Well people its the 3rd of July 2007... I'm sitting in Echo/102 Vivek Sabharwal's room on Polo Road Delhi Cantt.... It's 0930h - the a/c is on and i'm supposedly preparing for the MILITARY HISTORY paper tomorrow - part B ka Part 3....
How did i get this far? well - im a 2003 commission officer - that would mean i've put in 04 years of service - that would mean i theoretically could have given my exams 04 times already.. this being my fifth time round- here's the gen -
July 2003 - could have been my first attempt but was attached to MLIRC belgaum - and moreover would have failed anyway, so doesnt matter.
July 2004 - was at Kalakote - gave the exam in Rajouri - spent most of my time having a ball with coursemates and wasnt really interested in passing. someone gave me some talk about "part B ka naam PART B kyon hai? coz u should pass it in PARTS" - sounded pretty cool at the time!! Passed Adm and Morale and Military Law... left with Mil Hist, Current Affairs...
July 2005 - gave the exam in Agra. new bike. long bike ride, advace party, lots of friends in PARAs.... that's about it... yes... failed both papers - Mil Hist and CA...
July 2006 - on leave in BANGALORE - gave the exam.. passed Current Affairs and the new paper on Tactics as well.. left with Mil History.. hehe :)
July 2007 - we'll know soon enough... hehe :)
ok i gotta study now.. more later . bye.
Monday, July 2, 2007
Sunday, June 3, 2007
19 May 2007, 0001h
Now the expedition leader, Capt JVB needed some sleep prior to the mission, so Capt AM - after dropping a visitor from the same regiment as him, Capt VH Adkar - to "Dhaula Kuan" - returned to the Room (321 ABHM) - and was told by the leader to "wake him up" at dot 0001h. So AM, in his usual style didn't feel sleepy before 0300h and was merrily working on the computer while the leader caught up on some sleep.
0001h, Room 321 ABHM :-
Leader was woken up by AM and got ready... the team of 2 was all packed and ready by 0100h and went downstairs with their UN Rucksack and an empty 2 litre bottle of Pepsi (which was subsequently filled up at the cooler on the 1st floor.
Lashing the stores
Lucky for the team, they had a magical bout of presence of mind, and had asked Khandekar to get them some 'lashing material' in the form of a nylon string, which they used to secure the pack to the pack-08 (ICK) frame on the starboard side of the bike.
The bike was ready by 0145h, after which there was a small briefing (hehe :) ) and then the team took off for the 'ring road' to get some fuel.
Fuel and out of Delhi...
The bike took about 500 worth of fuel and then the team left for the Delhi UP Border... after navigating through a long line of trucks at the border, we found ourselves doing about 70 kph on the highway at about 0300h.
We noticed a small dhaba about 10 clicks short of meerut which was open at about 0340h; and decided to take our first halt of the ride... tea was ordered and a small talk about how cadets in NDA should be trained was held.... we came to the conclusion that ours was the toughest time to be in NDA and we were the best trained material in the entire military fraternity worldwide.
0001h, Room 321 ABHM :-
Leader was woken up by AM and got ready... the team of 2 was all packed and ready by 0100h and went downstairs with their UN Rucksack and an empty 2 litre bottle of Pepsi (which was subsequently filled up at the cooler on the 1st floor.
Lashing the stores
Lucky for the team, they had a magical bout of presence of mind, and had asked Khandekar to get them some 'lashing material' in the form of a nylon string, which they used to secure the pack to the pack-08 (ICK) frame on the starboard side of the bike.
The bike was ready by 0145h, after which there was a small briefing (hehe :) ) and then the team took off for the 'ring road' to get some fuel.
Fuel and out of Delhi...The bike took about 500 worth of fuel and then the team left for the Delhi UP Border... after navigating through a long line of trucks at the border, we found ourselves doing about 70 kph on the highway at about 0300h.
We noticed a small dhaba about 10 clicks short of meerut which was open at about 0340h; and decided to take our first halt of the ride... tea was ordered and a small talk about how cadets in NDA should be trained was held.... we came to the conclusion that ours was the toughest time to be in NDA and we were the best trained material in the entire military fraternity worldwide.
