Gmail - Fwd: Bande me tha DUM - pmvelankar@gmail.com

Col Uday Naik Priti's younger brother and so my brother-in-law, knew that Pankaj Joshi and we had done Staff Course together and had been in touch off and on .Also that We took the liberty of calling him & Prabha our friends .
This morning Col Uday rang up Priti and told her about a mail he had received from one of his friends about Pankaj Joshi and forwarded the same .As a rule I would not put any0ne else's mail in my blog but this mail was such a fine tribute to one of the most solid citizens we had the proud privilege to know that I felt I must put it on my blog .

"BANDE MEIN THA DUM

CLIMB EVERY MOUNTAIN

When Lt. Gen (Retd) Pankaj Shivram Joshi PVSM, AVSM, VSM, The first Chief of Staff of the Integrated Defence Command passed away in an Indore hospital on July 1, 2009 a cloak of sadness enveloped the small cantonment town of Mhow where he had settled after almost 41 years in the Indian Army. He will continue to be a source of inspiration for for all his compatriots. , writes Dev Kumar Vasudevan

Jen Joshi’s wife Mrs. Prabha Joshi was kind enough to give me some time when I requested her. She talked to me in detail about Pankaj Joshi the soldier, husband and father. He was born on Sept 9, 1943 in Peshawar where his father, a civil servant, was then posted. They shifted to Delhi in 1947. Pankaj and his brother Kuldeep joined the Nutan Marathi Vidyalaya, Pune. After his schooling Pankaj was selected for the 21st course at the National Defence Academy, Khadakwasla. After passing out as a Gentleman Cadet of the 30th regular course, IMA, Dehra Dun, he was commissioned in the First Battalion of Eight Gorkha Rifles in December 1962. He served in Ladakh and participated in the 1965 Indo-Pak war. It was in 1967, while on a mine-clearing operation in Sikkim, that he lost one of his legs. The other leg was also amputated soon.

A normal man would have accepted defeat but Pankaj Joshi was made of sterner stuff. He fought back. It was a painful journey but he had the support of his wife, family and friends. Within eight months of his loss and nine operations later he was fitted with a pair of artificial limbs at the Artificial Limb Centre, Pune. He was cycling to the Centre within a fortnight.

He was soon walking upto eight kilometers a day. His activities included walking, swimming and mountain climbing. He had also participated in the Himalayan Car Rally and in a 42 kilometres cycling marathon in Delhi.

It was in 1968 that Pankaj met a young lady named Mukta Kale. In due course they decided to become lifemates. It was not smooth sailing. Mukta’s mother was not very comfortable with the idea of Mukta marrying a man in Pankaj’s condition. “She was not sure whether Pankaj and I would be able to have children. So I went to our family doctor who was like an uncle to me. He convinced my mother of the soundness of my decision. In any case I had decided that if we didn’t have any children of our own we would certainly adopt a child.” Pankaj had got an equally brave life partner for himself. After marriage Mukta became Prabha and within a few years she and Pankaj became the proud parents of a daughter Unnati, who is now a US based architect, and Sameer, who is a teacher of French. “The children were allowed to choose their own careers,” Prabha Joshi told me, “we never imposed our will on them. The only thing Pankaj ensured was that they grew up as normal middle class children. So there was no staff car to drop them at school or a sahayak to polish their shoes or make their beds.”

After completing a B.A. degree in Russian from the Jawaharlal Nehru University he was selected for the Staff College at Wellington. This was a turning point as he decided against leaving the Army. In 1978-79 the Army changed the rules for medically categorizing officers. “My husband was then posted in the College of Combat and the then Commandant General Sundarji once overheard him speaking in fluent Gurkhali to a JCO of his battalion who was visiting Mhow. He was so impressed by the fact that Pankaj had totally merged himself with his Paltan that he went all out to help him prove that he was fit to command the same battalion.” Pankaj Joshi was able to prove to a medical board that he was as fit as any officer without a disability. He had also played eighteen holes of golf with the Army doctor who had to check his physical fitness.

He was then given command of his battalion - the 1/8 Gurkha Rifles. “When he took over command of the Paltan,” said Mrs. Prabha Joshi with tears in her eyes, “he told his men that he was returning to the battalion after fourteen years of banishment the way Lord Rama returned to Ayodhya after fourteen years of vanvaas.” He also had instructional stints at the Higher Command Wing of the College of Combat (now Army War College) Mhow and the DSSC Wellington. He had also attended the Higher Command Course of the United States Army War College. His career graph kept rising after that. He commanded an Armoured brigade, an Armoured Division and 12 Corps. He was the second officer with a disability after Lt. Gen Vijay Oberoi to attain the rank of Lieutenant General. In 1998 during the Prime Ministership of Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the Pokharan nuclear blasts were conducted under his command. He held the appointment of Additional Director General Mechanised Forces at Army HQ and the Commandant of the College of Combat, Mhow. He went on to become the GOC-in-C of the Central Command, Lucknow, and was then chosen as the first ever Chief of Staff of the Integrated Defence Command.

When General Joshi was once interviewed by the Indian Express he had said, ‘‘There is only one thing that stops a handicapped person from doing things normally - society. It makes you feel handicapped by perpetually offering you help. In my home no one does that. If I have to change a bulb or get something from a high shelf I do it myself.’’

Even in death he taught us all a lesson as he willed his body to be donated for medical studies and research. A wish which his brave family fulfilled. “Both of us had decided to donate our bodies,” said Mrs. Joshi. A multi-faceted personality Pankaj Joshi’s interests included Indian classical music, bird watching, environment, pottery and writing."

YES !!! Truly bande me tha bada dum !!!!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY !

13th MARCH 1966

Commissioned as Pilot Officer , G D ( P ) Branch.

13 MARCH 2010.



44 th Anniversary celebrations . Treat for us from A & P at Mustard

As a picture is worth a thousand words , all that was required to be said has been said .However if you don't mind reading long blogs , read on and more power to you sir,

A gold letter day for 95th Pilots and 33 rd Navigator's Course of the Indian Air Force . The Flight Cadets of these courses passed out from the Training Institutes and were Commissioned as Pilot Officers of General Duties Branch in the I A F . This day 44 years back . ie 13 March 1966.

As usual I had totally forgotten this fact . Priti wished me Happy Anniversary on commissioning , first thing in the morning . I was touched by her thoughtfulness and the vary fact that even though I had forgotten , she did not !! I thought of ringing up two of my course mates V K & Girish Joshi who have also settled down in Nagpur to wish them on the anniversary.
Again, as usual I got busy in many day to day activities and did not think of it at all .In fact I had totally forgotten about it . So much so that when Priti and others were discussing dinner out , I paid scant attention to all that . Another reason to ignore the dinner talk was that when ever the children visit us , to give Priti a break from the kitchen and a change for us all , thay treat us by taking us out for dinner etc , so I thought the dinner out was just the "as usual" outing :).
After a lot of discussions Mustard restaurant was decided upon and we landed up there . The food was a bit spicy but good . It was only when the waiter was asking us for a dessert that A wished me a very happy commission day anniversary . It was then once again that I remembered that it was a supposed to be a special day . I think that the gesture by the kids gave me as much happiness as Gen Choudhary giving me the wings !!!
Once again Thanks A , P and Priti for giving me so much happiness .

IT IS FALCON AGAIN !

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. :-)