Letter to Editor. Sent 09-01-11.

I was getting totally frustrated seeing that all sorts of letters were getting published but not mine .
Like a small child I thought "OK, if you are not going to publish my letters , I will not contribute " and decided not to write any more letters to the Editor .
However , it then struck me that so far as The Editor of Hitavada or any one else is concerned it does not make any difference to them . But if I do not write at all I am depriving myself of what ever chances I ever had of bringing my views to the notice of the public . If I keep writing at least some will get printed and with this renewed thinking I wrote one today
Even if they do not print it I can always put it up on my blog and at least limited captive audience :)
So here it is :-

SHAME ! SHAME !! SHAME !!!

Sir,

Chief Minister of a State of Union Of India , in the presence of a Union Minister of The Government of Union of India  , publicly announces that a BJP should not raise Indian Tri-Colour in Srinagar.

Shame !

Is the Chief Minister objecting hoisting of flag by a political party other then his own . OR

Is the Chief Minister , is objecting for hoisting of tri colour  itself.

Either way it is Shame!!

It is a matter of shame one more time.

What is more surprising that the announcement was made on 5Jan11. It has now been more than 4 days and still there is no reaction from the news media , print or electronic.

PM Velankar,Nagpur .

A Church Wedding .

Su and Christabel had invited us over to attend the wedding and reception of Ayesha on 12 th December 2010. 

Su has been a good friend for a long long time . He had attended the wedding reception of Ajeet at Hotel Pride in Nagpur . He also had company business in Nagpur on that date , but that may have been a pure coincidence :) and so we had to attend this one ceremony come what may .Su had made transport and accommodation arrangements for air force friends at Pawanika in Colaba .Reaching there was your own lookout.However as my younger brother stays at Borivili, we decided to stay with him and attend wedding under own arrangements.

We had reservations so that we reached Mumbai on the 11th Dec , attend wedding on 12 th and returned to Nagpur the 13th .Travelling went smoothly as per plans .

As per the invitation the ceremony at Mt Carmel church was at 1630 hours on 12 Dec 10. Pradip,my younger brother, came all the way to drop us at the church . We reached at 1600 hrs . There was not a soul in sight , the church doors were locked . We were foxed and thought that we have come to the wrong place , inquiry from the Security guard confirmed that we were at the right place and the church would open for the ceremony which was to take place 1630 onwards . By 1610 to 1615 people started coming in , the church doors were opened and we entered the church. From Pawanika Harry Ahluwalias,Gurutathans and Bhagwats arrived in due course . Harry and I had done the Staff Course together so we knew them . It was the first time we met Gurunathans and Bhagwats .Unfortunately things and events unfolded in such manner that we could not really meet and talk to them :(

As the churches go , we saw some famous ones of Goa and some in the south, and they were wonderful with lot and lots of very expensive and intricately carved woodwork  painted in gold and weight of long history behind them . Mt Carmel was, in comparison not so weighty , plain and a poor cousin to those churches I mentioned.How ever it still was much airy , bright, very clean and with serene and peaceful  atmosphere as compared to lot of temples which are normally filthy and have tremendous noise :(  The altar and the church were decorated with lots of flowers and it was looking beautiful.

There were four rows of pews.The congregation , or should I say the guests/ invitees , were seated, on the two right rows facing the Altar , were Grooms side and the bride side on the left . Whether it was by design , as per established custom or just happened , I have no idea.The gusts , the Priests, the choir all were in place by 1620 . I was totally impressed . The timing was just tremendous . Wish our marriages were conducted with such military precision :)

Air Force Friends being from bride's side ,on the Left.

By 1625 or so all were seated and the assembly was welcomed by bride's aunt, mother's sister, The priests said few things , exactly at 1630 Soares walked in with Ayesha on his arms . All stood up .The choir sang the marching tune . Brides maid was Ayesha's best childhood friend and had come all the way from Newzeland . She had a bouquet in her hand and was dressed in a gorgeous red dress with plunging neck line , Ayesha wore traditional bridal white gown but without the  train . She looked beautiful as all the brides of all the humanity all over the world do :). Soares reached the chairs put up for the the bride & bride groom . All sat down . Senior priest enters . All stand up . Senior priest said few things , Asked every one to sit down . There were prayers and sermons . We were standing up and sitting down with every break in the sermon/prayer. After lot of standing up and sitting down the bride & bridegroom went up to the priests and the rings were and exchanged . There were more sermons and prayers . The meaning of all that which was said by the priests , said in prayers etc was not much different from what is said in the marriages all over the world , They are the promises , commitments, loyalties etc asked for from , and  given by both the sides to each other for the wellbeing and happiness of the newly wed couple . No time was wasted and every thing followed one another with clock work precision . Marriage register was signed .

