COME 14

At last 2013 is fading away, giving way to 2014. We always hope and pray at the end of every year that the next year will be different for good. Yes, year to year things differ. Some years prove to be good for humanity while some others leave an ugly imprint on humankind. 13 has not been very good. We saw many flashpoints in the world, some of which are still raging. Worst of all at the moment is South Sudan where more than 600 persons have been reportedly killed and the country is fast descending into the whirlpool of civil war. Ukraine, where people have been protesting against the government for not signing a deal with the EU, is still hot. Thailand is particularly bad and things don’t seem to be improving anytime soon. Bangladesh is experiencing a very bad phase in her history, with party in opposition boycotting the elections scheduled for early next year and people out on streets. Russia is faced with chances of disruption of forthcoming Winter Games at Sochi as two powerful explosions by suicide bombers have killed 33 people in Volgograd area past week. It seems to be the handiwork of Chechen militants who have been a constant source of trouble for the Russian Federation. Then there was that powerful typhoon Haiyan in Philippines resulting in more than 4500 deaths and colossal loss of property. Iraq, where dictator Saddam Hussein was removed hasn’t been the same again. Afghanistan and Pakistan are bearing the brunt of terrorism. It is like their own gun has turned the barrel towards its owner. They have been compelled to taste what they intended for others. Egypt, as usual, is on the boil. One is tempted to think that after all the Arab Spring wasn’t a very bright one. Many of the countries where the Arab Spring really sprang, have now been burning for years. Just look at Egypt and Libya. Heads of States overthrown by the people in these countries had at least kept their respective countries under control. And whoever said that democracy is the best form of government? It doesn’t suit every group of people. As George Bernard Shaw said, “Democracy is a device that ensures you are governed no better than you deserve.” How true! Democracy is not for every country. In many developing countries it is sham democracy which is on display for the world. 

Aside major international affairs, common man in India has seen steep rise in crimes in 2013. Price Index has also risen northwards, especially in the last six months of the year.

Not all has been bad and there have been many good events also. Now let us hope that as we enter the new year, there is wisdom, prudence, compassion and understanding among people and we end the next year on a better note. 

LEGENDARY MIKHAIL KALASHNIKOV DIES

I am saddened to learn that Mikhail Kalashnikov, who had designed AK 47 Rifle, has died on 23 Dec 2013 (Mon), aged 94 in Udmurtia Region of Russia. Mikhail was the 17^th child of his parents and was born in a Siberian village on 10 Nov 1919. 

Kalashnikov was a tank driver and during World War II was wounded and hospitalized. He had seen Russian Army suffer heavy losses at the hands of Germans and one of the main reasons for their superiority was the small arms issued to foot soldiers. German soldiers had better weapons. Russian rifles were slow to fire, prone to stoppages, especially in harsh, winter conditions and were less accurate. Lying on his hospital bed while recuperating, Kalashnikov thought and drew a basic design of a rifle. Gradually he built up on that drawing and was convinced that it was a working model, worth producing. By the time he was discharged and he made a prototype of Avtomat Kalashnikov 47 (year 1947), the war was over. But the rifle he made has been the single most successful small arm ever made in the world!  Total number of AK variants made and sold around the world exceeds 100 million – a mind boggling figure. And the production continues not only in Russia but many other countries. He was awarded many coveted awards, the most important being Hero of Russia.

He always maintained that it was never his intention to commercialize his product. Neither did he ever earn from any kind of royalty. He lived a very simple life post retirement and stayed loyal to his roots.
As we all know, AK 47 has been and is being used by scores of armies around the world as well as by terrorists and other militant groups. This remains the most favoured weapon of terrorists. It is an amazing weapon, USSR’s “modest, little gun”. I used it for many years in J & K and Assam and found that it was as smooth as ever in sub zero temperatures and heavy rains and slush in Assam. My AK never stopped, never let me down. Even when it was filled with mud and slush, it fired as effectively as I wanted it to.

AK was originally manufactured at Izhmash Factory in Udmurt Republic in Russia. The largest firearms producer in Russia OJSC Izhmash was founded by the order of the Russian Tzar Alexander I 1807. Almost all types of arms were produced here. Just consider these facts to estimate the size and importance of Izhmash: as many as 11.3 million rifles and carbines were made for the period of the Second World War, which is more than all German firearm plants taken together (10.3 million). Besides, they mastered the mass production of anti tank weapons, aircraft automatic guns, pistols and revolvers. Every day and night Izhmash used to arm one infantry and one airborne division. A soldier would know, it is a colossal work for a day.
 
AK 47 is still adopted in armed and special forces of 106 countries all over the world! The best weapon ever made.

Just imagine, the Izhmash Factory itself has been renamed as “Kalashnikov Concern”.
We salute you, Mikhail. Rest In Peace. You have earned it.

