BUSY BEE COLUMN - APRIL/MAY/JUNE

BUSY BEE COLUMN - JUNE

This is the last editorial I am writing for the Busy Bee. An unprecedented change in plans has me packing my bags all of a sudden and a gloomy sadness weighs down even while I write this. It is always so hard to say goodbye. I console myself with Thoreau “Nothing makes the earth seem so spacious as to have friends at a distance; they make the latitudes and longitudes.” Am I glad I spread my vistas as far as Mhow! It is a surprise I wrote so little about it even when I explored and loved it so much - Its exquisite sunrises and sunsets, its vast expansive backwoods, its menagerie of flora and fauna, its changing canvas with the change in seasons, and its quaint cantonment life – its clean roads, its easy traffic, its beautifully manicured parks and boulevards and the crisp freshness of its health conscious, disciplined, respectful and dignified citizens, living in clock work constancy. I will miss it all as much as Bhavrilal’s jilebis and samosas , the monsoon pitter patter , Waqar bhai’s biryani and Jehangir, my car mechanic’s rambling natter. I will miss the awesome collection of the AWC library , parties at DSOI and Ashiana , planned picnics, impromptu barbeques and kite flying at Jam Darwaza ,Choral and Biercha .

Remembrance, the lasting perfume will waft a pang or two and leave me musing like Eliot “Footfalls echo in the memory/Down the passage which we did not take/towards the door we never opened”- What is it I left undone, unseen or unsaid? Army School Mhow of course .How can I even forget? I spent one glorious year here, as a part time counsellor, studying adolescent tricks. More than a thousand army children from all ranks come here to get educated and carve out their bright future. More than 500 tentative parents are always weighing their posting possibilities in this tiny cantonment town against the opportunities of education that this school may provide. Yet to my surprise I discovered the management has to run a highly subsidised, “self sustained” unit while juggling with insufficient funds. Teeming children may be bursting of the grossly over stuffed classrooms but neither can they turn away new admissions nor build more rooms (for lack of funds).

What confuses me so utterly is while lakhs of rupees can be contributed by institutional funds for the luxury of a new golf course why does one truly welfare project like a school have to remain so neglected? Without an additional corpus to expand and modernise how can any school ever rise above mediocrity? With no funds or facilities for any extra-curricular activities, is it a surprise then that sooner or later such places become the breeding ground of disciplinary problems? Have we lost a sense of priority or are we simply too preoccupied with the trivia to ignore such warning signs? Can we afford to compromise with the future that lies with our children?

I truly believe that if any organisation can reach out and make an immediate and overall difference in its environment it is the Army. All it needs is an order and an action plan. I set the ball rolling. I some of you reading this may set a much needed change in motion to make this Queen of the Malwa an oasis for us nomads.


BUSY BEE COLUMN - MAY


In order to avoid making this tiny column an addendum to the news laden combat magazine, I liked using information and headlines like tea leaves in a strainer here - just to add a little colour and flavour and a wee bit of zing to refresh like a morning cuppa. However I couldn’t ignore the hum this time. While small B became the centre of attention in the mainstream news, the Big BEE of the college stirred up a drive that was most laudable. Saying “No” to plastic has been a college credo, but plastic bags being as versatile as they are and irresistibly useful, managed to resurface from time to time. A ban wasn’t enough. Mrs Mohanty recently stepped up the process, making individuals responsible of keeping their immediate environment clean. A simple strategy but I was amazed at the repercussion all around. For one most of us finally resorted to carrying cloth bags around, simply to avoid the discomfort of having the paper bags tear away easily. It was the right choice to make but we didn’t have the gumption to live it. Wonder why? By the way, “Autonomy with Accountability”, is a strategy that is used extensively at school level, to induce a sense of responsibility in adolescents. Kids as we know need more than prodding to learn about rights and duties. Promises of privileges, indirect tactics and even veiled ultimatums are required, to steer them away from making the wrong moves, unlike us the grownups!!!Are we not glad that they have us to figure out all about making the right choices in life?

