Before I continue with my not so interesting airforce lifestyle or maybe my so called career in the force , which I was so very looking forward to,I d dedicate my next blog to the person who made me realize the importance of the “human touch”( don’t worry the story shall continue). The time I stepped into the NDA or maybe much before that I had come across a wide spectrum of officers from the defence services and when I made the decision to be a part of them , I had to find my role model , now you must be wondering what the hell that means , let me explain . whenever we decide to do something new maybe learn a new game ,start studying a new subject , decide our careers etc … thr s always generally a certain plan or maybe a goal we intend to achieve or want to follow or maybe sometimes its just a person we have seen doing it and who has influenzed us so drastically that we make the decision to be like him or maybe beat him …being like him !!!..now that’s a confused statement right!!!! But the reality is… to beat someone you first have to become like him, and when it comes to me for those who still don’t know me , it has to be something filmy … well !!! yes I always done things looking at superhero s ..if someone had to ask me what I wanted to become when I grow up I d answer popeye the sailor ..till 4th standard ..then batman ( as he gets to kiss all the chicks) till abt 8th standard and then of course wanted to be “maverick” and be that hot rod fighter pilot driving chicks crazy with those charismatic looks. Well I had to wake up someday and yes I woke up in the academy ….. life was miserable … life sucked big time… .with that jarhead haircut … always hungry look on my face and that dried up body structure which is inevitable …I started behaving like a remote controlled car being controlled by some external force which was far beyond my control. My aims .. dreams… aspirations were controlled by my superior cadets.. officers … institution and the organization .. I was getting groomed to become a tiger but not at freewill but at the will of my countless ringmasters. My future , I thought was being dreamt by some else… NO ONE ASKED WHAT I WANTED … yes … it was my choice to be there and become ‘maverick’ but not a ‘slave’ ….i woke up…. And realized that there were no mavericks around but only two kind of people .. one who gave orders and the second who took them … was there no one around whom I could follow?? Well!!! To my surprise I actually found none…. All I got was the so called class A gazetted officers dressed up in their well ironed crispy uniforms but slowly dying within … though highly motivated to serve their nation .. to perform better … to set highest standards of discipline and service but slowly forgetting how to live .. forgetting that person within them .. I came across officers trained and groomed to become the chief of air staff but at the cost of losing their identity … at the cost of forgetting the simplest virtues of friendship …. Loyalty and trust … officers who had won battles on the field but were losing that ‘ human touch’ . its said that an an officer is the highest example of being a leader . well!! Leader of what ??? is leading into war the only quality that qualifies him to be a good leader ??? let me give you some statistics … in its 60 years of independence India has seen majorly five wars 1948, 1962, 1969, 1971 and 1999 .. rest of the 55 years the country is supposed to be in the state of ‘peace’ and in maintaining this peace the armed forces are tasked on daily biases … so how do you keep those million men motivated ?? only by giving them a boot up their arses and saying you are not entitled to think like a person (a human being)when you take any decision and keep pushing them to their limits till they reach their elastic limit??? To except them to give their lives on your one word of command without asking any questions… welll let me tell you THEY WILL DO THAT…. All that is required is that one ‘human touch’.
Though in the academy you don’t much interact with the officer class … we only get carried away only by the superficial glittery … the number of medals.. commendations .. places fought in and the impeccable record set by our supposingly role models…. its only when you join the clan you realize the rules of the game … well!!! Yes then I got commissioned and entered the elite tribe of being an OFFICER… proud of my newly adorned uniform and stepping into a operational scenario I desperately started looking for “my man” .. ( don’t take the literal meaning) there was this big group of well experienced superiors all around me … stories were told .. some good some bad .. all seem to have something to share … but somewhere I started to realize that in that all so called glittery of being experienced and rising up in service … they all were just crabs …though walking sidewards but having their eyes on an aim altogether in a different direction….there were all multifaceted… on ground .. in air … in briefing hall… in their homes …the same person had so many faces … but I failed to find that human face of theirs .. everything was becoming a race for them .. race not do better for himself but to beat someone else… race not rise in ranks but to avoid someone else getting it .. I found them all competing with one another …BUT NO ONE WHO WAS COMPETING WITH HIMSELF ….. they all were exceptional professionals but in that bargain of beating everyone around had forgotten that they also were individuals … I saw them following blindly aims and goals which im not sure got them anything but materialistic pleasures…..till the time he came around….