Puneet's Page

Twenty seven years later, I wonder why I let myself be appointed as Member of the Students Union Council of St Stephen's College, when I entered my MSc Class. After having fooled around for three years it should have been high time that I settled down and did the MSc course some justice. But that's not the story here... The highlight of any Students' Unions' tenure was the organization of the winter festival or "Winterfest" We decided to present to the College and to the University, the best College festival organized yet. As part of the cultural programs we decided to invite Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia the renowned flautist, accompanied by Ustaad Zakir Hussain on Tabla. For another evening - and this was a first for the College and for Delhi University - the most popular semi classical artists on the scene at that time - Jagjit and Chitra Singh. Those were old times. Hariprasad Chaurasia and Zakir Hussain very kindly agreed to a fees of Rs 25000 which was s...

T here’s hardly anyone who hasn’t seen the famous Bollywood blockbuster “Border” released in 1997, set to the story of the Battle of Longewala. Thanks to the movie it is now one of the most well known battles of the 1971 Indo Pak war. It was at Longewala that the enemy made his biggest armoured thrust with a view to capture a large chunk of the Indian territory. The Pakistani thrust was completely and comprehensively blunted. Upto here, we all know the story. But who was responsible for blunting the Pakistani attack? This is where there are differences in versions…. In the movie “Border” it was Major Kuldeep Singh Chandpuri and his small force of 120 brave men, who resisted the Pakistani onslaught throughout the night by fighting fiercely, till the Air Force arrived at first light the next morning, to assist them. The Air Force however, has a different story to tell. Here is the story – told by none other than Air Marshal MS Bawa – PVSM, AVSM, VM (Retd.), who was the Base Command...

Physical and moral courage are seldom found in abundant measure, in the same person. Yet Lt. General Bhagat was an example of this. For the former, he won the Victoria Cross during the Second World War. For the second, it is said that there are innumerable instances to recount. P.S. Bhagat was born in 1918, and joined the 10th course at IMA in 1937. Although he was not able to attain the highest rank – that of the Army Chief, and retired as Army Commander, there is little doubt in Army circles even today, that if there was an officer deserving of this position, it was Prem Bhagat. Apart from a truly courageous soldier and and officer, both mentally and physically, Prem Bhagat was known to be a true soldier’s general. There are numerous instances that prove this – sometimes his behaviour extending to what may be termed as ‘carrying it a bit too far…’ In 1970 Prem Bhagat was GOC 11 Corps at Jullundar. One young Captain who as posted in the same Station, and who was newly married, was...

INS Khukri in 1971 INS Khukri, was a Type IV ASW Frigate belonging to the 14 Squadron of the Western Fleet of the Indian Navy during the 1971 War with Pakistan. She was the only Indian sea vessel that was destroyed by the enemy, and sank off the coast of Diu, on the night of December 9, 1971, taking down with her about 178 sailors and 18 officers including Khukri's Captain - Mahendra Nath Mullah. The sinking of INS Khukri continues to haunt the minds of military strategists and planners even today. Because, this was the only instance where the otherwise highly effective planning and tactics of the Indian Navy like those used to sink the Ghazi and for the Karachi attacks, did not come into play.     I have tried to put together, a few critical factors that led to this incident which was a huge irreparable loss: 1. Pakistan Navy's strength lay in her new "Daphne Class" submarines, three in number, acquired recently from France (and funded by the United States). The ...

Captain Mullah was commanding a sea vessel of the Indian Navy - a frigate "INS Khukri" during the war. His ship was part of a squadron that was tasked to seek and destroy Pakistani ships and submarines. On the night of December 9, 1971, INS Khukri was hit by torpedoes fired from a Pakistani submarine, and started sinking. Realizing this, Captain Mullah ordered to crew - some 300 officers and sailors - to abandon ship. He also realized that many men were trapped in the sinking vessel below the deck. Unmindful of this personal safety, and choosing to stay with the ship when he could have opted to save himself, he took it upon himself to personally supervise the rescue of the trapped men. As Genl Cardozo related the story - "being the man that he was, he knew that it was not right for him to save himself while his sailors went to a watery grave". In those final moments when the ship sank, Captain Mullah helped as many as he could, staying on the bridge of th...

