my story: Golden Jublee Celebretions : 95th Pilots and 33rd Nav Course : 13 March 2016.

GOLDEN JUBLEE CELEBERATION : 95 th PILOTS and 33 rd NAV COURSE.

13 MARCH 1966 - TO-13 MARCH 2016 - 50 yrs.

MAP OF GOA TRIP : ROUTES AND PLACES : 11 MARCH - TO 15 MARCH 2016 .

This is the screen shot of the map of Goa trip for Golden Jublee Celeberations of our and 33rd Nav course. To see interactive map,Go here.

Copy this link and paste it in URL bar: https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?hl=en&authuser=0&mid=zhhZ6ZYYuJgw.kEcLML3wOwtk

Both links will open interactive map. It has two layers.In one layer airports, air and ground routes are mapped.In second layer places visited are mapped.

In case of any clarifications about how to use this map,just send me a mail.

To see the my complete album of photos of Goa Trip Click here. OR Copy paste this link in URL box :https://goo.gl/photos/br5hd3RNkNh7Z5Xz6
Those who wish to add photos to this album may do so as that option is enabled.

Priti and I attended Golden Jubilee Celebrations(GJC) of our pilots ( 95th) and 33 rd Nav course at Goa. We were there from 11 to 15 March . The celebrations were scheduled from 12 to 14 March 16.

Here is the background as to how we happened to have these celebrations,as I have inferred from the various mails which were floating around for a long long time and from conversations at Goa.

The seed for the event was planted in Delhi by some of our course mates almost 2-3years back.With loving care and tender care they nursed it and the tender shoots of the seed were to become a giant tree. More than132 souls some,for more than 5/6 days,some only for a few hours but almost all of them for three full days . gathered under its shade of memories of 50 years or more to part and go their own ways to all corners of not only India but all over the world.All of them may have dispersed to all corners of the world but each and everyone of them will forever remember the times spent together under the umbrella of memories of those days and times spent together.

But to continue with our story of how this event came about,

Apparently our course mates in Delhi were celebrating our course anniversary On 13/03 for a number of years. On 13/03/2015 in their yearly gathering, idea of celebrating Golden Jubilee took roots.Core Committee (CC) was formed.It consisted PR Loomba,SD Mitroo,Sumant Bakshi,DC Mehata,RS Murthy(Bangalore)and KV Bopardikar(Pune).

First of the innnumerable meetings, which the CC must have held, was on 13 April 15.

DC Mehata was nominated as Organising Secretary.His job was to lay down the form and the substance of the event.Based on the estimated expanses contribution for a couple was set at ₹ 35,000/- for single course mate ₹20,000/- It was also decided that wives of our departed course mates would be treated as gusts and will not be charged any amount.₹ 3,500/- was decided as advance payment.Fund received as advance payments would give a firm idea to the organisers about the number of course mates attending. Mails started flying from his end at regular intervals informing every one whose mail ids were obtained,(mainly by Murthy),about the plans,contributions and the latest news updates on the progress and fund collection..As the number of participants kept swelling Kasauli did not have any place to accommodate all the participants, on suggestion of Bops Baywatch Resorts at Goa was finally decided as the venue. DC's mails indicate how through job was done by him.It will not be wrong to state that in the early days he seemed the motivating force behind the CC.With his untiring efforts he persuaded and obtained felicitations letters for our GJC from Marshal of the Air force Arjan Singh and Air Chief Marshal Raha,The CAS.He was in touch with with staff of DM to similar letter.
It was about that time , I read a post on FB from his niece to pray for the well being of DC as he was very seriously ill and was admitted in an ICU.After a short time, when I read another post from her about his recovery and discharge, I felt that our collective prayers have been answered.But God had other plans.All of a sudden he was called upstairs.May his soul rest in peace.His departure left a sort of vacuum.

Bur as they say life must go on.Vacuum created by his departure was ably filled by Murthy and Loomba. It was Loomba who took overall charge of GJC's plans execution.He did a commendable and as good a job as DC was doing.

