Mirza Ghalib and the veterans
What is the similarity between Ghalib and veterans of armed forces? A common protest.
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There will be blood
Regimental Colours or flag occupy a pride of place in any army unit, bordering on reverence. They are housed in the unit quarter guard, and ‘paraded’ on special occasions, always carried by an officer, and escorted by a guard. In formal parades, the spectators are expected to rise and those in uniform salute when the…
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Don’t ‘Angry’ the Common Man
I wonder if Arnab Goswami has seen Chennai Express. If he has, he didn’t seem to have taken Shah Rukh Khan’s dialogue, “Don’t underestimate the power of an ordinary man”, seriously. Or maybe its the other way around, and he overestimated his own and his channels ability to control and direct viewers minds. That’s possibly…
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Foot in the mouth disease is a common affliction of the Indian politician. It comes in two basic forms – the ‘shoot and claim misquote’ and ‘shoot and apologize’. Dr Bhim Singh, the minister from Bihar was struck down by the latter when he asserted quite indignantly that “people join the army to die”. Of…
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Ignroance with Arrogance
The Army has been having a series of close encounters of the adverse kind with the Comptroller and Auditor General. Latest in this long list is CAG’s castigation of “illegal use of defence assets in Pune”. Recently the CAG overcame strong objections by the Army and got its way in a long standing demand of…
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Muzzling the Mango
Six and a half decades since we got our independence. For all intents and purposes, we are citizens of an independent democratic country whose constitution guarantees freedom of speech. But when the first son-in-law of the country calls it a ‘Banana Republic’, he definitely is speaking with the authority of an insider. And the grand…
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A Study in Futility?
As per a recent news report, the Chief has ordered a study to look at increasing the availability of officers in units. With shortage of officers reaching alarming levels of almost one fifth of the sanctioned strength, the concern and urgency is understandable. Rising cases of discord, assault and affray in units are disturbing manifestations…
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An Officer and a Gentleman
Recent cases of mutinous behaviour by troops, including increasing incidences of assault on their own officers, have caused much comment in the media and within the circle of observers of military affairs. Much has been written about the possible causes. Growing chasm between officers and troops, caused by a shortage of officers, has been pegged…
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Sadda Haq Aithe Rakh
My understanding of the way performance and rewards work is as follows. Performance deserves reward, commensurate to achievement and based on established norms. The organisation enables performance through provision of resources and infrastructure, while the performer provides sweat and talent – knowledge & skills – towards attaining success. Having attained success, the performer justly expects…
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Mediocrity Rules
Now we Indians have yet another dubious distinction. We can boast of the largest ever power blackout in human history. Ironically, this took place at the time when one of the greatest festivals of human endeavour, the Olympics are on in another part of the world. In the games we, a nation of 1.2 billion…
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