BRIG BYTES

  ‘Indi-No-go’, reminded me of the time when my daughter Ananya was scheduled to travel by Go Air and the flight kept getting delayed, after almost three-four hours when her patience wore thin, she called to say that she has christened the airline “Go Last”, instead of Go First as they claimed. Indigo too took pride in ensuring punctuality of their arrivals which we all have experienced, but now that too is not something you can take for granted. None had expected the situation to touch its nadir, the way this  shemozzle  was unleashed on the hapless passengers, it was just shameful.  The 6E has lost its sex appeal but Indian aviation passengers do not have much of a choice, with 61% market share, they rule the Indian skies literally. No wonder, Indigo is ‘indig-nant’ and chose to follow this path to make DGCA eat a humble pie and roll back the instructions or put it in abeyance temporarily. Incidentally the word Indigo traces its roots from the Latin word ‘Indicum’,...

  Lieutenant Samuel Kamalesan was recently in the news, as his petition against his dismissal from the army was rejected by the Supreme Court. Being a veteran, we have attended countless services in the temples, gurudwaras, churches and mosques over the four odd decades, while one was in the service of the nation. Frankly as a youngster in the unit, all these religious parades, as they were referred to, was not something one looked forward to eagerly, barring the gurudwara, where the attraction was the ‘kadha prasad’, (the mouthwatering ghee dripping ‘halwa’), and sure enough some of us would even volunteer to help in the distribution as at the end, there was a chance that we would be rewarded with an extra helping. Fresh out of the academies, most of us had just about bid farewell to the teenage, still adolescents at heart and many of our immature actions left our seniors in no doubt about that. While sports fields were fun, the religious worship routines were not, especially if i...

  The recent events in Bangladesh are not just a cause for concern but I think, it is now bordering as a threat in being. Ironically within a century, the lighthouse of Indian civilisation, undivided Bengal has turned into such a morass that no one could have imagined. It is difficult to imagine that this was the land of Tagore and Kazi Nazrul Islam, which even the British had to finally surrender to, when they revoked the 1905 division of Bengal. This abyss that both Bengals find themselves in today, can be traced back to the seeds of radicalisation sowed in the pre-partition era. The riots and violence which was unleashed on the minorities in the predominantly Muslim East Bengal those days was not an aberration. The overt bon-homie between the  communities could not paper over the deep divide within, like a powder keg, just waiting for any trigger to explode. Humanity itself was disgraced and ashamed by the horrendous acts of mindless violence that arsonists indulged in...

  How many Rafales down? The question is now playing like a stuck record and reminds one of the song, “Who let the dogs out?” Rafales are aerial platforms which are state of the art systems and are meant to be utilised in case of hostilities. OP SINDOOR is a military operation where India and Pak have dug into their respective inventories to inflict damage on the adversary. The Operation is currently paused, as declared by the Govt of India. There have been claims that India has lost some aircrafts in this four day skirmish. Although the question when posed to Air Marshal Bharti on 10th May during the debriefing itself, he did respond tongue in cheek that in any such military offensive action there are bound to be losses, but the pilots are safe. The CDS Gen Chauhan too responded to a similar query recently in Singapore, mentioning that it is not important as to how many went down, what was remarkable was to drive the lessons home and execute operations immediately after that. It i...

  “Chickens have come home to roost”, it is payback time for Pakistan, having indulged in terrorism as a statecraft and mastered the art of doublespeak, this time around they have bitten more than they can chew. The serene and gentle plains of Pahalgam  were bloodied in the mindless communal massacre, thus provoking the Indians to retaliate in the similar form as on previous occasions in Uri and Pulwama. But the tragedy of such a script is that it is written by both the sides and India has outgrown the self imposed cautious restraint. Today with the tag of world’s fastest growing economy which stands as the fourth largest in terms of GDP, Indian Govt has the wherewithal to tackle Pakistan in all the domains, be it military, economic or diplomatic which has been demonstrated in the last three days. India has set itself a very clear mandate that the terrorist infrastructure must be targeted relentlessly and since there are no terrorist camps here, Pak has decided to up the ...

  Pahalgam, “mini Switzerland” in the pristine Kashmir Valley has always been a favourite with the tourists, also an ideal locale for film shootings. With the onset of Summers, tourists were thronging the Kashmir Valley in thousands, enjoying the fruits of normalisation of situation, post abrogation of Article 370. As a consequence, complacency tends to set in, we had to pay a vey heavy  price of this security lapse. 28 precious lives snuffed out brutally, the perpetrators making it a point to confirm the religious identity of the victim before shooting him. As a first step, diplomatic actions have been initiated, suspension of Indus Water Treaty being the principal one amongst them. It is a contentious issue with many analysts asking the pertinent question that in the absence of any water storage infrastructure, is it merely tokenism or is there some tangible gain expected to accrue from this action. We have to trust our leaders that they must have also debated this befo...

  Is a Sepoy or Sipahi same as the Constable or for that matter a Head Constable or Havaldar in the Army? The roles of Army and the Police Forces are well defined, as the former addresses external aggression , the latter handles the law and order within the country, however whenever the situation goes out of hand it is the Army that the nation turns to and Army on its part has never failed the nation barring 1962, where too the political leadership was more to blame.. Well the Armed Forces and the Police Forces may be donning the uniform alright, but I am sure we all know the colour of their uniforms distinguishes one from the other. But is the distinction just because of the colour of their uniform, which too has been usurped by the Central Police Forces by getting into the Combat uniform similar to those of the Indian Army. While it is understandable that organisations or individuals try and emulate their ideals and as Oscar Wilde said, “Imitation is the sincerest form of flatter...

  Today is Infantry Day, now isn’t that funny? Why do I find it funny or should I say ironic, well, isn’t everyday of the year the Infantarian’s day! Infantry, the Queen of the battle, is at work, 24 x 7 for 365 days without a break, be it war, peace or what we in the Army refer to as NWNP (“No War No Peace”). Be it Kashmir, the North East, Ladakh, Disaster Management or United Nations Peacekeeping, as though they don’t have enough on their hands already. They are the Atlases of our Armed Forces who take on the load of the Globe without any unnecessary bravado. “When it was victory, the cavalier claimed it outright, the gunner boasted of his calibre, the sapper and the signaller publicised their worth, but the infantryman stood silent with victory at his feet”. Despite the world having progressed by leaps and bounds in terms of technology and the evolution or revolution of warfare into a highly technical arena, ultimately it is the “boots on the ground” which decide the victor...

   “ Hasina Bhag Jayegi” screamed one of the headlines, the other read “Shaken Hasina”, yet another one was “Ek Hasina Thi” and there were countless memes on the social media on the 5th Aug. Isn’t it a strange coincidence that 49 years ago, it was in the month of Aug 15th 1975 to be precise, when Shaikh Mujib’s government was overthrown in a bloody coup with his complete family wiped out except Shaikh Hasina and her sister Rehana. Month of August is just not very august for this nation, or if we look at it from the perspective of the agitators, it is as they have been able to throw out an unpopular government. Ironically she won a two thirds majority in Jan this year itself, but without any opposition as BNP had decided to boycott the elections. This is the most important lesson to take home for us in India. We need a credible opposition in a healthy democracy, without one the powers that be, can develop a tendency towards authoritarianism. Opposition for the sake of oppositio...