Murthy had taken charge of preparing course directory and a gift made by famous Bangaluru jewellers the Burtons.Both daunting tasks. Directory in particular requiring innumerable mails,SMSs,telephone calls,and every means of communication imaginable.Response to his efforts of more than ten months of untiring efforts was quite good but as always there were some who just did not bother to reply. Preparing the directory including amount of information about each and every one of the course mates,(latest photos , postal address mail ids,contact numbers etc),contact with many of whom was lost long time back , faces and names forgotten,was a herculean task . Any lesser man would have given it up. Murthy kept at it tirelessly and finally produced a gem of an item,worth preserving and a showpiece for our children and grand children.Here is what the cover and one of the representative page in side the Directory looks like .

The Directory.A keepsake.

Representative inner page of Directory,name in Bold letters indicate the he is RIP, no more with us .Here it is Swaminathan and Rabinder, both were my good friends.

CC had decided to give a silver Slaver as gift along with other goodies. The onerous task of designing,discuss the design,size,cost,material etc first with other CC members and after their nod , with the silversmiths, finalising the same and getting the order executed.And finally getting them to venue of GJC must have been a mountainous effort.It is creditable that Metrani was of great help to Murthy in all his efforts.

The silver slaver has emblem of the IAF in the centre with Pilots wing and half wing of Navigators slightly below and on either side of this emblem.Final product produced by the Bartons of Bangaluru is a marvel of computer controlled etching and engraving machines.Each and every feather of the IAF eagle and Pilots and Navigators wings are etched / engraved to perfection and so are the lions of Ashoka Piller. The gift is incredibly beautiful.Icing on the cake is that it is highly personalised,with name of the each officer engraved on the slaver presented to him.

The sliver Slaver,Incredibly beautiful.

Number 70 after my name is an error.Did not want to give further labours to Murthy so brought it home with good grace.

The Venue. : While others were working on the jobs they had decide to undertake, CC was looking around for the venue to hold the GJC . 92/93rd Pilots/Nav course had their reunion in kasauli They had about 70 odd or a bit less participants . From the earlier mails it appears that initially Kasauli was the venue .Initially our course response was also not too good . In fact once, after receiving DC's mail giving details of accounts , full and advance payments all told, were about 24/25 people, so I even wrote to DC expressing my disappointment.DC's reply was optimistic and he wrote to me saying that he was confident of getting much better response . Time was to prove him right.

Numbers kept increasing. So much so that the Kasuali Hotel earmarked for accommodation expressed inability to meet our room requirements.They suggested another hotel for spillover.This obviously was unacceptable as everyone not in a single place would defeat the very purpose of GJC . Search was on for alternate venue. It was time for someone to stand up and be counted.The man to stand up was Bops,Bopardikar.Being from Air India he was very widely travelled, had lived in thousands of hotels during his journeying days,he was the man who stood up to be counted.As it was to turn out he had done exceptional job.

In one of his journey to Goa he had stayed in Baywatch Resort.With his inborn ability to touch everyone's right chords he had established very good rapport with Baywatch management.He proposed that place as it had more than adequate rooms as well as with the rapport established by Bops they were willing to give us handsome discounts.After due considerations Baywatch Resort was finalised. Check in Check out dates decided.

Bops had not only organised the stay at Baywatch he had also organised a grand party at a Beach resort " Zeebop". I wonder if there is any connection between "Bop"s and zee"bop" :-)

All this while to and fro traffic of mails had not ceased . In fact as the days were flying,Murthy and co were asking every one to inform them respective arrival and departure details so that they could make suitable logistic and pickup,drop arrangements.It speaks volumes for their organising skills and tireless efforts that very thing worked out like clock work.

First reaction at Baywatch was disappointing.I found that what was offered free in similarly categorised 3 star hotels, like free wi-fi, tea making sachets etc were being charged at this place.However Bops assured us that they may be saying so but to us finally they would not charge for these services. I had not taken any wi fi but, but for my penchant for tea, had ordered few tea making sachets . In final reckoning I was not charged for these services. So what Bops had said was true.Rooms were good and comfortable.In fact we were given room 240 which was good but view was not too hot.Bops offered me his room 241 which had excellent view, of swimming pool and sea in the distance.Thanks to him for that favour.

