Following a Disasterous prcedent.

MY latest offering to Editor The Hitavada.

Sir,

Couple of news items in recent past have caused great concern in those in the Defence Forces, out of it and who think well about the Defence Forces,National security and sovereignty.

To state the obvious,Defence Forces are meant to guard against enemy aggression to defend National borders and protect the sovereignty.

To successfully attains its goals Defence Forces,hroughout their service life, have to undergo rigorous training in all types of terrain, weather,over Land,Sea or in the Air,t.This is 24 into 7 job 12 months a year,whether there is war or no war.

After 1971 and limited action in 1999 Kargil war Indian Defence Forces have fought no war after those momentous events. Even in 1999 Kargil War only very limited personnel and units of the Army and the IAF took part.Navy was and remaining forces were only standing by.

It has now been 18 years that most of those serving in the Defence Forces today have NEFER fought in any war Those who did not take part in 19999 have even retired without fighting in any war.The very "reason de arte" for which the Defence Forces are created .

Rigorous Training in all types of terrain, weather,over land,sea or in the air,throughout their service life.This is 24 into 7 job 12 months a year,through out their life in df.Never ever stopped. Should never stop. All well meaning people know in the interest of the Nation and Defence Forces it should NEVEVR stop. Ill trained troops are invitation to disaster.

Prior to 1962 DF Minister Krishna Maenon ordered the Army personnel to build military residential quarters.The training of the troops suffered, as instead of training for war, they were building houses.National tragedy of 1962 war is now history. It is sain one must learn from History.Unfortunately those in power do not seem to have iearned.

Defence Forces are now being asked to : 

clean the garbage,recent orders to follow "swatch Bharet Programme ; and

Build railway over bridges.

Please PONDER .

PM Velankar.

MORNING WALK : VIGNETTES.

MORNING WALK : VIGNETTES.

SO MANY People with stents ! 

I look aruond again.

There were people, ladies as well as gents.Of various ages,Like me most of them  starting their journey of other side of the hill.

Their attire and general appearance suggested they were from various strata of society , economic as well as social.

They were of various shapes from, thin to fat to almost of the size that looking at them , first thought that came to your mind was "O Boy he/ she really need to walk to stop lugging around all that weight."

It looked almost impossible that all of them were such heavy smoker as I was.

Sight of matronly looking , on the heavier side,in Saree's and long to short braids ( वेनीVeni in marathi) middle class appearance ( no offence meant) convinced me that smoking, resulting in stent insertion, must not be the cause why all these people are walking around so early in the morning.

Being a "tube light",that I am it finally dawned on me there must be other reasons.After some deep thinking I realised that due to social media and general talk/gossip  amongst the people of that age group,starting to suffer from various diseases,has resulted in tremendous health health conscientiousness.Realisation finally dawned on them that morning walk was one comparatively easier way to maintain some semblance of good health and to prevent visits to doctors and save on medical expenses.May be some of them were indeed undertaking this chore(?) on doctors advice.

I was very happy to have solved the riddle of so many people with stents. Number of people walking around in the morning never worried me there after.

I was the only gunk who had to have two stents,one of them a stent in stent inserted to start my morning walk.  Finally as they say better late than never.

देर आये दुरुस्त आये .    

Morning Walk : Vignettes.

MORNING WALK : VIGNETTES.

In the year 2001,even after short walk of say 100 to 200 meters I used to have severe pain in my right leg.Blockage to my Right Common Iliac Artery was detected as a cause.Team of Dr Rajesh Muddahda and Dr Rewatkar installed a stent at GMCH Nagpur.to get rid of this ailment which, if not treated, was threatening amputation of my right leg.I was told this was was first ever stenting done at GMCH.

Stent was a success.I had no problems  there after.Within a year I had a bad case of food poisoning and sever dehydration causing contraction of arteries.This resulted in  re-blockage of my right iliac. Dr, Rajesh and Rewatkar inserted another stent.So I had a stent in a stent.They also detected 70% blockage of my Left Iliac and inserted a stent there as well.

They advised me to totally give up smoking and walk for at least 5KM everyday.

I had never followed regime of morning walk in my life.But rather than face a legless life I decided to follow their advice.On goggle maps I chalked out a route from my house for my morning walk of as to near to 5KM as I could get.Finally found a route measuring 4.8KMs.and I started my morning walk regime.Since 2001 have been faithfully following their advice. 

It has now been  more than 16 years that I have been going over the same route.The experiences, the changes in the houses and its occupants have not only been entertaining but everyday  brings home to me realisation that only thing constant is the changing nature of the world . And that more they  change more they remain the same.Appears a contradiction.Little more thought and one realises the truth of the statement.

I was surprised to see very large number of people including ladies of all shapes and sizes doing the morning walk.

I said to myself , OMG never realised that such a large number of people was walking around with stents !!!

Traffic Sense .

Family holiday in Bali.

While going to airport on the way back from the holiday saw this hoarding.

What a subtle, humorous and to the point message to bring home some traffic sense.

Having seen the way Balinese people drive and and are so disciplined, always following the traffic rules never crossing the line at Zebra crossing,thought these people do not really need that particular hoarding. They are proud to be Balinese and proud of fellow Balinese .