A gloom had set in with the last of the HC trucks trundling away. Not only the lush green lawns of their abandoned homes singed and shrivelled, soon even the ladies clubs wore a shrunken look. The brand new SC and JC courses invaded the dull heat like unanticipated summers showers. The bright and blooming Gulmohars assured that there was hope after all, even in the harshest times. Sleepless nights, frequent power cuts, regular stampede for the inverter run fan and the relentless fight with mosquitoes were all bearable till I discovered, with raving jealousy, that my civilian counterparts actually faced none of that. Irregular maintenance, lack of fund or poor equipment, I am really curious to know why we find ourselves in the throes of this sordid summer tale year after year!

However nothing was as sad as the shocking news of Lt Col TK Das passing away unexpectedly, only days after he joined SC 107. Death is the harshest fact of life. It is always easy to offer solace but difficult to recover our faith when we lose a loved one. Only in silent prayer can one find some peace then .Our heart goes out to his family in this moment of deep crisis and pain. “Asato ma sat gamaya /Tamaso ma jyotir gamaya/mrityor ma amritam gamaya”. Lead us from unreality to reality, from darkness to light, from death to immortality, we pray too.



BUSY BEE COLUMN - APRIL


The bees I think got a bitter end!
This column belonged to them,
Yet all and sundry bequeathed headlines
While they bemoaned in vain.
The trill and chills of exam fever,
The frenzied Worldcup pitch,
The Deep alto of tepid Water,
The crackling Sensex screech.
The Hurley burley marriage drums,
Of spendthrift celebrities,
The Basant sonata of colours,
With tesus blazing it.
The bugle cry of the Earth’s New Year,
The Vernal Equinox .
The rising tenor of Who’s- Who
In the latest list of Forbes.
The rubato of a robust Budget,
Its taxing falsetto.
Even a buffered Ottavio
Bellowed in his grotto.
JATM struck a false note
Amidst the election symphony
Nandigram's nagging concerto,
Took downhill the March-ing medley.
Befuddled, beleaguered, meanwhile
With their babies, bibs and bins
The bees sought harmony in consternation,
With benign grace and grin.
Beautified their little homes,
Spent each day in pining,
Ladies meets and ITLs,
Were little silver linings.
The beaches and the barbeques,
Belonged to their dreams,
The only beacon in their life,
Was the tiny ‘midterm’ gleam.
The bestial term end beguiled them
But left them in a tizzy
With the batting of an eyelid
Their men were again busy.
Who cares then who the next billionaire is?
Who cares for a beautiful sonnet?
If you know what’s good for you
Take care of the bee in your bonnet!

COLUMN BUSY-BEE FEB/MARCH ISSUE

I have a deadline. This editorial has to be sent in by the third week of every month. Even as I am writing this, the Samjhauta blast casts an ominous cloud on the peace process. By the time you read it (which is usually the first week of the next month), two weeks would have gone. The two week old water under the bridge can make my views quite stale if not stink at times. “How come you forgot to mention the PSLV re-entry?” I am berated. “Why didn’t you talk about the conviction of Satish Sharma?” I am snubbed. Bear me out. A fortnight is a looong time. I may condemn the unnecessary fuss over Dolkia’s ‘Parzania’ in Gujarat before another riot breaks out on that with ‘Tablias’ and ‘Damruias’ churning out two dozen movies in those two weeks. I may simply comment on the unseasonal snows in Shimla, before they melt and there is a devastating flood to deal with. I may worry about our injured squad at the cricket pitch, when they do a back flip and win some laurels for a change. Just about anything can happen in those ticking 20160 precious minutes! Before you can analyse USA’s nuclear strategy with North Korea you may be gaping at a hole in the map that was Iran. Simpler to focus on obituaries you would think. But when our esteemed tabloids go bonkers covering deaths of bimbettes like Anna Nicole, I am not sure if it is even worth mentioning SC Shukla (who brought Mahanadi to the rice field of MP). I may just seem so antiquated, so boringly out of touch. What could John Nash’s solution to my unique dilemma be? In a recent tête-à-tête with the President this noble laureate explained how his ‘Games Theory,’ pre-empted the Corus deal of the Tatas. If only he could only anticipate the game plans of our politicians and our cricketers with as much consummate ease, writing an editorial would have certainly been easier for me.
Things are only slightly more predictable here in the hive. Even as we welcome to our midst, Lt General and Mrs Mohanty, we know it won’t be too long before they leave for higher climes. The HC – 35 and JC – ___ too will soon bid adieu to Mhow. And who knows if I will be there to welcome the next lot.
The bad news is that time flies (Like waves towards the pebbl'd shore, do our minutes hasten to their end) but the good news is that you are the pilot. If that is not enough, there’s news for the chronophobics. The Ethiopian calendar is yet to greet in its millennium on the 14th Sept. So unwind and get ready to BEEgin all over again.