Generally the place was well maintained and kept very well.

After first disappointment I found Bay watch to be a good place . Food was very good to good to good on all days.I would recommend it any day.

First look at the venue of our GJC. Baywatch Resort.

Approach to Reception,Baywatch Resort.

Baywatch Resort approach to Reception and Lobby.

Swimming Pool.Very very fun place.

Another view swimming Pool.4th window from left is our room.

Satellite view Goggle Maps . Baywatch Resort.

While all this was going on.Our Pal Shrikrishna Devraj ( SD Mitroo) was not twiddling his thumbs.Assisted by Kharboo (SC Karbanda). He designed sun caps for ladies and gents.They must have spent lots of sleepless nights thinking up shape , design and colour scheme for the caps.Final results not only prove and justify the adage that hard works never goes waste . The Caps are fabulous.Colour schemes of both caps are just great.Have a dekho :

Ladies Cap-Front view.

Ladies Cap-Left View view.

Ladies Cap-Right view.

Gents Cap-Front view.

Gents Cap-Left view.

Gents Cap-Right view.

Ladies Hand Bag- no two bags alike!!!!!

Great thanks for this to Neena Murthy.

While every one could feel, touch and see the the efforts of the CC members contribution towards the gifts etc.There was one stalwart whose contribution could neither be seen,felt nor touched by any one of the course mates was nonetheless equally important.That was VP(VP Roy) who had taken the responsibilities of treasure.I am sure that each and every one of us , officers as well as ladies will appreciate the importance of managing finances of such a large group.

Now that I have covered ,in detail, Might as well proceed to cover actual participation in GJC.

11 March 2016.

We started from in Nagpur from our home for the airport in the morning at 0615 H for a Mumbai flight at 0815.H. Reached Mumbai at about 1000H . got the flight for Goa at around 1530 H. Landed Goa 1615.Throughout,Bops was in touch keeping us updated about pickup by the resort tpt.As resort could not provide the same,took a taxi for Baywatch and reached the resort around 1530. Some of the cc members and other course mates had already reached

before us.Faced an embarrassing moment when hugged Metrani and effusively

kept calling him "Bops". Finally he did correct me . When I finally met Bops I wondered how could I ever mistake him for someone else.Such mis-identification was to keep repeating itself during my stay there,but having learnt my lesson always made sure to learn the name of individual before hugging him !!

Some photos of 11th evening and the bar

Desai,Loomba,Murthy, Bhide,Sharma,Metrani,Velu,Bops,
Shinde and Bhadsavle.

After initial chitchat and playing the game of "recognition" at times with hilarious results we retired to our rooms and got together at the at bar opening time of 1930 H.

Having drinks together,with some of them,after almost fifty years and getting to know their journey in the IAF during those years was a real experience without an equal.With the scotch intake , as always the talk veered around to the anecdotes and the memories of good times and the sad times when we lost our brother officers.The jokes and the limericks started in full force.The level of laughter and the volume kept increasing. Other guest were left in no doubt that this was a group of young oldies form the good old AF having a time of their life.Photo clicking was a continuous on going process.When all were in group for of course,a group photo,I think it was Bops who espied a young lass,recently married from the looks of her,sitting alone on one side by the wall at a table for two. He went to her,bowed low and requested,in a voice with strength of few scotches behind it, to join us in our group photo.The girl was terrified but it is to her credit that she did not scream.She would not budge even after there were few more oldies around her requesting her to join for just one photo . All in a very courteous and dignified way of course . The poor thing was rescued by timely arrival of her very very sporting hubby,who seemed to really appreciate our way of partying.They both joined the group photo.Thereafter throughout their stay the fellow always hailed us with good cheer! Alas it was not me who clicked photo containing them .