Nearer home wondered how come in this cricket crazy nation no one, not even traffic department, thought of such a brilliant hoarding. Or may be every one, including traffic dept, knowing traffic discipline of most of the Indians thought crossing the line at zebra crossing such an insignificant infringement as not worth wasting time and energy on point out such minor infringement.

Like Balinese people, I am also proud to be Indian. But unlike them , when I see very large number of people violating most serious traffic rule,like jumping red lights driving in the right lane of the road driving 4 people on a two wheelers, I am not proud but ashamed .

SOME GOOD NEWS
Bureaucrats have no accountability and are almost immune from any action against them due to the complicated procedures formulated by the bureaucrats themselves.
Non-performing and inefficient Bureaucrats were just shifted around to the posts where they could cause minimum damage or their inefficiency would not be glaring .
The news item in today's local english newspaper The Hitavada, has come as a breath of fresh air. The news item :
"129 non-performig officers given forced retirement ".
Finally , finally thanks to Modi Government some Grade A and B officers, as a punishment,have been given forced retirement . It is good begining . Still ,
Figures indicate that  out of 800 odd grade A officers only 1 officer was not performing . As compared to 1 out of 427 odd grade B officers .
The figures do not seem to conform to theory of normal destribution . Only 1 out of 800?
It would be interesting to know firstly .the criteria on which performances were evaluated and secondaly the retirement benifits granted to the punished officers are they same as those given to normally retiring officers .
All said and done a GOOD start . More power to Mr Modi and his Government .

Three youths from stone pelting mob killed in Badgam., Kashmir.

I am breaking self imposed refusal to write to  Editor The Hitvada.a local english language news paper.

Dera Sir,
I have been writing to you with a request to publish my letters in Letter to Editor coloumn of your news paper  Mostely they have not been published , most probably as the subjects were controversial and my language quite blunt .
However I do hope that you will publishi this letter , I am sure it represents popular sentiment of majotity of Indians .

Dear Sir
Kindly publish the following in letter to Editor coloumnn.

I am a Fauji . We call a spade a spade .
I must say that I was happy to read news item in your news paper about three youths from stone pelting mob, obstructing anti-militant Operations, being killed in firing by security forces .
The news was welcome. For too long the security forces have been fighting terrorists and militants with their  hands tied behind their back . Due to their inability to deter the local population from obstructing their operations and fear of political backlash in case of injuries / death of even a single civilian casuality..
Chief of the Army Staff had given warnig to all antinational elements of stern action includinf firing against anyone trying to obstruct anti militant or anti terrorist operations .It must be noted by all that the security forces displayed examplry restraint . They first fired teargas shells . When that failed the pellet gin . Firing was resorted to only as a last resort.
It is hoped that the Politicians will not make an issue of this incident for petty political gains and vote bank.  They have already caused immense dagage to the Defence Forces .

PM Velankar 

A People Caring , Friendly Organisation..

My usual blogs are generally about critical of PSUs , Government departments etc which are totally inefficient , callous with no thought to the public convenience .
This blog is about a Govt venture which appears , efficient , with well thought out and planned modus operandi considering  public convenience in operations and seem to be people friendly.

The Government venture I am talking about is Nagpur Metro .

The reasons for my statements will become clear , just read on . 

With increasing health awareness number of people going for morning walks as increased tremendously . Stretch of road between Ambazari and NMC Octroy Post on Hingna Road is Quite popular . This stretch also has one of the longest or rather , the longest stretch of unbroken footpath . This almost a KM long footpath would have been ideal for morning walkers of which I am one . However we, morning walkers ,  could not use this ideal sretch  due to it's pathetic condition full of rubble and the uneven surface due to dug up tiles of footpath . Another reason we could not use it was due to poor street lighting .
Therefore we the morning walkers perforce had to  walk on the road .


See the photos : 

Footpath full of rubble .

Footpath full of garbage and filth .

Dugup tiles of foothpath .

Unserviceable street lights.

Metro Rail started work on this stretch some time back . There was no problem as long as work of soil testing was being carried as the obstruction on road was minimal .
Problems came when pit digging for columns started as obstruction caused on the road width was of considerable length . It created folloeing problems 
1. Footpath was unusable for walks reasons given in  above paras.
2. In-sufficient width of available road on one side , just sufficient for a Bus or heavy duty dumperto pass. On the road there was no safety margin for walkers .

No safety margin for walkers on the road with traffic.

3 Street lights were unserviceable , street lighting poles which were located on the dividers were removed completely rendering the area in darkness .

 For the convenience and safety of people these problems Had to be solved .

It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words . So here goes .

Newly installed , serviceable street lights on the footpath .

NOW , Cleaned and walkable footpaths .

NOW , Cleaned and walkable footpaths .

NOW , Cleaned and walkable footh paths .

Even the sapling now have red reflective strip strips foe motorists and two wheelers 

I wish other Government organisations were also as efficient , carrying out well thought out projects , caring for people and as people friendly as Nagpur Metro.

Nagpur Metro , particularly the team wornikg on Hingana Road stretch . 

BIG BIG THANKS ,

Carry on the good work and God Bless .