Idhar Udhar Ki Baat

"Mom, what was so great about you that they made you the school captain?" Asked my niece to my sister.  I was wondering what all qualities my sister will boast of. But I was surprised when she said, "I raised my hand." I remembered that raising hand is of great value in a fauji environment where you are brought up with the gyan , "Never Volunteer." But  people forget this gyan in the JC Course, where they not only raise their hands but sometimes  jump on to sand model to be seen. And yes, it helps. These people do get a little extra marks in the DS Assessment. These people are called ' Keen Kumars' . Similarly for advancement in the career one needs to raise hand. How the hell will the Commanding officer know which company commander wants to shoulder the responsibility of being a commanding officer? How will the Brigade Commander know which commanding officer is willing to shoulder the responsibility of being a Brigade commander and so on.......

You also must have felt it sometimes, when you sort of float in the air. It is that type of elation of mind I felt yesterday while sitting in my Regimental Mandir with my eyes closed, listening to the Bhajan, 'Itni shakti hamein de tu data…….' Then the hawan for the Kumbabhishekam of the idols started. I got further joy to see the Colonel of  the Regiment (a Sikh), my immediate senior in the unit, sitting on the hawan to perform the rituals. He along with his wife were dressed up in attire of the south called Mundu. In fact, this is the beauty of Regimentation. Your religion is what your troops follow. Some years ago, I saw a granthi (Sikh religious teacher) walking towards the Army Commander's office. I found that he is going to perform ardas (Sikh prayer) while the new Army Commander (a Hindu) takes over the command, because the new Army Commander is from Sikh Li Regiment. There are so many cases where the India soldiers go out of their way to perform rituals of th

"Papa, kya mummy aap ki godi mein baithe gi? (Papa, will mummy sit in your lap?)", said one of the two kids standing in the aisle to his skinny father trying to stash the luggage on the racks. They were about five rows ahead from where I was sitting in the chair car of the train. People occupying seats around that skinny man laughed in unduly high pitch. I knew the journey would be painful for the ears. Due to the summer vacations, I had seen a number of kids with their parents boarding the train. Sitting next to me was a young mother with her three year old daughter occupying the window seat.  The lady was busy calling her friends to tell the features of the Vande Bharat train. Then she got a call from her husband. I couldn't help seeing the name blinking on the screen of the phone as 'Hubby Love'. That reminded me to snoop sometimes, to find what my name is stored as, in  my wife's mobile. I could guess that the 'Hubby Love' is only interested in kn

The soldier was elated to see his wife entering the waiting room in the Yamlok after five days of his arrival. As she came and sat next to him, he held her hand. Both got the same electrifying sensation as they felt every time they met after months of separation due to his field postings. Yamdoot in-charge of the waiting room came and told them that it will take fifteen minutes for them to meet the Yamraj. They didn't like the interruption in their moment of bliss. The lady said, "I couldn't stay on earth any longer. I missed the bed tea prepared by you along with your kiss on my forehead. I missed that soft facial massage by you along with that lullaby 'mera bulbul so raha hai..'. Yesterday before I had my head bath I missed the head massage. Your oil smeared fingures making those gentle motions on my temple and scalp were ecstasy.  You made me feel like pampered little girl.  "That was a small gesture as a recognition for the hard work you were putting in th

"Sir, I am happily divorced," said  a friend when I went to meet him in his office.  I felt bad and said, "sorry, wish I could mediate and save your marriage.  Tea arrived for me and he pulled out a container from his drawer and poured two spoons of protein powder. As he was stirring his drink, I couldn't stop from asking, "so that is to build physical strength to get married again?" "No, sir. After a difficult time, my life is coming back on track. I don't want to derail it again. She took every bit of my property; I am paying her maintenance allowance and she is with another guy. I don't want to get robbed again. Women have become highly prudent. There is a friend who got divorced, the lady took half his wealth as alimony. He remarried her, but that didn't go well, so she took the balance of his property. It hurts to give half your pay to a person who is living with someone else. Our organization doesn't listen. They are biased toward