Posts

IDHAR UDHAR KI BAAT — BAKU, THE HIDDEN PRESSURE POINT IN THE IRAN WAR? Brig PS Gothra (Retd)

-
Image
I watched the movie Guns of Navarone in 1977. In those days watching Inglish movies was fashionable. The routine was simple. Laugh when others laughed, clap when something exploded, and later discuss the great fights and blasts as if we had understood everything. Looking at the map was never part of the exercise. Not entirely my fault though. I was only twelve and studying in a Hindi-medium school where the Mediterranean Sea was known only as Bhumadhya Sagar . Geography meant remembering rivers and capitals, not understanding why countries fought wars. Years later I learnt something interesting: wars are rarely about anger. They are almost always about geography. In one of those strategic lectures I heard,“ Baku is one of the most important places on earth.” I opened the map. And immediately dismissed the idea. Baku looked like a small projection sticking into the Caspian Sea. It hardly looked like the centre of global strategy. But war has a strange way of teaching geogr...
2 comments
Read more

FABLE OF U AAS PAAK RELATIONSHIP Brig PS Gothra (Retd)

-
Image
  I hope the current Iran War doesn't get into a scene as shown on the sketch. A Fable written on Ofghan experience of U ASS is given below. Not very long ago there was a lion in a jungle. His name was U AAS. He had contained his rivals, so he became hegemonic and started acting as a self-appointed policeman. In the same jungle there was a fox called Paak. Paak was living in penury and had lost his house in an earthquake. One day he moved into the den of U AAS. When Paak saw U AAS approaching he spanked his three children (Taliban, Al Qaida and Nuclear Card). The children started wailing.  “Don’t cry my dear children today I can’t get you lion’s flesh as lion seems to have gone out somewhere. You will have to feed on elephant’s flesh,” said Paak.  U AAS got shit-scared. He wondered there must be some monster who has the guts to occupy his house. The kids of that monster want to feed on lion’s flesh. He quietly moved away.  All this was being watched by a monk...
1 comment
Read more

IDHAR UDHAR KI BAAT 125 – GRANDMOTHER’S STRATEGIC WISDOM Brig PS Gothra (Retd)

-
Image
    For the last two weeks I have been remembering my grandmother a lot. On starlit summer nights she would lie on a charpoi on the roof and narrate stories before we slept. One story I remember very clearly. It was about a monkey and a bear who entered a sugarcane field to enjoy a free feast. Suddenly the farmers arrived with sticks. The monkey jumped to the nearest tree and watched the drama from above. The bear, poor fellow, had no such option. His hips turned red with the beating.     The story ended with the famous Punjabi line: “Khan peen nu bandri, dande khan nu richh.” (The monkey enjoys the food, the bear receives the beating.)     Watching the current war in West Asia, I cannot help remembering that story.     Some countries resemble the richh (bear). Their ports closed, refineries threatened, desalination plants under danger, food supply uncertain because imports stop, expatriates leaving in panic and missiles and drones raining over ai...
1 comment
Read more

IDHAR UDHAR KI BAAT 114- BEGGAR'S WISDOM. Brig PS Gothra ( Retd )

-
Image
  I handed over a plate of samosa to the old beggar and sat next to him on the steps of a shop near a Gurudwara to have my samosa. I had seen that longing or greed in his eyes while I was buying it for myself. We ate in silence. I was relishing the snack after ten kilometres of walk.  I no longer wear the presence of being a 'bada admi' after my sixtieth birthday so I love to mingle with the crowd.  As we finished I could see a well dressed man alighting from a jazzy chauffeur driven car. He took a selfie with Gurudwara in the background and started walking. I told the beggar, "He is your man. Hurry up." With least amount of concern he said, "he is not going to give anything." I asked, "Why?" "People who take selfie here are highly selfish. So no waste of time." I wondered, beggars also don't waste time .  By then an old couple came  to their Alto car parked. The man shot a couple of expelatives in thin air on seeing a flat rear tyr...
Post a Comment
Read more

IDHAR UDHAR KI BAAT 124 - SMART ALEC Brig PS Gothra (Retd)

-
Image
  “What happened?” my senior asked, noticing that I was sulking. “I got a proper dressing down from the Commander today,” I replied gloomily. “He called me an imbecile.” I was only twenty-three then—though I had already spent eighteen months in hard combat in Sri Lanka and Manipur. In my young mind, that qualified me as reasonably battle-hardened. Apparently, however, battlefield experience did not automatically translate into wisdom about guest rooms. “Why?” my senior asked, trying not to smile. “I’m in charge of the guest room where the General and his wife are going to stay,” I explained. “The Commander came for inspection and scolded me for not ensuring that a packet of sanitary napkins and… protection… was kept in the room.” I paused, still baffled. “I found the instruction rather irrational,” I continued. “After all, the General and his wife must be at least fifty-five years old!” My senior burst into hearty laughter. “It’s good you didn’t present that bri...
2 comments
Read more