru is becoming unbearable The party went off very well . With liquid refreshments which lubricated the throat speech flowed freely and voluminously . The great hall was full of hub-hub and jolly noise . It was difficult to get people to settledown for the screening of the documentery film , The film was good . Dinner better and the liquid refreshments the best . Spirit level and the spirits were highest and the maximum in 22 Squadron group which was also the noisiest !!!!!! Packed off pretty late and only after the hotel staff had taken the last bottle away and closed the bar , Chato was in high spirits . When he is in high spirits he is in his element . On the trip back to the academy he was in his element and regaled one and all with his limmericks . It goes without saying that They were very risqué and had lot of double meanings .

A tremendous time was had by one and all . It was the perfect round off for a very good , very memorable and most nostalgic day . 21 November 2008 will live long in the memories of those who attended these celeberations !!!!

Next instalment to cover happenings on the 22 November .

Velu .

Gnat 50 Years Celebrations - Arrangements by HAL

I had a feeling that once the celebrations are over the contributions and the visits to this site(Gnat 50 years celebrations .) will dry - up and every one will get back to their ways . Sadly my apprehensions seem to be coming true .

Kapil Sir , the ever optimist , had informed that the site is paid for till Aug 2009 and he was confident that with regular visits and posts on the site he will be able to keep it going much much longer . Let all of us prove that his optimism was not misplaced by continuing to contribute . If there is not much of text material , all those who had taken photographs can start up loading them on the web . I am confident the moment photos are available on the site it will rekindle the interest and the site can keep going !!! There was another hint that those unfortunate people who were not able to attend the celebrations would like to know what all had transpired .

I propose to pen how the celebrations were held and how well they went off . I propose to do that in three parts .
1. Arrangements by HAL .
2. Functions on 21 November 2008 ; &
3. Functions on 22 November 2008 .

This is the first instalment . The other two will follow but may take a bit of time as motivation level is pretty low at the moment and now a days the mood is also playing tyrant .

ARRANGEMENTS BY THE HAL

Thanks to the web site most of the personal details and required information like attending singly or with spouse etc was available with the Administrators / the committee organising the event when they received the registration form given at URL http://gnat50years.in/news/register-online-or-offline.html. Later on , additional details about mode and place of arrival and departures etc were also asked for and intimated to the organising committee by participants

by filling up another form available at "visitor Form " and still later , confirmed by Mr Vasanth of HAL . So every information was available with organisers . The organising committee had made three reception sub committees , one for the Airport , Second for the Bangaluru City Railway Station and the third for the Bangaluru Cantonment railway Station . Contact details of the members of these sub committee were very thoughtfully intimated by Mr Vasanth to all the persons attending . This information came in very useful on arrival .

INVITATION CARDS .

The very first worry for the participants was whether they receive invites for the function . If no invite is received it was the end even before the beginning ! Full marks to Organising committee . Two Invitations cards , one for the morning programme , called " Gnat Vignette " and the other for the evening party called " Gnat Golden Jubilee Dinner " were received well / just in time . The cards were beautifully printed . I am going to preserve them . For those who did not attend and did not receive these cards the photos of the same are given below .

GNAT VIGNETTE CARD

you can see the card shows Gnat aircraft number E-265 in a level flight & Looks really beautiful.

GNAT GOLDEN JUBILEE DINNER

This shows a Gnat in camouflage colour scheme .

There were three categories of people attending the celebrations.

1. Staying with friends/Under own arrangements .
2. Had requested for accommodation and transport courtesy HAL .
3 . Local residents .

It was the second category which was depending totally on the arrangements made by the HAL and would be affected most by how the organising committee makes use of the information available with them . From personal experience I can say that they really made good use of the information . The arrangements were really good .

ACCOMMODATION & TRANSPORT .

Accommodation was arranged in HAL Management Academy . The rooms with attached bathrooms were good . Every room had a "WELCOME" message from Executive Director HAL Management Academy . The same is reproduced below :


( sorry too small to read )




Three printouts with information of various arrangements made on 20, 21 and 22 November 2008 were also kept in the room for information of participants . One printouts contained information on meal timings , transport timings to leave for various functions made on 20, 21 and 22 . The second one contained " Brief for Participants " giving various details, covering period from 17 November 2008 to 23 November 2008 . The third one contained detailed programme for " Gnat Vignettes" on the morning of 21November 2008 .

The room also had complimentary apple juice tetra pack , three packets of biscuits , tea , coffee , sugar & milk powder packets, mineral water bottles , fruit basket and complete set of toiletry items .

To travel in group two Volvo buses were arranged . Additionally a fairly large number of taxies were also arranged for those who had necessity to travel on their own . Number of taxies hired appeared more then adequate because any one wanting to go any where any time was promptly provided with one hired taxi . Same taxies were used to pick up and drop the participants from their arrival / departure points eg Airport , railway stations . With such a large number of participants , with different agendas , to say that transport arrangments were adequate and met full requirements is truly saying some thing !!!!

I have covered all these arrangements in minute details only to bring out the thoroughness and the pains taken by the Organising Committee to make our stay really comfortable and memorable .

On my return I had written a two page hand written "thank you " letter to Chairman HAL , unfortunately it was neither registered AD nor through a courier service , so I have no way to know if the Chairman did receive it or not . I would have really loved to have a conformation .To really bring out the excellence in the arrangements , I think I can do no better then to reproduce the contents of that letter itself.

'''''''' ' ' ' ' ' ' '''''''

Sir,

1. I have just returned after attending the "Gnat Golden Jubilee Celebrations held at Bangalore on 21 and 22 Nov.

2. This is to put on record our heartfelt sincerest thanks for organising and giving us a chance to be a part of this very happy , memorable and unforgettable occasion of the Brotherhood celebrations .
Right from the moment we got down from the train at Bangalore City railway Station at an ungodly hour of 01:00 hours on the morning of 21Nov 08 till our departure at a reasonable time of 07:00 hours on 23rd Nov , all the arrangements were very good and surpassed all our expectations. It was a happy and comfortable stay at Bangalore . The attention to details in planning , be it transportation, accommodation, catering and most importantly the function itself on 21 Nov in Ghatge Convention Centre and the party in Le Meridian Hotel were executed flawlessly and with time bound precision. All the PDC's were met and targets achieved. A tribute to the organisational skills and great effort put in by the members of celebration committee under your guidance .

3. So Sir once again very many thanks and here is wishing that with you at the helm of affairs may the HAL go from strength to strength and achieve all the PDC's and targets in all the HAL undertakings !

''''''''''''' ' ' ' ' ' ''''''''''''''

Really and truly HAL arrangements surpassed all expectations . Those who could not attend really missed something . However the least of it were the arrangements , main thing was the "Gnat Vignettes" and the party on 21st a really memorable and nostalgic occasion . Look out for the write-up on that in the next few days !!!!

velu .