Ayesha signing the marriage register.

 The ceremony ended with all the Protestants going up and eating the wafer and sipping the wine(?) . The Priest had not asked the groom to kiss the bride and this had me puzzled . Later Claire told me that in the strictest sense it was not a Christian marriage but was blessing ceremony by the church as the groom was not a Catholic and as marriage ceremony by Gujarati custom had already taken place on the 10 th of the month . By 1545 every thing was over and we were ready to go to the place where reception was to take place.......... .............. 

( to be continued........)

Church Wedding - Part Two.

GOING TO CRYSTAL SPRINGS.
OR
THEORY OF RELATIVITY.

As usual I missed the wood for the trees or is it the other way round  :) , because what must and should have been in part one was totally missed out ,

Ayesha , SU's daughter was married to Arjun Sanklia .Both Ayesha and Arjun work for Sony Music in Mumbai . He is A Gujju . What came as a surprise was that Arjun's parents were 84 & 82 years young !

Reception time was 1900 hrs sharp at Crystal Springs, Almeida Park . We thought we had some time to kill . But Su said a photo session was arranged at Almeida Park at 1830 so we should proceed there . Harry said there was no place in their vehicle and for us to check with SU ..

 As we got out of the church, met Steve  & Claire Datta in the church court yard . Met Claire after more than 35 years . Claire and June,( another squadron lady), were two ladies favorites with 22 squadron bachelors in general and with Su , Pashu & me in particular as they were good cooks , good hostesses and very easy to talk to .The last was most important factor as far as a village bumpkin like me , never having an occasion or the guts to talk freely to some one from fair sex was concerned :) .We were always welcome at their place and frequently "bounced" them . Of course as the bouncing etiquette's go we used to, if we were sober , carry our own booze and of course some thing to eat . It was different matter that generally at dinner times Pashu and self were mostly on liquid diet :)

It was wonderful to meet her after such a long time .Today Steve is a senior Commander with Pawan Hans. Claire, I believe, is a major force in Delhi so far as bakery products are concerned.Her outlet is at Satushti on Lodhi Road and  her shop, "CLAIRES" is in Chanakyapuri.Christmas dinner for Kushwant Singh is usually provided by Claire

.She was surprised at the changes intervening years had brought about in my appearance and said she would have never recognized me . She had also changed and it is a fact that I also would not have recognized her . I digressed because they were such good friends to a lonely bachelor !!

 We were told that Crystal Spring was very close , almost across the road and we were told to get in the  vehicle provided by SU  and  proceed .We proceeded and we proceeded but even after  proceedings of about 15 - 20 mts , there was still no sign of Crystal Spring ! Finally and at last we reached the venue !! May be Mumbai distances are relatively shorter as compared to Nagpur distances . In Nagpur , railway station which is 9 kilometers is relatively considered and  feels too far , where as the same 9 kilometers is relatively considered and feels very close , just across the street in metropolitan cities like Delhi or Mumbai. May be the differences in relative distances of a small place and a big city is what "Theory of Relativity" is all about , which states "The feeling of distances are inversely proportional to the size of the place" . That explains the fact that  smaller the city or town , bigger/longer the distances and bigger the cities smaller the distances. Q E D . 

Any way we reached the Crystal Palace by 1640 hours ..................

To be Continued .......................

Church Wedding - Part Three.

PART THREE ...........

 The Reception.

We finally reached Crystal Palace by 1840 hours   I was surprised and taken aback to see that decorations and erection of main gate as well as arranging the tables placing of colored sash around the chairs etc inside was still going on !! Things were NOT ready !!!! Then I remembered the TOT like timings maintained in all the functions till then ................

A bit of digression for those uninitiated and do not know what is TOT. It is "Time On Target" . It is generally one of the most important timing in  times of war with the enemy , in general and assumes still vital importance in particular when "coordinated attacks" are planned with other formations of air elements like ,  CAP for para drop , bomber escort , or Army elements like tank offensive,air cover for bridge head etc etc. where the presence of fighters / fighter Bomber at exactly  the right time and place would make a difference in a victory or defeat !!! All the Squadrons in general and Fighter / Fighter Bomber/Bomber squadrons in particular are assessed by Air Force Examining Authority and marks granted . If My memory serves me right , if the TOT was OUT by " + / - FIVE SECONDS" the squadron got a big FAT ZERO in assessment !!!!! TOT was & is that important :).

