"Tender" Me Slow!

"TENDER" : 
Adjective : Easily chewed or cut
Noun: A formal offer, as a written offer to contract goods or services at a specified cost or rate; a bid.

"Tender" is a word i am being reintroduced to time and again in my line of business as days go by. 

I do not understand how a word meaning easily chewed or cut can be used in the commercial sphere as a legal term to find the best vendor  for purchase of supplies or services.

I presume the person who coined the term belonged from a culinary background ...he or she probably thought that the best way to get the desired result to any activity was just to cook the vendor on a slow fire..till he was TENDER enough to be served, just like a nice tender chicken.
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The whole process of Tender Notices, EMD's, Technical Specifications, Financial Bids....etc, resemble a bouquet of spices a chef would use to prepare a marinade.

The Negotiations,Formalities,Re-negotiations, The movement of the file form here to there... the endless wait ..imitate the chef grilling his dish on a slow fire waiting for just the right tenderness in it before being served.

The only thing common in both, the Cooking and the "Tender" process, is the end, the vendor eventually is left  resembling a pile of bones.... just the way a Chef would expect one of his tenderly cooked chicken dishes at the end of a meal.

Mother!

Just read this thought provoking post on facebook and thought it would be good to make it part of my blog:

In a mother's womb were two babies. One asked the other: "Do you believe in life after delivery?"

The other replies, "why, of course. There has to be something after delivery. Maybe we are here to prepare ourselves for what we will be later.

"Nonsense," says the other. "There is no life after delivery.

What would that life be?"

"I don't know, but there will be more light than here. Maybe we will walk with our legs and eat from our mouths."

The other says "This is absurd! Walking is impossible. And eat with our mouths? Ridiculous. The umbilical cord supplies nutrition. Life after delivery is to be excluded. The umbilical cord is too short."

"I think there is something and maybe it's different than it is here." the other replies,

"No one has ever come back from there. Delivery is the end of life, and in the after-delivery it is nothing but darkness and anxiety and it takes us nowhere."

"Well, I don't know," says the other, "but certainly we will see mother and she will take care of us." "Mother??" You believe in mother? Where is she now? "

"She is all around us. It is in her that we live. Without her there would not be this world."

"I don't see her, so it's only logical that she doesn't exist."

To which the other replied, "sometimes when you're in silence you can hear her, you can perceive her." 

I believe there is a reality after delivery and we are here to prepare ourselves for that reality....

Chatri Mata Ki Jai!!

Chatri Mata Ki Jai!! (Hail To The Goddess Of The Parachute) , a cry no stranger to the bravest of the Indian Army, The Paras, while they take a leap of faith from heights into the totally unknown leaving the deafining noise of the jump bay casued by the roaring of the aircraft and the wind.

They leap into the unknown with relative ease time and again in day and at night,  keeping their faith in both thier training and the almighty parachute Goddess.

 

In my life, I too have also taken a few leaps. Some solo, some in tandem , some  with actual parachutes and some with invisible ones, always keeping the faith in the parachute Goddess.

 

Life has given me excellent tandem buddies, in my family and friends and the Goddess has been kind to keep opening my parachute ensuring a soft landing always, be it from the heights of the sky or for descions I take while on ground.

 

So, Charti Mata Ki Jai! & Keeping the Faith!

 

I Have A Dream!!

Wonderful lyrics mirroring some of my feelings !! Thanks ABBA for a wonderful Song:-

 

I have a dream, a song to sing
To help me cope with anything
If you see the wonder of a fairy tale
You can take the future even if you fail
I believe in angels
Something good in everything I see
I believe in angels
When I know the time is right for me
I'll cross the stream - I have a dream

I have a dream, a fantasy
To help me through reality
And my destination makes it worth the while
Pushing through the darkness still another mile
I believe in angels
Something good in everything I see
I believe in angels
When I know the time is right for me
I'll cross the stream - I have a dream
I'll cross the stream - I have a dream

I have a dream, a song to sing
To help me cope with anything
If you see the wonder of a fairy tale
You can take the future even if you fail
I believe in angels
Something good in everything I see
I believe in angels
When I know the time is right for me
I'll cross the stream - I have a dream
I'll cross the stream - I have a dream
*Song Released 1979 : Album /  Take a Chance On Me 

Vajra Prahar!