Now that dhaba guy was SMART.... upon being asked which would be a better option to take (the bypass or the main city) - he 'advised' us not to use the main city because of meerut being a city of 'gundas' and 'mavaalees'.... so we had a 02 minute 'tactical appreciation' of the task and hand, and came to the logical conclusion (based on our deep studies of Sun Tzu during CSS class in NDA...) that we would take the option the 'enemy' (a.k.a. the smartass chai wala who was linked to the goons waiting on the byepass - with their country weapons to kill us and take away all our money (some 40 INR)) is least likely to suspect - we would ride straight through the city... and we did... and we didn't get ourselves killed...
Khatauli (CHEETAL - THE RESTAURANT (OLD ONE) ...)
The team took it's second 'pit stop' at Cheetal - an old restaurant short of M'Nagar - on the banks of the Khatauli
canal.... we came across a number of our North Indian tourist friends there - all landing up in overnight buses - that really felt good - not being couped up in a bus... hahah... As u can see in the photos, the sun was just about rising ... we took these 2 pics to prove our point - that was really KHATAULI - U can see the canal in the background. so that proves it - we're not very good at editing photos (that's cos AM is a non-techie and JVB is a 3.05 FGPA supertechie)... :)
Muzaffarnagar
Now we've all heard about this town, haven't we? So once again, we decided to dupe 'em - so we took the 'bypass' this time !! hahahaha - made it out in one piece again... the ride on the bypass was splendid... we crossed a railway line in between. By now, we were enjoying the early morning sun on the highway... AM took this really cool 'tank-cam' image to prove his point ... that there, ladies and gen'men is the highway just after we exited the M'Nagar bypass... It had rained the night before, so it was really cool - in fact it was a bit chilly ... and the road and surrounding areas were looking really fresh and pretty.
Roorkee, Saharnpur, Captain GAJAINE's territory (in short)...
By now, the "monkey was on our shoulder" and we crossed the old Roorkee cantonment.. built by the British and now being occupied by us... and then 23 kms later we reached Chutmalpur - now this is where Capt GKC (a.k.a. Gajaine) would turn left and enter the town of Saharanpur (SRE).. we took a right and headed toward
Biharigarh and Mohund; stopping over at Biharigarh for our 'last cup of tea' before dehradun - last 'coz i think we had some 7 rupees left !! That photo - I have no idea why that bloke AM took it - but maybe it has some tactical value - God only knows what they teach them back there in Zaire...
The FINAL ASCENT to the DOON Valley...
Soon we crossed Mohund, which happens to be in-line with the
now famous "Shakumbari Passes" - wherein we once walked through a "Rao" to reach the long range - during Camp Chindits - III term IMA.... we stopped for some last images of the place, on the hills - including this one with a milestone (again proving our point !!) ..
Then we crossed the 'tunnel' and reached the town..
After about 30 mins of riding through traffic in the town, passing by Clement Town, the Haridwar bypass and the State Assembly building - we reached our destination- my friend mayank's house (!!! AM, hapkaani baatein mat karo !!!) - the ride was over.
Next 48 hours and the ride back
Well, the idea is to have lots of photos to include in the log, so we're not writing about IMA and the ride back, coz the photos are with Maj Rajrishi (IMA) - once we get them - we will include them and write a new post.
Watch this space. (!!!)
Khatauli (CHEETAL - THE RESTAURANT (OLD ONE) ...)The team took it's second 'pit stop' at Cheetal - an old restaurant short of M'Nagar - on the banks of the Khatauli
canal.... we came across a number of our North Indian tourist friends there - all landing up in overnight buses - that really felt good - not being couped up in a bus... hahah... As u can see in the photos, the sun was just about rising ... we took these 2 pics to prove our point - that was really KHATAULI - U can see the canal in the background. so that proves it - we're not very good at editing photos (that's cos AM is a non-techie and JVB is a 3.05 FGPA supertechie)... :)
Muzaffarnagar
Now we've all heard about this town, haven't we? So once again, we decided to dupe 'em - so we took the 'bypass' this time !! hahahaha - made it out in one piece again... the ride on the bypass was splendid... we crossed a railway line in between. By now, we were enjoying the early morning sun on the highway... AM took this really cool 'tank-cam' image to prove his point ... that there, ladies and gen'men is the highway just after we exited the M'Nagar bypass... It had rained the night before, so it was really cool - in fact it was a bit chilly ... and the road and surrounding areas were looking really fresh and pretty.