It was the 14th of December 1971, a little over 39 years ago. Many of my generation cannot forget that year however. A war was on. At 8 am on that fateful day, the outlying OPs (observation posts) just outside the Srinagar airfield flashed a warning about an incoming air raid by Pakistani F-85 Sabre jets. A young Sikh Officer Nirmaljit, and his fellow fighter pilot Ghumman -both Gnat pilots,  were scrambled to intercept the incoming strike. Ten precious seconds were lost in getting ATC clearance which never came. Both pilots took off - four minutes after the first OP warning, and just when the first of the incoming Sabres was commencing its dive over the airfield. Ghumman was the first to become airborne followed by Nirmaljit, who almost immediately was out of visual contact of the ATC, obscured by the dust and smoke thrown up by the exploding Pakistani bombs. By now, Nirmaljit was overcome totally with raw courage. There were six sabres and he decided to take them on, while st...

Tomorrow is Deepwali - the Indian festival of lights. There is an atmosphere of festivities everywhere. The festival symbolises brightness and light, and so millions of homes across the Country, are brightly lit up for the past so many days to pay obeisance to God Almighty for attainment of health, wealth, knowledge, peace, valor and fame. Diwali also symbolises removing darkness - in the form of ignorance and all negative forces -  wickedness, violence, lust, anger, envy, greed, bigotry, fear, injustice, oppression and suffering,  by spreading light in the form of knowledge. Deepawali also symbolises a 'new beginning' The festivities reach a peak. People shop for new clothes and jewellery, and sweets and gifts to exchange with near and dear ones. Households are refurbished and cleaned, and then lit up brightly. Relatives and friends reunite this time of the year -if not at anytime else. There is happiness all around. On Deepawali this year - as in all the previous yea...

Here's an interesting anecdote that I came across in General Sundarji's book, which is an autobiography, and could only be published after his death: ‘It was the winter of 1951. There was a function on a Sunday, at Headquarters Eastern Command which was then at Lucknow. General Sriganesh was to attend and an air force plane (a Devon) has been lain on. Apart form the Army Commander Major Generals Thimayya, Thorat and Chopra had requested for a lift and were promised a seat. I was to be the fifth passenger. We were all at Palam airport in Delhi on that Sunday, morning and just before take-off a brigadier from the Army Service Corps approached the boss and requested for a seat, and so I was unceremoniously taken off the plane. As a sop I was told that I need not come to receive the boss that evening, and could enjoy my Sunday! After we saw the plane off, Group Captain Rajaram, DFC who was the stations commander of Palam said to me In Tamil – “Sundar don’t be disappointed. Now th...

Ok - I see that we cannot simply ignore Arundhati Roy. She has that knack of gaining publicity because that's what she thrives on. Her 'raison d'etre'.... According to her, Kashmir was never an integral part of India. This comment convinced me ever more, that there is really no substance behind this person and the cause she stands for, side by side with Mr. Geelani. I also think that Ms. Arundhati Roy is fairly ignorant. Most probably, when she sat in Class in school, she didn't pay attention to the History lessons. For her benefit - let me summarise the facts and break the myth that the likes of Ms Roy would make believe. On the eve of India's independence there were as many as 568 'princely states' in India - the  'Princely States' . Some of these were Hyderabad, Gwalior, Baroda and Kashmir. None of them were part of India. When the British decided to leave, in 1947, the left two choices with the States - to affiliate with Pakistan or with ...

These are the guys in uniform, who you see at secuirity check points at the airport - everytime you take a domestic or an international flight. They are the ones, who frisk you, check your baggage on the x-ray machine, and politely ask you to remove your lighter or batteries from your cabin baggage. They are also the soldiers in uniform who guard the Delhi Metro. You will see them manning all security check points at the Metro stations. You encounter them for maybe five seconds - occasionally they may have frisked you, and you are on your way. What you probably might not know is that the Central Industrial Security Force, established in 1969 with the primary objective to provide security to Public Sector Undertakings in India has, over the years become a premier multi-skilled security agency of the country, mandated to provide security to major critical infrastructure installations of the country in diverse areas. CISF is currently providing security cover to nuclear installatio...