Vajra (Devanagari: वज्र): is a Sanskrit word meaning both thunderbolt and diamond. As a material device, the vajra is a ritual object, a short metal weapon that originates from India and has the symbolic nature of a diamond (it can cut any substance but not be cut itself) and that of the thunderbolt (irresistible force).

Prahar (Devanagari:प्रहार): Strike / Blow / Final Attack.

As one can imagine if an organisation which individually or jointly needs to execute a plan with the swiftness of Vajra and a defeating Prahar to their competition they must be the best in all possible departments, with  planning, training and absolute resolve in team and leadership.

 

There is however one organisation which must go the further mile and be ready for the extraordinary in all aspects , this is the military.

 

For all their planning , training and agility they must also be prepared for the unknown. A quote by General Ludwig Beck, Chief of the German General Staff during the early years of the Nazi regime in Germany before World War II    "Remember, this is a military operation. Nothing ever goes according to plan.",made famous by the movie Valkyrie (2008), is a reality check of the uncertainties faced in any military operation.
 

For me the military deserves a special commendation for being able to overcome these uncertainties and acheive the impossible at times.

This also makes me believe however chaotic a military plan may appear to be , there's always is a plan!! and am sure they "love it when a plan comes together!!" - (Quote by Colonel John "Hannibal" Smith, fictional character in the 1980s action/adventure television series The A-Team)

The Military M.I Room!!

Have been off the blog radar for exactly 11 months now, far long from what I would have liked. The reason for being incommunicado on the blog has been more conscious. I would have liked to shoot off a few now and then but thought best that I reflect before I write. These last 11 months have been filled with highs and lows , good times and more recently some untimely events , scars of which will heal slowly only with time.

The events off late  however have been reminding me of the phase of my life in which I was an Army Brat, carefree and more important never worried about being ill, be it broken bones, wounds, the flu or illness with names we couldn't pronounce.

 



Indian Naval Hospital Ship Ashvini : My Birth Place

 I guess for me the comfort of the M.I room being so close to home, where ever that was, along with the invisible but protective layer of belonging to the Fauji Family did the magic.

In addition ,I was born in a Military Hospital, all my teenage broken bones were mended there, I got my chin stitched in the middle of the night there after bleeding for a couple of hours and sleeping sound until my parents arrived and discovered the new extreme sport of  powder skating that I had invented.

We could walk in any time, and if we were accompanied by my dad we would first get some gleaming salutes which at times would make me forget why we were there in the first place. My mother who needed constant medical care, would just walk in and walk out of the M.I room, no money , no insurance, just a name, rank and number.

Of course all of this was thanks to the Armed Forces Medical Services who silently with care and at times brutally (I remember a Colonel Surgeon pressing my broken toe as though I was an enemy and was going to sing some classified information to him due to the pain, this at the age of 11) had the onus of getting us in shape. 

There were lows as well , the unending lines, the packed wards, the food (God forbid you got admitted), the medical category committees the Officers dreaded as it could ruin their career and at times vital machines were out of service. But all in all never was there doubt of recovery , cause in the end somehow you knew that they would put you back on track.

Whether an Officer, an Other Rank or just family they just wanted you to be out in SHAPE1, by hook or by crook!!

The Alchemist Effect

I do not recall how or when I first read Paulo Coelho's "The Alchemist".

However, in true tribute to the motto of the book, "When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.", it did land into my hand many years ago and I did read it. Just like I find myself typing out this blog.

A few years ago, the universe did conspire again and I had the opportunity to see Santigo on stage thanks to the wonderful adaptation by Ashvin Gidwani.

These brief encounters with Santiago and the Alchemist remind me how lucky i am to be able to follow my heart and find what I seek. And even though many a times I drift aimlessly without direction , I must learn to read the omens of my environment as the wise Alchemist taught Santiago once and I should always remember that the universe never stops conspiring.