SAVE THE DOC!

I am not against any country but I am certainly against certain people or groups of people. For one, I am dead against anyone who is coward enough to kill innocent people. Osama Bin Laden was one of those. He was one of the most cowardly people who ever burdened this earth. He not only had the wrong notion of meting out justice to one and all, he was physically coward, too. He never fought any real battle all his life and lived a sheltered life, largely comfortable. He fully indulged in materialistic comforts and luxuries of life and did not show any signs of sainthood, if ever that has meant anything to anyone.

Pakistan, a country I do admire for many reasons, played a dirty game by hosting Osama and offering him safe haven, right next to the portals from where officers of the Pakistan Army pass out! Was it by default or by design? Whatever it was, it was ironic.

I personally admire courage and guts. There are some instances when countries have not cowered down in the face of terror. The US and Israel merit special mention for their daring raids beyond enemy lines on many occasions. Remember Entebbe? Israel literally conducted a class for the entire world, wherein Idi Amin and Palestine terrorists were made specimens. Operation Neptune Spear, similarly, will go down in the history of mankind as a master stroke by elite SEAL commandos. A to Z of this operation was a near perfect 10, spread over many months, rather years.

But the Pak doctor, Shakeel Afridi, who helped US pin down Laden has been handsomely rewarded by Pak government with 33 years in jail and $ 3,500 for spying for the strategic ally of Pak, the US! Afridi helped the CIA use a vaccination campaign in an attempt to collect DNA samples from residents of Bin Laden's compound in the city of Abbottabad to verify the al Qaeda leader's presence there.

Now the US must hand down another lesson to Pakistan by saving Dr Shakeel Afridi who deserves to be rewarded and decorated for his services to humanity. Americans can do it and they must act to save Afridi, for therein lies salvation of their future operations. They must act to protect their asset. If they fail, the world will not forgive them for letting down their associates.

TATRA MOUNTAINS

Great Tatras! Tatra Mountain Range forms part of the Carpathian Mountains and contains the highest mountains in the Carpathians. The range forms a natural border between Slovakia and Poland in Europe. The highest peak is 8710 feet above mean sea level. Tatras are also called High Tatras.

Overall nature of Tatras coupled with ease of accessibility makes these mountains popular with tourists, they are especially popular as a winter sports area.

The mountains rise steeply from a high plateau and extend for approximately 64 km along the Slovakian-Polish frontier, varying in width from 14 to 24. Tatras resemble the Alps although there are no permanent snow fields. Slopes have a beautiful covering of Spruce trees right up to 6300 feet. Bears, chamois, eagles and marmots are common inhabitants of Tatras. The range also has many lakes and hanging valleys.

The Tatras lie in the temperate zone of Central Europe.

Temperatures in this mountain range vary from −40 °C in the winter to 33 °C in summer months. 
 
Peaks are sometimes covered with snow or ice throughout the year. Avalanches are frequent.

The 1999 film Ravenous was filmed in the Tatras Mountains.

Hindi film Fana'a, portraying places in Kashmir, was actually filmed in Tatras region.

 

The Tatras range of mountains is the highest and most beautiful section of the Western Carpathian mountain range. The Polish Tatras are considerably a small part of the entire range and constitute only one-fifth of the entire range of Tatras, while the rest of the range is situated on the Slovakian side.

The Tatras are magnificent. The Tatras are stunning in their beauty.

SINCERE THANKS AND GRATITUDE TO THE DIRECTING STAFF BY SS 34 COURSE OF THE INDIAN ARMY

Our Very Dear and Most Respected Directing Staff,

1. We are the 34 th Batch of Short Service Commissioned Officers. We had joined the OTS in Oct-Nov 1981 and we passed out gloriously on 26 Aug 1982. We have had a very long standing and deep association with all of you, regardless of the fact that today's fast paced routine has adversely affected that much required 'personal and regular touch'. To revive the old and sacred bond and to relive those memories, albeit momentarily, we all have decided to celebrate the 30 th Anniversary of our commissioning later this year. Though the sanctity of the original date is an important factor in such matters, we had to compromise on the date due to commitments of our course mates who will be organizing the function, non availability of the venue in Aug and also harsh weather of Delhi around that time of the year.

2. We have forgotten nothing, nothing at all. There was a time in 1981-82 when almost all of us cursed all of you and your cronies enough to last you all a lifetime. But as they say, the time is the greatest teacher. Over the years we have realized and learnt that you people were not ‘tormentors’ or 'breakers' as then perceived by us, rather you were the 'makers', makers of good officers who would never give up in their lives. It is because of you that we are what we are today. Sir, many of us have risen to the rank of Brig in the Army and doing well. Many of us have migrated to foreign shores and doing exceedingly well in business or jobs in places like Australia, Canada, the US, Singapore, Kenya and Uganda. Many of us have done well in the jobs in civil and reached very senior positions and many of us have done well post early retirement and achieved high positions in the corporate sector. Our children are also marching ahead well. But it is with a deep sense of grief and loss that we say that some of us fell in the line of duty. In simple obedience to duty as they understood it, these men suffered all, sacrificed all, dared all and died. We are proud of our fallen comrades. Some others died of natural causes. May their souls rest in peace.

3. The credit for our success goes to you all, who selflessly worked hard and taught us what the struggle in life means and how to bash on regardless, without fear, without remorse. We are your students. Now, today is a time when we can't thank you enough for having moulded us so beautifully and so permanently into good officers and proud human beings. Generally speaking, we have values and we are also proud of who we are. A large part of our success story is your story, Sir.

