धनुष कोड़ी भारत के अंतिम छोर पर

जब मैं अनजाने में ही धनुषकोडी तक हो आया था । 

बात है वर्ष 1992 की शायद दिसंबर का माह रहा होगा । नौसेना की सेवा के दौरान गोवा से मुझे अस्थाई रूप से कुछ समय हेतु रामेश्वरम से लगभग 40 किलोमीटर पहले एक स्थान पर भेजा गया । चूंकि रामेश्वरम नजदीक ही था तो हम युवा नौसैनिक किसी भी छुट्टी के दिन स्टेट ट्रांसपोर्ट की बस पकड़ कर रामेश्वरम चल दिया करते थे । रामेश्वरम जाने का एक अन्य आकर्षण वहां के एक राजस्थानी होटल में मिलने वाले शुद्ध उत्तर भारतीय भोजन को चखने का भी हुआ करता था । मुझे याद आता है कि एक बार तो हम चार साथियों ने उस होटल में कुछ भी न हो तो 10=10 रोटियां तो खा ही ली थी जिसकी उन दिनों डाइट थी शायद 25 रूपये की भरपेट थाली । चूंकि हमारी मेस में रोटी नहीं बनती थी तो हम उत्तर भारतीयों के लिए तो देश के अंतिम छोर पर राजस्थानी रामदेव होटल किसी वरदान के समान ही था ।

खैर एक बार ऐसे ही अवसर पर मैं अपने साथियों से थोड़ा अलग होकर अकेले ही एक यात्रा पर निकल गया । पहले तो वह स्थान देखा जहां से हनुमान जी ने श्रीलंका हेतु खड़े होकर छलांग लगाई थी । उस स्थान से आगे भी कुछ स्थानीय लोग पैदल ही जा रहे थे जो कि कदाचित मछुआरे थे और अपनी नौका के पास जा रहे होंगे ।  मैं भी उनके साथ ही चलता रहा बातचीत बस थोड़ी बहुत ही हो पा रही थी क्योंकि उनको हिंदी बहुत कम आती थी और अपना तमिल में हाथ बहुत तंग था । खैर काफी दूर तक तो मैं अकेला ही चलता गया । दोनो और समुद्र और बीच में रास्ता । बहुत ही रोमांचक लग रहा था उस स्थान पर पैदल चलना, सफर में मेरे साथी अब बस कुछ फ्लेमिंगो ही रह गए थे जो कि समुद्र से मछली पकड़ने की फिराक में थे । काफी आगे चलने के बाद रेत में दबी दिखाई दी रेलवे लाइन और कुछ टूटी फूटी पुरानी बिल्डिंगों के खंडहर । जिनको देख कर ऐसा लगा मानो कि यहां कभी कोई बहुत ही खतरनाक तूफान आया होगा या फिर कोई भूकंप । उस समय तक धनुष कोड़ी के बारे में ज्यादा पढ़ा भी नहीं था बस इतना ही पता था कि यह भारत का अंतिम छोर है जहां से भगवान राम जी ने श्रीलंका जाने हेतु राम सेतु बनाया था । बस उसी कौतूहल में कर ली थी वह पैदल यात्रा । खैर वह स्थान घूम घाम पर मैं वापस शाम को अपने स्थान पर पहुंच गया और बाद में पता चला कि मैं तो गलती से धनुषकोडी तक की यात्रा कर आया था । आज के धनुष कोड़ी के फोटो तो बहुत ही सुंदर दिखाई पड़ते हैं किंतु उस समय वहां मात्र खंडहर ही मुझे दिखाई पड़े थे ।

Power of the batchmates - Three Heroes

Date 16 May 2021....Time around 9 in the morning. One batchmate shared a tragic news on the group from some other facebook group informing the death of one Ex Navy due to cyclone at Mangalore. The name was HK Jha, Ex CPO. Batchmates speculated that it might our batchmate from 2/90 batch. Entire batch came into the action mode, old contacts were renewed, lots of people were contacted and it was now confirmed that one of our own has met with this unfortunate event. Now since the batchmate was from Bihar and his family is settled at Visakhapatnam and he was working away from them at Mangalore, Karnataka. It was also learnt later that even his family is not aware of this tragic incident. The batchmates then started to look for the batchmates who could be near to the place of this accident. Luckily 3 batchmates were found to be working around the place where this accident took place. I too enquired from my own Senior at Udupi Navy NCC and Parshu Sir too helped at lot and provided the most valuable inputs. By the time batchmates established the contact with the family of late batch Jha who had his daughter working or studying at Bangalore. She alongwith her uncle started for Mangalore. Meanwhile the batchmates at Mangalore got together in which Monse Sebestian was working at Mangalore Airport, batch Shakeer is working at Mangalore with Dept of Customs and batch Harish Netrakar is now working with the police dept of Karnataka at Mangalore...

