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.

LET'S SLOW DOWN

Fast, faster, fastest! We all are running very fast, we have no time to slow down, look back, ruminate or think about others. Where are we headed, by the way? As technology is making things easier and faster for us, logically we ought to slow down and enjoy life. In earlier times, almost everything was done manually and our forefathers still had time to enjoy life. It is not that they did not enjoy their walk through paths of life. They did. Also, we cannot say they achieved in life less than what we have been able to achieve. If we define achievement against material benchmarks we have erroneously set for ourselves, then their is a fundamental problem. Earning heaps of money and accumulating wealth is not success by any yardstick. Success is what many great people, who lived very simple and austere lives, achieved and who are remembered today by their deeds, and not by how much materialistic success they enjoyed.

It has been ages since even I heard or saw the birds chirp, trees sway in cold morning breeze, rains lash the earth, water flow down in a stream or sun and moon rise and set. I haven't even smelled wet earth in years. We all do understand the importance of such simple indulgences and the pleasure they give but somehow we have a notion that we are very busy and cannot spare time for such leisurely activities. Well, we are fooling ourselves and wasting our precious time. E Hoffer in “Reflections on the Human Condition” wrote that, "The feeling of being hurried is not usually the result of living a full life and having no time. It is, rather, born of a vague fear that we are wasting our life."

Be that as it may, what is of essence is to slow down. Do not stop, but slow down. For if you rush through life you will end up having a near life experience, but you will never live life to its fullest.

"The trouble with the rat race is that even if you win, you are still a rat."

Lily Tomlin