..............................And realized that there were still TWENTY MINUTES for the given reception timing of 1900 hours ! In 20 mts hell of a lot of things can happen , including the venue getting fully ready for the reception :-) 

There was lot of activity , Hustel &  Bustle and to-ing & fro-ing going on . Most of the people Hustling & Bustling, To-ing , Fro-ing were young boys and girls , who were conspicuous and stood out for their good looks , smartness and tender age [(at our age any one in the 20s is considered as of tender age :) ] They were organizing Bar , food stalls , putting gift items on the tables, like Photo frames, sweet packets , confetti packets etc in the correct quantity so that every guest sitting on the table would get at least one of each item.Steve Datta knew few of them and called over two of them , whom  he knew , and also knew that we knew there parents .

 One was Ritika , Tony Garg's younger daughter . She was in-charge of liquor and  looking after the bar and had done a wonderful job of the responsibility . We told her to say hello to Tony &  Sadhana. Told her to also thank them as it was only because of the help and guidance given by Tony to me for the studies , that I could make it to the Staff college , also that Priti & I, even today remember the nice sleep Anuj had during his child hood in the cosy "Baby Cot" given to us by them .

The other was son of Rakesh Sharma,for those with memory problem, Rakesh was and remains the only Indian Astronaut !! It seemed that other youngesters also had Air Force background . SU had managed to commandeer a very smart , efficient and impressive volunteer work force .

Priti & I went around the venue . As was my wont,started with the bar :). As expected , lots of Vodka , Smirnoff , Whisky & Rum bottles were in evidence. The bar man with a wooden mallet in hand was busy pounding ice cubes with mint leaves and some other exotic herbs in a cauldron like vessel . His assistant was busy in dicing and chopping apples and other fruits and mixing them in red wine with  some other liquids in large jugs 

 Food stalls were getting ready . The most tantalizing inviting and mouth watering aroma was wafting through the air . All of a sudden I was feeling hungry  and then realised that my sense of smell was playing tricks on me after smelling all those most inviting smells :)

The stage with seating for the Bride and the Groom was ready . It was simple but most elegantly, and tastefully furnished and decorated , white being the predominant colour ! 

A well decorated arch was erected between the stage and the dance floor, this was to put the wedding cake later on after the Couple had arrived and reached the stage .

All around there were plenty of trees and all these were festooned with fairy lights , lanterns , balloons and colourful streamers . As the darkness approached the fairy lights were turned on .

It was TOT of 1900 hours and the Crystal Palace looking most beautiful like a scene from a fairy tale . 

The venue was ready to receive the guests for the Reception !!!!!!!!

To be continued in............... 

PART FOUR : THE PARTY    

Church Wedding - Part Four .

PART FOUR ....................

THE PARTY.

True to the pattern till then , at 1900 hours sharp Crystal Springs Almeida Park was ready to receive the guests for the reception. With snow white table cloth, chair covers with coloured sashes around them .Tables were tastefully arranged and looked good.   Four chairs were laid around each table.The tables were laid out with four packets each of favors which consisted of photo frames, and almond sweet packet and confetti packets so that each individual at the table would get one each of favors and confetti packet. Stage was set with sitting arrangements for the Bride , the Groom . the Best Man and the Maid of Honour. All the trees around the Crystal Palace were decorated with hundreds of  fairy lights . Chinese lanterns and streamers in large numbers were strung on the trees in very large numbers. With the darkness descending on the Crystal Spring all the fairy lights and the Chinese lanterns were switched on and Crystal Palace was looking very beautiful  like a scene out of the fairy land . 