All of the three got together they received the daughter of late batch from the Airport brought her at the hospital where postmortem was to take place. All these batchmates made sure that there are no official delays and the body of late was was duly received and the ambulence was arranged for the transportation of the mortal remains of late batch to Patna. They then dropped the daughter and her uncle at Airport safely....

The deed of these batchmates who handeled the tough situation at Mangalore and all the others who provided the most valuable inputs and leads which culminated in such kind of extra ordinary efforts are really the worthy of the highest appreciations...Everyone can imagine the plight of a beti who at such young and tender age came to receive her Dad in this condition. But the presence of these 3 Uncles might surely have provided her the ultimate relief, strength and a courage to face this unfortunate event. The late batch can not be brought back to the life but surely such deeds can alleviate the trauma and provide a ray of hope....

Long live batchmates...We all are proud of you.....

RIP batch HK Jha.....

The Tale of my Kurta Payjama

Military life,.......The tale of my only pair of Kurta Pajama.....
.........  .........  ..........  ...........  .........  ..................

It so happened during 1991 soon after my training at INS Chilka as a young sailor of 18 yrs of age I joined INS Hamla, Marve Malad, Bombay then for further training. One day few of us were detailed to represent our base for last rites of a civilian employee of naval base. We under trainee were told to be present at the main gate of our base to proceed for the cremation ground in service vehicle....I too was detailed for the occassion. I had a pair of Kurta Pajama with me and it was never used since 02 Jul 90 the day I joined Navy..Keeping in mind the sad occassion I decided to put on this kurta pajama and proceed for the said occassion... So I duly having doned my kurta pajama and walked towards the guard room...When the distance between me and guardroom was left around 100 mtrs to be covered I heard some commands in very angry tone. I  hurried my steps thinking that I might have been late to report at Guard room..As soon as I presented myself infront of duty Master Chief Petty Officer he asked me in full of anger, what have you put on ?? I was failed to understand the reason of his anger and question too.....Taking my silence to be the understanding the grave offence I have committed he further commanded GO AND CHANGE THIS B...dy kurta pajama and come in Shirt and Trousers.....Dont you know Kurta Pajama is not allowed to be put on in Navy....I went back to my barrack at the double and changed into Full sleeves shirt and trousers, with shining black shoes, shirt duly tucked inside to proceed for the cremation ground...My senior was more than happy..Since then I never dared to put on kurta pajama even after hanging my naval uniform.....

Colourfull account of my colourblindness

Mother nature is the most beautiful creation of  the almighty god....We find numerous colours and earliest colour which any village kid is introduced to the seven colours of a rainbow and greenery...Having borne and spend my childhood in village I came to know the names of the basic colours which normally everyone knew during those times......These were White, black, green, red, brown, blue, yellow.....There may be other colours but till now I know only these names....Voilet to name one more in the list......Soon after passing my class 12 I joined Indian Navy, having crossed the hurdle of clearing the test of colour blindness during our medical......I sailed through all the three seas washing the shores of Mother India and in 2005 completed 15 yrs of my initial engagement with the Navy and decided to look for the other avenues.....In 2011 I cleared the coveted exam for the post of a babu in State Secretariate....The correct name of the post is Review Officer, one rank below the post of Section Officer.....Having received my appointment order I was to go for medical fitness test....I approached the office of CMO Dehradun, and I was passed through varioua tests to check my suitability for a post which required me to deal with paper work through out the day....But still one has to be medically fit to deal with truckloads of the papers and files which gets generated in our govt offices, despite the tall claims of paperless offices are being made everyday.....

During the course of my medical examination I was put through this eye test too...Having received the compliments of retaining the good eyesight despite being in my 39 th year I was so happy...finally the gentleman decided to see if I am colour blind too....For I was to be deputed in the work of Red Tapism....So colour blindness test was very much necessary so as to identify the correct tape or ribbon with which the files in the govt offices are tied...

I was given some cards to read having the dots of differant colours I dutifully recognised them all but due to the limited vocabulary in terms of names of the colours I could only tell the names of all the colours which Iearned during my childhood and retained all these names till todate... Seeing the names of the colours spoke by me and not matching with his knowledge, the guy got suspicious of my being colour blind....And declared so in his suspicious voice, eyeing me as if where I was for all those years....He was about to predict his verdict in writing on my medical slip, I finally decided to tell him, look gentleman here is an ex Sailor standing in front of you, having done so many years of service where the identification of colours is considered an important task and I have already passed this test several times during my naval service...But the guy was not buying my explanation and decided to repeat the test....I was dead sure of the similar result as I know the names of very few colours...I told him this politely that gentleman I know and can recognise each colour differant from the other but you see I know only basic names such as Black, white, red, green, blue, yellow, baingni etc.....I dont know the names of others for which I will take necessary lessons from the shop keepers selling the suitss and sarees to our good ladies, for they must surely  be knowing the names of all the colours which the god almighty must have given to the mankind and hopefully many more the names of which they themselves must have invented.......Finally the guy was convinced of my not being the colour blind any more and I decided to learn the names of all the remaining colours by heart so to avoid any such incident in the further course of  my  quest for suitable job......