With passage of time and reduction in scotch level,noise increased to deafening levels.Every one shouting to be heard and no one listening to any one.Ladies of course were watching all this with amused tolerance and quietly , relatively of course,getting acquainted with each other or reviving the old friendships.
I am sure the other guests must have complained about it to the management because from the next day till our departure all our gatherings, meals,and bar etc were shifted to the remotest corner of the Resort !!!
Went to sleep very happy and toonna. Wonder whether happiness was due to meeting the old friends or getting toonna after along long time :-)

12 March 2016

Got up fully refreshed after a good night sleep.
Got ready and headed for the beach.Through out our stay we never failed to go to the beach in the early morning and around dusk . Priti loves to stand in ankle deep water and let the sea waves swirl around her feet.She says it is the most sublime experience and nothing equals it.I totally agree that the 30 odd minutes we spent on the beach around sunrise and sunset time invigorateed and refreshed us and charged our batteries for the day .
Depending on what time we returned,if early then before breakfast or if late after breakfast 30 odd minutes in the swimmimg pool were also a must . Throughout or stay,morning beach and swimming pool became our unvarying schedule.

This was the check-in date . Most of the course mates would be arriving today . Resort had agreed to provide airport pick up transport around 1400 and 1600 h. We expected that all will be arriving by 1700 or so .

Our long time friend Admiral Arun Prakash was in Goa. We were in touch with him.As we knew that from 12th evening onwards we would be too occupied to leave the course gathering , we had mutually agreed to meet for lunch on the 12. Started for his home after breakfast . It was great meeting him and Kumkum after long time . Gupshup and beer carried on till lunch was served. It was great layout by Kumkum and I hogged to hearts content .

Typical Goan street view . On the way to Arun Prakash .

Typical Goan street view . On the way to Arun Prakash .

Dr Tritao Baragansa Da Cunha, Sports complex Cansulim - Arossim . On the way to Meet Arun Prakash.

View of Indian Oil Storage Depot.On National Highway 17B . On way to meet Arun Prakash .

After lunch returned to Baywatch to be present to welcome first batch arriving from the airport . First batch arrived around 1500 hrs and the second around 1700 . Memory fails me as I am unable to recall who all came in the first and who all came in the second batch. But there was lot of embracing and shaking hands all around . After a little while all went to the rooms to freshen up and be ready for the next programme at 1930 .

All of us got together at a hall known as life hall which was furthest from the main building . As said earlier we were now at liberty to make as much noise as hearts desire . Our dinner and bar was also laid out at the same place . Programme was to distribute the gifts . Murthy started doing so alphabetically . People collected silver slaver from him and the caps and the Ladies bag from Mitroo and Kharbanda. By the time my turn came people were already full of spirits in every sense . A good time was being had by all My silver slaver had an error but considering all the hard work put in by Murthy,
on Priti's advice I just accepted the same with good grace.

After a good meal and lots ob beer all retired to have a blissful night .

13 March 2016

Being THE D-DAY,main GJC event was planned for the evening .The day was free.In a way it was good.In a course where those passing out and got commission numbered about 180 or so , it is impossible that all and every one will form strong friendship bonding with every one of those 179 odd other course mates. A free morning was most ideal day to get together and renew the friendship with those with whom closer bonding were established during the training.

Some photos taken during lunch time .

For the main evening function the dress was on the formal side . Lots of us had donned our medals and wings . Some had also come with side cap.Got together at 1930 . Murthy had really taken lots of trouble in preparing the speech and planning of the evening . Crowning touch was playing of The Last Post while we observed 2 minutes silence and paid tribute to our departed course mates and better halves some of the course mates.

Murthy also gave roll of honour of the course wherein he called out names of decorated officers . Wg Cdr SS Sidhu who was awarded a SC and VM(G) narrated how he had got the VM(G).Names of guests, as well as sons and daughters who were attending were also called out . Notable among them were better halves of late twin brothers Hundel , Mandappa's son,Gautam and his sister . Also there was Kaveri daughter of Harishsinhjee.His spitting image particularly when she smiled . She had come specifically for the evening and spend just few hours with us.

There after Looba took over and the party began. A picture is worth thousand words so here are few picture of the evening.

Gautam and Kaveri , son of late Mandappa , and daughter of late Harish Sinhji laid wreath on the photos of departed coursemates and the better-halves of course mates .

Collage of departed course mates and departed better halves of course mates .