COLUMN BUSY BEE - FEB ISSUE
If Mr Dhananjay Mahapatra is a classic victim of cognitive distortion, who tends to over exaggerate the brutality of the Army, Mulayam Singh‘s brother is the other extreme who underestimates the lethal nexus of politicians and rich businessmen in perpetuating crimes against the hapless. As the Nathari Village unearthed the most gruesome evidence of “brutal power”, unbelievable tales of cannibalism and sexual aberrations, the Park Street incident brought the entire Army under the scanner as a potent seat of violent lawbreakers. Wasn’t exactly a grand opening to a brand new year, but shocking enough to jangle your wits. So please forgive me if I sound like a hundred year old and am not my wittiest best.

It is evident irresponsible, high risk, self-centred; lifestyle is the credo of the day. It is all about I and MY .Even where people are seemingly dependent, their liaison is not necessarily based on trust and mutual friendship. It is more often an unhealthy clique of self aggrandisement. This as a phenomenon is widespread and global. But nothing comes from nothing. As we sow so we reap and as we reap so we sow. For a generation of confused self-centred lot this will perhaps be the bitterest pill to digest.

A word about the Army before I end. Sad none of the ‘arm chair worriers’ who write so disparagingly about the Army will ever read this. Reported generalisations of how certain incidents of misdemeanour by men in fatigue “smacks of traditional contempt of the army for civilian law”, is upsetting. It is sheer irresponsible coverage .If there is any method in the madness all around today, it is still in the Defence. I can only speak for the army at the moment. What the Army does beyond its call of duty in remote fur flung places is perhaps too boring to be reported on a daily basis. I do feel the need for a concerted effort to correct the semi-baked notions of the army that float outside. We have reasons to feel extremely privileged to be part of an organisation that values interdependence, nurtures responsibility and fosters discipline and cares not only for its people but for its surroundings as well. Even an average army wife makes more contribution towards its community than any civilian counterpart.

We are indeed the people who make the world a better place. So let’s keep the good work up and believe we are indeed the cat’s whiskers and the bee’s knees

BUSY BEE COLUMN _ MAY 2007 ISSUE

The media obsession with Pramod Mahajan made me wonder if “the state funeral” would have been quickly swapped with “a Bharat Ratna” had he survived! Infact the melange of (mis)deeds, hogging the headlines everyday, are packed with the dismal humour of a Laxman cartoon, to make you laugh and cry at the same time. With such endless saga of scandal, greed, revenge and shameless courage, it is no wonder that we are forever churning out Bollywood blockbusters and become the biggest movie makers of the world. “Kavya ki kartoot”, “Vidrohi Varodra”, “Bhatridrohi” may be the next few online. So watch on! Even if it is a hollow feeling to be part of this great decay, what keeps me going is the, “challenge of doing the impossible”- hoping against hope. I witnessed a flicker of that when tons of people joined in the revelry to cast their franchise ‘freely’ in the Kashmir Valley at last. The feeling revisited with the last Hindu kingdom going secular. The feeling stayed with the Amaltash and Gulmohars rushing to blossom, the ripening of the mangoes, the children excited over their summer capers and the great jamboree around the swimming pool. The thunder storms that drowned the mercury brought in a flush of relief. But now watch out! Malwa will sizzle one last time like the dying embers, under the influence of “Rohini”–Pray it does not rain for the final 'nau-tapa' or it’s a disaster for the farmers. “Cultivate Le petit bonheur (the little happiness) of the moment, our Mother Superior would say, “String them together, so that you don’t cry when they are gone”. When the college bid a wistful goodbye to General and Mrs HS Batra last month, I was busy stringing happy memories, of nurturing that few can give - of Rupa's inimitable spirit and zest for fun and her ability to accept us with all our bumbling mistakes. Thank you for BEE-ing with us and making us feel so precious. May there be more“Le petit bonheur”as we welcome General and Mrs Dilip Bhardwaj in their place. One unexpected change was the sudden posting out of Gen Deepak Raj. We shall miss Mrs Raj, her effervescent laughter and perpetual cheerfulness. The Bee world is B-usy as usual and not without a B-it of their own sting – A persistent one is that of “B-ecoming” (grooming).The new bees seem clueless as always, often unhappy with the responsibilities they are expected to B-ear (shoulder).As senior bees they grow sensitive and impatient to pass on the mantle. Caught in this B-ickering of “To BEE or not to BEE,” is the organisation, which decided to impart some B-enign lessons (ITL) on B-ridging this distance. All I say is Bee and let bee… Finally here’s something to think about: B-e a little patient, B-e a little kind/B-e in the other’s shoe and you will find /Life comes a full circle sooner than you know/ B-itterness takes one nowhere, sweetness will grow.

