I had written some time back about 101 Squadron memento "the Falcon".
The Falcon & us, it has been a long association starting in 1967 when I had got the Falcon as a Squadron memento on posting out. That association continues through the year 2009 say 43 years. I dare say that so far as I am concerned it has still not ended.
Over the years, having been posted out every couple of years, by the retirement time we had a fair collection of these mementoes and I am glad and proud to say that I have been "silvo-ing" & "brosso-ing" them regularly and generally keeping them in good shining condition.
However, in the year of our lord 1975 and thereabouts, we had only a few of these mementoes. To be precise, we had the Falcon, The Battle Axe a present from 7 Squadron, 22 Squadron brass Gnat Model and 22 Squadron silver-plated ice bucket with tongs, presented to Priti & self as a wedding gift.
To be brutally frank a more useless gift could not be found to give to a newly married couple trying to set up a home and who were short of cash, {and who was not in those days :)} Anyway, it had silver polish and so I had to polish it along with the other items. After about 6 months, ie about 24 odd polishings, the bucket & the tongs showed their true colours, They turned yellow, with no trace of silver at all. As it is, I had not liked that present and now my dislike was re-enforced :-)
It was removed from the display and consigned to a junk trunk !!!
Generally, the polishing session used to be and still is, on Sunday mornings. It was a winter Sunday and I had taken out all the items to the balcony where I could enjoy the sun as well as carry on my polishing. As Priti was busy in the kitchen I was looking after our 8-9-month-old son Ajeet, who was also playing with me on the balcony. After finishing few items I went inside to keep them in their proper display places. When I came out I saw that Ajeet had gone close to the Falcon and was playing with it. It looked very cute. Priti also came and had a look. she told me to take his photo with the falcon.
We had a click III camera at that time. It cost Rs 100 at that time and for its price, it was a very good camera. In fact, from 1975 to 1984, that camera had preserved a lot of our happy and memorable moments. However, reasonably acceptable results from this camera were obtained only if the subject was in direct sunlight and brightly illuminated. I promptly got our old faithful Click III and tried to take his photo with the Falcon. However, the glare of the sun was such that no matter what Priti and I tried, he kept his eyes closed. We tried every trick known to us without success and finally had to take his photo with his eyes shut :-)
The result produced below :
Ajeet - circa 1975.
Ajeet - circa 1975.
Years passed.
We got a colour Canon digital camera.
Click III was retired. Anuj who is now 32 years old, has taken the Click III for its antique value and has displayed it in his library, TV cum bar room.
In 1977 our second son Anuj was born.
By then we had few albums full of photos of the elder one and looking at all those photos we had decided to capture Anuj also in similar poses/situations. So if the firstborn Ajeet was clicked with Falcon when 8 -9 months old, second-born Anuj had to be photographed similarly. When he grew to be 8 -9 months old and it was in Wellington. We positioned him & the Falcon on the balcony. Being Wellington & cold he had to have a sweater on. The problem with the sun's glare was the constant factor and thus he was also photographed Anuj with his eyes partially shut :-).
The result:-
Anuj - Circa 1977
Anuj - Circa 1977
Years passed.
Ajeet got married. We were presented with a granddaughter Leela in April 2005.
When they came to Nagpur with Leela in December/ January 2006, I was ready with Falcon and this time with a digital camera.
Falcon & Leela were positioned on the bed, out of the sun's glare and another velankar was captured with the Falcon.
As you can see the result of the modern camera her eyes are wide open :-)
Leela - Circa 2005
Leela - Circa 2005
Years passed.
Anuj also got married in due course of time he had Kaya. Our second granddaughter.
They will be coming to Nagpur in a couple of months when Kaya would be about 6 months old.
You all can be rest assured that Priti & I will be there with the falcon and our digital camera.
KAYA the second Grand Daughter is here and as we had decided here she is with the Falcon. Photo inserted today the 09th March 2010.
I don't think I will be around when our Grand Daughters have children, so I guess this must be the end of this Falcon Series and signalling the approaching end of my association with the Falcon. :-)
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