It was an evening no one who were there will ever forget.

14 March 2016.

Today's plan was sight seeing and shopping for cashew nuts, feni,Goan wines and other Goen specialities like cocum juice , cocum , unshelled cashew nuts etc.In the evening grand party at "zeebops" restraurent.After our

daily routine of beach sojourn,a swim, we had our breakfast and were

ready for the sightseeing .There were two coaches arranged which were quite comfortable . First stop was Mahalakshmi Devsthanam.

Mahalakshmk Devsthanam.

The temple is approximately 28 KMs from Baywatch.Travel time to the temple was approximately one hour.The Mahalakhmi temple is situated 4 kms. to the

north from Ponda in the village of Bandora.

Here is some thing I got from this web site http://www.goaholidayguide.com/",but I personaly think it is lot of poppy cock.

"Under the Portuguese rule,Portuguese relations with Hindus were sour. So in order to be grateful, Hindus built here a temple of Goddess "Mahalaxmi” as she is referred to as goddess of peace.Hindus describes Mahalaxmi is a form of Mother of all Universes, who raised three super powers Brahma the creator,Vishnu the preserver and Shiva the destroyer.

The temple has a silver arched doorway with a pillared hall. The Goddess is considered a peaceful orSatvik form of the goddess. The main idol of the Goddess Mahalaxmi is also taken out during the festival of Mahashivratri,on a chariot carried on the shoulders of devotees.

Malakshmi Temple,Ponda,North Goa.

Temple is at a lower level fro the parking lot .Proceeding to temple.

Malakshmi Temple,Ponda,North Goa.

Malakshmi Temple,Ponda,North Goa.

Malakshmi Temple,Ponda,North Goa.

Malakshmi Temple,Ponda,North Goa.

Malakshmi Temple,Ponda,North Goa.

Visit over. It is back to coaches.

After Mahalakshmi Temple we proceeded to one of the many many beautiful Churches which have collectively been declared as World Heritage sites.Of all these we only saw what is generally known as

Basilica of Bom Jesus .

A basilica is simply an important church building designated by the pope because they carry special spiritual, historical, and/or architectural significance. Once named a basilica the church can’t lose its status as a basilica. A basilica may or may not also be the cathedral of the diocese. This is the highest permanent designation for a church building.

It is located approximately 24 KMs from Mahalakshmi Temple and travel time is about 50 minutes.

The Basilica of Bom Jesus or Borea Jezuchi Bajilika is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The basilica holds the mortal remains of St. Francis Xavier. The church is located in Old Goa, which was the capital of Goa in the early days of Portuguese Rule.'Bom Jesus' literally means 'Good (or Holy) Jesus'.The Jesuit church is India’s first minor basilica, and is considered to be one of the best examples of baroque architecture in India.

Construction work on the church began in 1594 after destruction of the Saptakoteshwar Shiva temple during early 1590's. The church was consecrated in May 1605 by the archbishop, Dom Fr. Aleixo de Menezes. This world heritagemonument has emerged as a landmark in the history of Christianity. It contains the body of St. Francis Xavier, a very close friend of St. Ignatius Loyola with whom he founded the Society of Jesus, (the Jesuits). Francis Xavier died on Sancian Island while en route to continental China on (December 2, 1552).The Basilica of Bom Jesus is more than 408 years old and is open to the public every day.

For greater details visit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilica_of_Bom_Jesus

Besilica of Bom Jesus.Goa.

Altar.Besilica of Bom Jesus.Goa.

Interior of Besilica of Bom Jesus.

Relics of St. Francis Xavier. Besilica of Bom Jesus.

Mrs Hundal,Priti and Mrs Bak Shetty .

Velu,Priti and Mrs Bak Shetty .

After Besilica of Bom Jesus it was turn for Shopping and we proceeded to Panjim for the same. Unfortunately no photos.Cashew nuts were in great demand and so was feni .

In the evening it was time for Gala party at Zeebops. The ambiance at that place was simply fantastic , right on the beach and seating arrangements were made on very fine and clean sands of the beach . The photos speak for themselves.