Guests started arriving shortly after 1900 h. Barman was still busy pounding away at the herbs , ice and whatever else  there was in the pot . Curiosity got the better of me and I went up to the bar to investigate . To the inquiry as to what was happening , I was told that he was making " मोहितो ". It had vodka , sugar , mint leaves and some other ingredients . Pounding was necessary to squash mint leaves,sugar , etc for better taste and flavour. I wanted to taste it pronto . Was politely told that the bar was "not open". I could see it was not shut , but having heard that term , many times ,  during our serving days , I had no problem understanding the meaning of "not open".SU enlightened me by saying that bar would be open after cutting of the wedding cake and drinking of  the "toast" for the wedding couple was drunk, which would be some time after 1930 h . For persons having the timing of 1900 h sharp , 30 minutes were 30 minutes too many to wait, alas the wedding plans & programme took precedence :)  However seeing my hangdog expression he relented and a little while later declared the bar as open .By the exodus from the tables towards the bar there were many many more who thought as I did :).As I had waited for so long and was so intrigued by the "pounding drink", I wasted no time asking for a  " मोहितो ". It was sweet , it had fantastic flavour and tasted heavenly . As I did not want to forget the name , I requested Claire to write it down for me . On a paper napkin she wrote " मोजितो ", "MOJITO " .To my inquiring look she enlightened me by telling me that in Mexican and in Hebrew , "J" is pronounced as "H". After our tour to U S of A and  discussions/ argument with my D-I L , I knew why it was  " "सान होसे "  and not  " सान जोसे "  but it also happened in Hebrew ,was news to me and I knew it not !! It is really true that there is no end to learning and one keeps learning till his dying day . But now at the age of 69 years my ignorance saddens me . I console myself by saying that not every one can learn and know every thing about every thing in this universe ! However some where in my heart I feel that it is a poor consolation !! 

By 1925 hours or so almost all the guests had arrived , Baliga  and Chris with his second wife  joined our table and we started chatting up the old times ! Harry Aluwalia and crowd had settled and made themselves comfortable in a quite corner of the park . Here are some photos taken at our table .

Priti and Claire

Beautifully laid out tables with the guests . Don't miss the Favors and confetti on the tables.

 Mrs   Chato     ,   Chato,      Baliga,      Steve,  SU,      Velu

Claire & Priti

 Mrs Chato , Chato , Steve , Baliga , velu & SU

 Claire,            Priti,             Christabel.   

At 1930 sharp Ayesha and Arjun walked in with the Best man and the Maid of Honour. They were led to the stage . The Maid Of Honour read out the "speech" and toast of the  Maid Of Honour. Followed by Best Man's Speech and toast . While this was going on the caterers  quietly placed the wedding cake in the decorated arch specially put there for the cake cutting occasion, others were putting cake slices and a toasting shot glasses full of red wine on all the tables. After the speeches we all drank toast for the wellbeing and happiness of the newly wed couple . Cake was cut and we had that .

After that Ayesha and Arjun led in the first dance . Then of course every one went on the floor and some serious merry making and enjoying of the proceedings took place . 

It was a gala , gay , wild wild party and one of the most enjoyable wedding celebrations we had attended .It was reminiscent of the parties we used to have in our younger days in the squadrons. and so it turned out to be best party ever attended or witnessed in a long long time . It was simply wonderful and it was such a great influence on my thinking that it became subject/title of this part of the blog.

Some time during the party G D Shintre came over to say hello to Priti & self as we were not only course mates but also room mates in Allahabad.He had also come to Sulur while doing JCC and once as Captain of a Packet aircraft to deliver some load.I had showed him a tear-ass pullup take off and what a clean Gnat could do . When he had come with the Packet he returned the compliment by doing a pull up take off in an empty Packet with full power on jet pack and full boost on both the engines .It was good .

When I was young , in our village we had bullock cart races in one of the annual functions .The races were a great attraction and taken very seriously by every one.People from surrounding villages came to take part in the race . It being a matter of great prestige and Honour to win it for your village .People came from far and wide to participate in these races with specially trained and bred racing bullocks and specially designed light weight carts . The races were run with no holds barred and with great enthusiasm . The speeds achieved by the bullock carts were really great and astonishing . They really looked great .But they were no comparison to fleet and swift chariot races I was to see much much later in the film "Ben Hur " .

Shintre's pull up take off had reminded me of the those bullock cart races,they were good but no patch on the chariots, of course I had never had the heart to tell Shintre of this comparison :-). 

We chatted up good old times . I kept making rounds to the bar . There were vodka shots , white rum shots , wine shots and many more . As we had to travel to Borivilli and I was told not to mix my drinks by none other then Priti , I did not taste any of those :( Every one was dancing and enjoying the occasion to the full .The dinner was announced . Food was fabulous and plentiful.After dinner we bid fare well to all . Took a lift to the railway station from one of the guest of Su who dropped us at the station and caught a local to go to Boriville. 

And so came to an end one of the most memorable and enjoyable wedding ever attended by us !!!!!!!!!!