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. 

Lest I Forget!

"Lest We Forget a phrase  from  "Recessional", a poem  by Rudyard Kipling, which was later passed into common usage after WW I  across the British Commonwealth,especially becoming linked with Rememberence Day observations.

The phrase became a plea not to forget past sacrifices made and is often found as the only wording on many war memorials and epitaphs.

Over the last week, during India's Independence Day Celebrations, we saw a great amount of media coverage on our brave men and women in uniform, bringing out their stories of great scarifies and bravery.

I am glad that the media does cover these stories albeit only as seasonal as the winter in Mumbai. I wish that we as individuals would remember this phrase and the feeling behind it more often even in our personal units.

On one hand I remember the brave men and women in uniform who guard my sense of safety and on the other, as the phases of my life change, easy it becomes for me to forget the so many others, out of uniform, without whose sacrifices my today would not be possible.....so, "Lest I Forget".

Two Choices

Am sure that almost all of us receive a lot of worldly wisdom in our email  inbox everyday.

I, usually having gone through them ,either instantly hit delete or the ones that are spared of my keyboard guillotine get neatly  filed and labeled under some folder, only to be forgotten among the terabytes of data I tend to collect.

However, the filing routine of my better half is a bit more complex, her email inbox is a sea of information from all corners of the world.

This habit of hers, to keep emails all in one place (part thanks to Larry & Sergey @ Google and part to our planning foresight of subcribing to almost umlimited space for our personal email account), has kept me baffled to say the least. More so, as she is able to sift through them and get the one she wants in an instant.

However one fine day,  me being me, I suggested that she needed to clean up her inbox and if she was having trouble clearing up, I could offer her the services of my experienced keyboard guillotine along with my algorithm for filing and labeling.

As we got to work mail by mail , we happened to open one and read it aloud. It was an email relating to positive attitude titled "TWO CHOICES" ( am sure most of my readers would have got this in thier inbox as well).

The email narrated the story of a man named Jerry and his optimism/postitive attitude which enabled him to make the better of the two choices he had in any situation day after day. Right from the moment when he woke up, and could choose either to be in a good mood or in a bad mood, to the more critical situations he came across.

Having read the email and being done with the task on hand, we got to our routines as usual.

Though simple, the email left its mark in my grey matter and even though at times I still end up reacting to situations in life instead of making a choice like Jerry, I've learned that life will give me another chance to make a choice....soon enough after i have reacted.

Operation:Dinner Out!

Operation Dinner Out is a GO!! This classic line used by Nathan Muir (Robert Redford) to activate a rouge Plan B to rescue Tom Bishop (Brad Pitt) from a prison in China in the movie Spy Game (2001) has been used by my friends and me many times for its utter 'suavity'. 

The term, however, has taken up a completely realistic meaning in my immediate surrounding over the last few years where my veteran mother literally has to execute any outing more like a commando style operation due to circumstances thrust upon her and which are beyond her control.

She faces the challenges of the operation with guts and courage along with my dad, a great "buddy" to have by her side.

Keeping in mind the ground realities of such military operations, the pair are rarely able to rely on support from any other units and have only each other to cover all angles of the operation.

And as if it were not enough to have survived through the many battles in life, most of which remain unimaginable to a rookie like me, the already distinguished veterans continue to face challenge after challenge keeping their heads held up high and understanding that life unlike an army, is not offering them a retirement age. 

For me as a rookie, I can only salute them, while I try to prepare myself along with my own buddy to face such missions in the future..with both fright and prayer.

A Day @ The Book Store

21st June 2011

It had been a while since I had read a book, apart from the volumes of virtual reading on the net and the Garfield Strip paperbacks which had me in splits for a couple of weeks while I kept going back to them again and again.

Wanting to get down to some reading and having narrowed down to make my next read on management or business, I glanced down the rows of books lining the section.  


My eyes immediately went on one of my all time favorites "The Goal" by Dr. Eliyahu M. Goldratt, I thought of who had borrowed it from me last as I could not place it in my current set of possessions. 


I picked it up for a glance and immediately thought that I might as well get myself a new copy of it anyway and probably also coax my better half in life and business to read it.

Having done that, my eyes went on a book sitting right next to it, "LOOSE" ...The Future of Business is Letting Go: How to Break the Rules of Business.

A glance through the book and I was convinced that it was the one I was going to restart my reading habit with.

Am almost through with the book and content with my choice, am looking forward to my next visit to the bookstore for some more reads.