We heard of the huge amount of criticism of the Commonwealth Games in the foreign media. Here's something different that Peter Lalor of 'The Australian' wrote... This has been contributed by an old School mate David Conquest who lives in Australia. "The Commonwealth Games are apparently under way. Not without glitches and no doubt there will be a few more to come, but for pity's sake what do people want? India is a Country with more than a billion people. It is chaotic, eccentric, colourful and unlike anywhere else in the world. You reckon Australia would run smoothly with that many people? It can be dirty and is often frustrating, but it is also endlessly fascinating. Every moment something new and enthralling happens. If you can't find interest here, you should check your pulse. You get the feeling from all the hoo-ha of recent weeks that people expect life to be lived inside a shopping mall. Bland, secured and air-conditioned. That goes for ath...

The Commonwealth Games - more popularly referred to as CWG - 2010, are finally over. And India managed to put up a rather good show, despite all bungling, disasters and controversies. But just because the Games were finally a success, does not mean that those guilty of all the corruption, mismanagement of the entire project, delays and disasters, should be allowed to go scot free. The guests - mainly the athletes from about 70 Countries had a nice time - and even they are now admitting it. The foreign media, so critical at two weeks ago, is not shying from stating that the CWG 2010 were the best ever. To a 'peripheral observer' like me, and to one indirectly impacted, as I am a citizen of Delhi two aspects related to the Games will remain 'top of mind' First - 'Bravo' to the Delhi Police force, for having successfully managed a huge, huge challenge - that of  ensuring security and an incident free Games for a fortnight, and for having organise...

Finally, a jinx more than five decades old was broken yesterday at the CWG games, with three Indian women - Krishna Poonia, Harwant Kaur and Seema Antia, bagging the Gold, Sliver and Bronze medals and thus making a clean sweep of the medals tally in the Discuss Throw event. It was a very proud moment indeed - for India, when these athletes won their medals for their Country in the Athletics category after a gap of more than 50 years ! The last medal was won by Milkha Singh in 1958. What is even more a matter of pride -is that it was womens' athletics that shone bright, and achieved what the men are yet to come near to... Well done Ladies - you did India proud !

You know what's the latest at the Games Village? The days of the dirty rooms, water logging, and dogs' footprints (and other prints too) are over. The king cobras and their babies have also thankfully decided to leave the athletes in peace. After all they too are Indians and believe in the philosophy of "Atithi Devao Bhava" or "Our guest is like God to us"  So, no more harassment to the guests. This time - the problem has been created by the guests themselves. As each day passed, complaints started ringing in, of clogged toilets. And when the maintenance men came and investigated the root cause, guess what they found. The toilets were clogged with -hold your breath - CONDOMS !! All eyes then turned to the very 'large' condom machine installed at the village (We do know how to take care of our guests - don't we?). And a quick stock taking revealed that of the 4000 condoms stocked in there, about half of them have been taken ! Wow ! Today is onl...

I have to confess - that there is a 180 degree turnaround in the state of affairs since - let's say a month ago. Well- maybe not a full 180 degrees but we're getting there.... We had corruption, missed deadlines, shoddy workmanship, a complete absence of leadership etc. etc. And all of this was highlighted by the Arnab Goswamis and the Barkha Dutts of the World. Today while they are being lambasted for having focused on only the negatives, the media sure has my appreciation. Had not the media cried hoarse over the massive bungling in every department, we the people wouldn't ever have realised the seriousness of the situation. Neither would have things started changing for the better. So now, most of that is behind us. And going by what one has seen of the 'bandobast' in our own 'Dilli' the planning and organizing has been worth appreciating. Particularly the 'two lane traffic' The cops are more than visible - policemen and policewomen, in new clea...