COLUMN BUSY BEE- OCT/NOV/DEC/JAN

COLUMN BUSY BEE- OCTOBER

Explosions, sabotage threats, cricket scandals, hockey debacle; one hardly knows what is breaking news any more- what with all Indian news channels labelling ALL their news as breaking news. So I did a Rip Van Winkle - no newspaper, no TV news for a month, waking up to learn of the happenings gone by .Nothing earthshaking, nothing too shocking anymore. My forced comatose existence making my dank and clammy transition to the shadier side of forty slightly less agonizing infact.

Yes you read it right. My birthday is like an annual confidence report, I am totally nervous to take a peek into every year. Did I achieve all that I set out for? Am I happier, sadder, guilty or absolved for allowing many a dream to wither while trying to create opportunities to grow and learn?
“Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth.” Mother Superior had taught us. To deny personal pleasure was noble we had learnt .So when I chose to be a cog in that huge machinery that kept the country free from foreign intrusion, my sacrifice seemed unmatched, supreme, unparalleled as much as a fighting soldiers’.

When I look back though I remember only the silly salty tears upon my cheek… my life in waiting, in biding as a single parent, watching my skills rust and my dreams choke and die, my faltering, bleeding steps learning forever new tricks on the trapeze of organisational life. I could rouge my cheeks and keep the chin up, but I had a question rankling my mind all the time. Why did “esprit de corps” taste so distasteful even when it was so noble? Why did I feel so dispirited doing my ‘military' duties and fulfilling my obligations? What Mother Superior had forgotten to tell us was – (or were we too young to understand Maslow) Till the time your coffer is full you cannot give. It is true when it comes to the flowering of all things in our life including people, plans, and personal objectives. No matter how noble, it takes time to learn to be unconditional, which is not the same as giving out of fear and guilt of an undernourished soul. It couldn't have been any different in those early years I guess. Responsibilities seem to rest easy on my shoulders today. And could it possible if you busy bees were not by my side in pain and misery to nurture my hive? The hive is full and so the honey flows. It’s my turn now to nurture another.

Am I glad I am ready to pay the rent for my room here on earth at last?


BUSY BEE COLUMN - DECEMBER

The recent debate on whether or not India is on the springboard to join the ‘big league’ leaves me wondering if we got the recipe right. We seem to be in dreadful hurry to dash for the ‘gold’ for the sake of a label. Is this just because we believe we have reasons to justify our claim in the fray (Energy pacts, nuclear deals, rising Sensex /GDP et all), or are we plain insecure (Now ‘Hu’ / ‘WHO’ said that?!)!

Well for one, we could be a little myopic if not totally blind. Let’s take the smallest puzzle and see how things stand today. Apparently Bhopal and Indore claim the highest crime rates in the state which is attributed to rapid industrialisation and urbanisation in these areas. If this is true, you don’t have to be a Nostradamus to read the signs of apocalypse. The boost in GDP may help us flex our muscles but there’s a growing cancer, mounting just as rapidly. Millions are still hungry, illiterate, jobless, shelterless and dying – a severe resource crunch, including that of moral values, mottling the societal fabric by the minute. The latest UNDP report confirms that the Human Development Index (HDI) is dipping far more consistently in India, than anywhere else .Can we do a Nero and play on the lyre while flames rage all around?

We could learn a lot about holistic growth and state craft from the world's first management guru, our very indigenous Chanakya and his extraordinary blueprint of a superpower, ‘The Arthashastra.’ At times however, plain and simple Grandma’s wisdom and a little chicken soup for the soul is all we need to live a healthy, happy life.