MY FIRST EVER SAILING

During the training at Chilka we used to be trained in the Chilka lake. My introduction to sea was yet not taken place and I was looking forward for it. After six months of grueling training we were turned into the men and granted leave. I also jumped at this opportunity and got 28 days leave. The journey from Chilka to Delhi was performed in the train. We all were happy as the toughest part of our lives was coming to an end but we also were sad to leave as there so many new friends were made. At Chilka the entire India was present youngsters from all over India joined the Indian Navy and it was really a big learning opportunity for me. I too made so many new friends. But then the saying goes that navy बहुत छोटी है और कहीं न कहीं मिलना हो ही जाएगा. I was to undergo the sea training onboard INS Tir which was based at Kochi. I was very happy to be allotted this ship as it involved travelling to Kochi all the way from Delhi, the longest train journey for me so far.

The journey was started in the Kerala Express without reservation. We were the group of 10-12 people the journey was good despite we had no reservation but those were the carefree days of youth so these little difficulties were looked simple. Finally after 40 hrs in train we arried Ernakulam Jn railway station and headed towards our Ship which was to be found inside Naval base on naval port. We reached to have a first glimpse of our ship but it was not to be seen on jetty...We were told that ship is on sailing and woukd returning only after 2 to 3 days and till that time we had to be wait shippers and repirt to INS Venduruthy the depot base for all the ships of Southern Command....As wide eyed newly recruited sailors We reported to naval base. During those wait shippers Used to be Accommodated in a huge hanger named T2 hanger...It had few cots which were already occupied our seniors and looking at the prospects of no cot in sight 03 of us batchmates decided to get ourselves accommodated on ground itself....Since we had to stay there for short duration we used to be employed in cleanship of mess, dining area and ofcourse in T 2 hanger also...Our seniors saw 03 useful hands at their disposal so they also employed us in cleaning the hanger which was occupied by all of us. Finally after waiting for 3 days it was told to us that your ship has arrived back from sailing and report to the ship immediately....This news filled all of us with great happiness as its for tge first time we are going to see a real ship and would stay inside for around 25 remaining days of our training...

INTERESTING CONVERSATION GENERATED

Naval Lingo A Class Apart : Recollecting Few Unofficial Terms which We learned in Naval Service

Dear All,

During my stint with Navy I came across so many new words which are spoken and understood only in the Navy. So before memory fades I just would like to share these words with you all in the anticipation of getting many more such words which I have not been able to recall or may have been invented, since its going to be 09 long years when I hanged my whites. Words are written in Hindi as its the only language which really give the desired effects of these words :-

1.    गाँव वाला -People belonging to the same place,  (ग्राही is similar word in  Indian Army)
2.   गाला मार -  Person who shirk off from his duty (मकरा is similar word in Indian Army)
3.   तेली -  A term used for Engine Room staff
4.  खलासी - Term used for Seaman branch .
5.   मस्का मार - Person who is a master in the art of  flattery
6.  पाना पार्टी  - Artificer Entry
7.  डिअर -  Direct entry diploma holders
8.  सेलर भाई  - A general term used normally for Junior sailors.
9.  चीफ साब  - A term used in general term, "Major Saab" is the similar word in Army.
10.  चेप दिया /  रगड़ दिया  -  Having completed the ritual of Breakfast/lunch/dinner
11.  एम.एल.आर -  People staying with families ashore.
12.   मंदिर - Respectable word used for the Bar, taking the queue from Madhushala of Bachchan Ji
13.  फ्लैग लीडिंग - Used for very senior leadings or may be with other ranks also who are not promoted to the next rank despite a long service.
14.  बगल बच्चू -  Side Boy
15. डेली आर्डर इंग्लिश - It was the miracle of this wonderful document, daily readings of which taught a Hindi medium student like me to write and speak the good English. What so many coaching institutes who claim to teach spoken english could not do this wonderful  document did to so many like me, trained us in art of speaking the काम चलाऊ इंग्लिश.

16.  पड़ी लकड़ी उठाना / उड़ता तीर पकड़ना - To invite the troubles unnecessarily.
17.  बैच / बैची - An affectionate word of addressing to the person of same batch.
18.  एल लगना -  Meaning change as per the use of the term.
19.  लाइम जूस पार्टी -  spare players in the team
20  ब्रेड प्रोडक्शन -  Offsprings of the navy people.
21. S राशन,  V राशन  - Used to declare one's preference to the Veg or Non Veg food.

To the best of my fading memory I could recall these words only. There may be many more such words, so I request you all to add more such words and make it a richer vocabulary for the youngsters wishes to join the Navy.