4. To celebrate thus the 30 th Anniversary of SS 34, we have chosen Delhi Cantt as the venue and 28 Dec 12 as the date. All of us very cordially invite you to the Dinner on 28 Dec 12 (Fri).   We hope that you will accept our invitation and grace the occasion. We, from SS 34, want to meet you once again and refresh our memories of the time we thought then were the worst, but as realize today, were the best ever. Your benign presence will add grace to the occasion and turn a simple gathering into an august one.

5. May we also request you to provide us the contact details of our other DS who were posted to the OTS during our course.

 

6. SS 34 has also launched its own website on 15 Jan (OTS Raising Day) 2011. You may like to visit www.olivegreensss34.com . 

With very warm regards,

Entire SS 34 Course (1981-82)

UTTAM UTTAM

My father was in the Army. He joined British Indian Army in 1940 at the tender age of 17 years and saw service in many sectors. So I did my schooling and college from I don't know how many institutions. But I remember, by the time I was in Standard 8, I had already switched eight schools! In early 70s we were in Bareilly and I was sent to Rookes' School in Bareilly Cantt but there I got violent one day and pinned my perceived enemy to ground, making sure he ate at least a half kg of dust. I was at once summoned to the Principal's office and given marching orders. My father put me in another school in Bareilly, this time in the city. The school was Uttam Public English School in Rampur Garden, Bareilly. By all counts, it was a good school; small, manageable, good teachers and stress on studies. The best was that we had a large ground to ourselves and we played there everyday. It is a different matter that despite we having had a wonderful Mr SS Mishra as our Maths teacher, I could never pick up the nuances of this despicable subject (how I hate it still!). We had Mrs Usha Bhatnagar as our Social Studies teacher. She was one of the most graceful teachers I have ever had. Then there was Miss Shashi Anand, who, as I now realise, was just like a teen and did not treat us well and as a result many children would tease her during the class. Our Principal was Arya Sir. The Vice Principal was his wife, Mrs Shakuntla Arya.

There were few children in our class. As a matter of fact, those days there were few children in almost every class in almost all schools. Population was sparse, resources were not strained and children did not have as much burden of studies as they have today. Long hours were spent in the school ground, which had a lone mango tree in a corner. We had the following children in Class 8:

(a) Vinita Vij. She always stood first in the class and was rightfully our monitor.

(b) Rachna Sharma. She was Vinita's sidekick. A petite, pretty, fair girl whose father was

in Police and younger brother Ajay attended the same school. She was the neatest child

in the school, always immaculately dressed up!

(c) Amarjeet Kaur. She was huge and duffer! Came from a defence family.

(d) Bhupinder Kaur. Not huge but duffer! Harpal & Co. made her life miserable in the

school.

(e) Anil Mathur. Son of a lawyer, came from Civil Lines.

(f) Kamal Vij. A fair, chubby, sweet child, loved by all.

(g) Atul Dikshit. A studious, simple child, who stayed just next to the school.

(h) Deepak Chawla. Son of owner of Chawla Restaurant in the city.

(j) Jitender Sahni. Son of a businessman. I learnt last year that he is no more.

(k) Suneet Sharma. A handsome but naughty rascal.

(l) Krishan Murari Lal. Son of a carpenter with buck teeth. Children made fun of him.

(m) Rajesh Maurya. Son of an officer in civil, well mannered and lovable.

(n) Brijendra Kumar. A mediocre boy, lived in Rampur Garden itself.

(o) Mukesh Agarwal. Brijendra's neighbour and bosom friend.

(p) Harpal Singh. The meanest little lad you can come across. He was a rogue even at

that age. Wonder what must he be like now.

(q) Gurcharan Singh. Harpal's first cousin and a bully.

(r) Harmeet Singh. A meek person who generally went unnoticed.

(s) Hardeep Singh. A simple quixotic who was to bloom later in life! 

I may have missed out a couple of students but then recollecting 39 years after we left the School in May 1973, my score is not all that bad! 

I now recollect those days fondly and long to back to go back to school. Those days were fun. Only if studies were absent. Just play and enjoy life!

THE DEEPEST POINT IN OCEAN: THE MARIANA TRENCH

The Mariana Trench, located in the Western Pacific Ocean, east of Mariana Islands, is the deepest part of the world's all oceans. The trench is about 2,550 kilometres long but is narrow in width, just about 69 kilometres on an average. It goes deep into the ocean about 10.91 kilometres or 35,800 ft. The place where the Mariana trench goes the deepest is known as Challenger Deep.

At the bottom of the trench, the water column exerts a pressure of 15,750 psi, that is over one thousand times the standard atmospheric pressure at sea level! At this pressure the density of water is increased by 4.96%, making ninety five litres of water under the pressure of the Challenger Deep contain the same mass as a hundred litres at the surface.

The Mariana Trench isn't really the deep, narrow furrow that the word "trench" implies. Rather, the abyss marks the location of a subduction zone.

Subduction zones occur where one part of the seabed—in this case the Pacific plate—dives beneath another, the Philippine plate. Though tectonic forces eventually warp the Pacific plate so that it makes a near vertical dive into the Earth's interior, at seabed level the plate dips at a relatively gentle angle.

One reason the Mariana Trench is so deep, is because the western Pacific is home to some of the oldest seafloor in the world - about 180 million years old.

Seafloor is formed as lava at mid ocean ridges. When it is fresh, lava is comparatively warm and buoyant, riding high on the underlying mantle.

But as lava ages and spreads away from its source, it slowly cools and becomes increasingly dense, causing it to settle ever lower - as is the case with the Mariana Trench.

Recently, Jame Cameron has travelled to the bottom of the Mariana Trench inside a specially designed submarine. He said he had visited “another planet” – desolate, foreboding and moon like – and it felt a bit lonely. ­"My feeling was one of complete isolation from all of humanity,” he said after returning from the Pacific Ocean’s deepest point.