The bee colony, insulated from the quirky geopolitical stuff the world is made of, can thank their stars for it. Mhow is an epitome of that little world where life is on ‘a fast track’ these days. It has never been ‘smoother’ you will agree, with the MES and the Station Headquarters on an amazing pot-hole recovery mission, at war footing (courtesy the Chief’s visit). We shall pray for such VVIP visits more often (perhaps synchronised with our leaking roofs next time!). This bonanza includes a brand new red-carpet pedestrian pavement!! Let the new, young and bright JC and SC bees, who we receive within our folds, ever so fondly, feel it was laid out to welcome them!

As we gear up once again for some fun and frolic (with the ladies club strength grown substantially), we also get ready with a brand new package of institutionalised training of ladies (ITL) – now that is a lot of chicken soup for these busy souls.


BUSY BEE COLUMN - JANUARY


Hoorah! We crossed yet another summit. Through all its ups and downs, as erratic as the Sensex, we made it! And we have reasons to feel optimistic about our future too. We have heaps to hope and oodles to dream. With the judicial juggernaut grinding into action at last, it is a moment to rejoice. The month of December infact, came like an icing on the cake, with Manu’s conviction in the Jessica Lall case - a grand finale to ‘justice delayed but not denied’. It is refreshing to learn that sitting MPs and MLAs, who made hay while the sun shined, will not escape the hands of justice for too long.

Indeed, how central the element of justice (or rather its denial) is to our lives! After all it is only our respective notion of fairness that colours our perception and influences our actions. It has the danger of becoming a terror alibi when it is not tempered with a universal sense of fairness. While a cartographic faux pas on the MacMohan Line may haunt us , our nuclear deal alarms our neighbours . It is interesting that I should be writing about justice from the birthplace of no other but Dr BR Ambedkar, the father of our constitution, who upheld social and economic justice for all. While it hurts to see Dalits not getting their due, even after 59 years of independence, it is a relief to see Sorens and their ilk convicted for miscarriage of democracy. Infact just when you think it can get no worse the pluralism that is India gives us reasons to bounce back. While it pained to accept the Indian debacle in Doha, India’s first test match win ever in South Africa salvaged some of that self respect. Even when Agni couldn’t make it, Prithvi’s knockout more than made up for it .

The happiest news was perhaps the elevation of the Commandant, Lt Gen ML Naidu,YSM to the post of Army Commander ARTRAC. A deserving leg up to a revered soldier and a fantastic human being.

We will miss a certain ‘hum’ in our hive. Bidding farewell to the Queen Bee will leave a vacuum no doubt. But if we follow ‘their’ cadence we shall sing in tune forever. “Do more than belong: participate. Do more than care: help. Do more than believe: practice. Do more than be fair: be kind. Do more than forgive: forget. Do more than dream: work”. And finally beelive no matter what happens, or how bad it seems today, life does go on, and it will be better tomorrow. It better Bee.

With that lets’ fasten our seat belts and get ready for …yet another roller coater ride. Here we come 2007!

COLUMN BUSY BEE - AUGUST

59 years of Independence
What should our prayers be?
“If there’s no wind may we learn to row
Become the change we want to see”
“Through the bedlam, (Of “awkward acoustics”)
May it “rock”, for you and me!”

Meanwhile added to the list
Of (last month’s) “Fearful”, “flooding” M’s
A freaking “Mole” of “covert value”
Fetched fun for a change!
Even if it isn’t Alzheimer’s,
Jaswantji be forgiven
This adorable “dot”
(Meant to ward the evil eye)
Ran blotchy and sadly stained,
His reputation, as a “playwright”,
Not a politician per say!
Only on a comparative scale
(Of sleaze and slime)
He lost this time, to Natwarji.
The 3 mystery “Missives” which suddenly
Swung the media arc light
Caught a greasy cat (out of the barrel),
Ready for a fight
On a slippery track which I daresay,
Could not have been worse
Than the mucky roads, where incessant rains,
Turned our honey homes
To musty Dhobi Ghats.

And here the last of the M’s,
Of this “August” assemblage
A mottled conspirator, caused misery unsaid
A loathsome, hateful, terror monster
It literally took the cake
My ired goat my leather coat
What a havoc it did wreck
Blotched and blemished, stained and speckled
Leaving nothing in its fold
Dotted, dappled, this dank and dusty
The wicked Malwa Mould.