OUR COMRADE COLONEL SATINDER PAL SINGH RAHEJA

The camaraderie is always the most evident in Defence Forces. So has been the case with our Army Course SS 34, passed out from the portals of the training academy on 26 Aug 1982. We all trained together, ate together, crawled out the OG rut together, suffered together and then cursed the training staff together while at the same time taking liberties with one another to the extent unimaginable in any other organization. That, then, is the beauty of Army. We were all equal, though all had come from different locations all across the country and were drawn from much varied backgrounds. Nothing mattered but. All that mattered was that we were together, just one, through thick and thin. It is no wonder that the bonding under such circumstances is the strongest. As Napoleon once said, “There are only two forces that unite men – fear and interest." We had both the factors going for us – fear of our instructors and common interest of wriggling out of the vice like grip of instructors and their training doctrine. Instructors, all of them, seemed like stone faced guillotine operators to us. And then after what seemed like an age, the day came when we were unshackled, commissioned into different units and despatched to hundreds of different locations to serve.

I wonder at times that even after over 31 years of leaving the training academy, what keeps us together like a well knit team, a close knit family rather. Perhaps we would never know. I think what sums up the reason for this unity is the punch line flashed across the advertisement targetted at attracting youth to the profession of arms – “Do you have it in you?" Yes, to be a soldier you have to have it in you. Not everyone has that substance and not everyone has the gumption to make a good soldier. Only a soldier, whichever Army he might belong to, can understand what exactly is that "it". No one else does.

One of such tough, brilliant but golden heart veteran was our very own Satinder Pal Singh Raheja. Commissioned into the ASSAM Regiment, he literally lived and displayed his Regiment’s salutation “Tagra Raho“. As a matter of fact he almost wore it on his sleeve. Always cheerful, always happy to help and always a treat to meet and talk to. There never was a time when Satinder was down. His infectious smile lifted morale of his friends who were stressed out or feeling low. This is one quality almost all of us wish to have but unfortunately very few actually have. He was blessed in that sense. After our basic training, I had the opportunity to undergo Young Officers‘ Course (Infantry) at Belgaum with him again. And then we both did a stint together in the Northern Sector and met on some more occasions. Satinder was always the same; level headed, cool and fully resolved.

We all plan to grow old together, well connected and networked to the maximum extent possible. However, we were struck with tragedy and Satinder was snatched away by destiny from amidst us on 08 Dec 2013. He died due to Pancreatic Cancer. We take solace in the fact that whatever life Satinder lived, he lived like a real man. The tragedy of life is not death but what we let die inside of us while we live. He did not allow that to happen to him. He was a strong man. He still lives; in our hearts and in this world. To make up for my failure to descibe the situation aptly, I will have to borrow these beautiful verses:

“Do not stand at my grave and weep, I am not there, I do not sleep.

I am a thousand winds that blow, I am the softly falling snow.

I am the gentle showers of rain, I am the field of ripening grain.

I am in the morning hush, I am in the graceful rush.

Of beautiful birds in circling flight, I am the star shine of the night.

I am in the flowers that bloom, I am in a quiet room.

I am in the birds that sing, I am in each lovely thing.

Do not stand at my grave and cry, I am not there, I did not die.“

We, the very fortunate Course, have the satisfaction of having known a good soldier and a wonderful human being in Satinder. We pay our heartfelt tributes to him and pray the Power above to grant him eternal peace and give strength to his graceful wife and two beautiful children to accept the destiny and live as strongly as Satinder did.

“Gham-e-hasti (life/existence) ka 'Asad' kis se ho juz (other than) marg (death) ilaaj,

Shama har rang mein jalti hai sahar hone tak.“

Asadullah Khan Mirza Ghalib

(Life is all suffering, Asad. Its cure is only death,
The candle burns in many colours till the morning comes.)

STRONG WESTERLY WINDS IN UKRAINE

It is with interest that I have been following developments in one of the CIS countries – Ukraine. The core issue is only one – take a step forward to meet the EU rather than getting bullied by the old master, Russia. Hundreds of thousands of protesters have been carrying European Union and Ukrainian flags, denouncing President Viktor Yanukovych's decision to turn away from Europe and yielding to Vladimir Putin. Aerial views of Kiev have been showing streets and lanes of jampacked with sea of humanity. Estimates have put the figure of protesters at 500,000. The protests have now entered their third week. People have been braving harsh, cold weather to continue with their protest.

The problem began last month after Yanukovych shelved a long planned treaty with the European Union and instead focused on ties with Russia. People fear that Yanukovych is on the verge of bringing his country into a Russian-led economic alliance, which critics say could end Ukraine's sovereignty. The majority wants their country to join 28 member European Union and move forward rather than taking back steps towards the same power they broke away from in 1991 after years of domination. Many Ukrainians resent Russia's centuries of political control of Ukraine and the pressure it has exerted since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union. The EU wants to pry away Ukraine from Russia's orbit, while Moscow aims to get Kiev to join a union that would rival the European bloc.
This week protesters have brought down the historical statue of Vladimir Lenin in Kiev, symbolizing a challenge to the President Viktor Yanukovych and his plans for closer ties to Russia. The latter wants to build a custom block of countries carved out of former Soviet Union, to counter EU. A woman planted an EU flag on the pedestal where the 12 feet high statue of Lenin had stood since 1946. People also defaced the face of the Bolshevik leader and broke away and took pieces of the statue home as souvenir. Last week Yanukovych had stayed away from intialling an Association Agreement at Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania.

It now remains to be seen what trajectory the Russia-Ukraine relationship will take this point onwards, but before that the political future of Viktor Yanukovych is an issue many would like to debate.