Roorkee, Saharnpur, Captain GAJAINE's territory (in short)...
By now, the "monkey was on our shoulder" and we crossed the old Roorkee cantonment.. built by the British and now being occupied by us... and then 23 kms later we reached Chutmalpur - now this is where Capt GKC (a.k.a. Gajaine) would turn left and enter the town of Saharanpur (SRE).. we took a right and headed toward
Biharigarh and Mohund; stopping over at Biharigarh for our 'last cup of tea' before dehradun - last 'coz i think we had some 7 rupees left !! That photo - I have no idea why that bloke AM took it - but maybe it has some tactical value - God only knows what they teach them back there in Zaire...The FINAL ASCENT to the DOON Valley...
Soon we crossed Mohund, which happens to be in-line with the
now famous "Shakumbari Passes" - wherein we once walked through a "Rao" to reach the long range - during Camp Chindits - III term IMA.... we stopped for some last images of the place, on the hills - including this one with a milestone (again proving our point !!) ..Then we crossed the 'tunnel' and reached the town..
After about 30 mins of riding through traffic in the town, passing by Clement Town, the Haridwar bypass and the State Assembly building - we reached our destination- my friend mayank's house (!!! AM, hapkaani baatein mat karo !!!) - the ride was over.
Next 48 hours and the ride back
Well, the idea is to have lots of photos to include in the log, so we're not writing about IMA and the ride back, coz the photos are with Maj Rajrishi (IMA) - once we get them - we will include them and write a new post.
Watch this space. (!!!)
Ending on an 'artistic note' - this photo taken by the Goan is supposedly 'artistic'... PLEASE post your comments - and make this guy realise his 'illusions'....
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
The concept
Well ya, one fine day we were sitting the office (LBDN or LBFG, as usual)... and this wonderful idea stuck us!! Why not put our weekend to better use - by biking down to some place... Now this isn't a lovely cloudy October in Palampur, or a March in Ooty... this is May and this is Delhi...
So the Apache brains started their work and came up with a strategy (after consulting a few comrades on the phone..)... came up with the PoA..
IHQ of MoD (Army) - 17 May 2007, 1315h
JB: We'll leave in the evening.. say around 1700 or so - make it 1800 by the time we manage to get out of here and change etc etc...
AM: You crazy? 1800 on the Ghaziabad highway - we'll never make it past Meerut... We'd better leave a bit later...
JB: Ok dekha jaaega .. as it is David's coming, so we'll drop him off and then leave... here have the AWWA lunch for now - we'll plan later k?
AM: Ya that's better.. Pass the dahi please...
JB: Oye yaar bike mein we need some new oil ok - this one's gone.. plus we better get the brakes checked.. thats about 700 INR.. better start saving...
AM: Ya ok. got it.. saving.. no 7up/sprite today eh?
JB: Ya.. pretty much...
Same day, 1900h - Karol Bagh - with GC (Captain Gajaine... CSM/A/102)...
GC: Abbe yaar mera dekhna padega I might not get that one-day's leave on saturday, buddies..
AM (to JB): Lo bhaiyaaa kar lo baat, ek aadmiee pehle hi kum ho gaya hai... Hapkaani baatein kar raha hai bhaii...
JB: Chal koi nahin, let's get this oil thing done...
Mister mechanic took his 600 INR and changed the oil.. after which the 02xAryans and 01xArdent had dinner at Tibet Kitchen... 01xAryan had to leave a little early coz he'd promised 01xKiller's daughter that he'll be 'online' at 2200h.. phew!! made it, somehow..
remainder 01xAryan(CSM) and 01xArdent(de-tabbed DCC) came back at 2300h.
So gentlemen, this was the entire planning stage of the endeavour... more later - on how it was 'pulled off' and what followed in the 'aftermath'.
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