Fire Training at Nagpur - More Photos

Some of the good boys in class at Hotel Tuli International.

"How to tie a bandage on one's head ?" Balli practising his skills on my head.

A class in session under the banyan tree at the NCDC campus (a revival of old memories !!)

Amarnath and me listening to Sudershan and Balli who were singing old songs

Fire Training at Nagpur - Photos

This is the whole bunch (less one who clicked the snap) under the Banyan Tree (duly enlightened !!)

Amarnath, Balli, myself and Kachare (Balli was overburdened - hence the helping hands !)

This is me in a PPSCBA outfit (Positive Pressure Self Contained Breathing Apparatus)

G.R.Pal, Amarnath, Balli and myself

Waiting in front of Bishop Cotton School for the bus ride to NCDC

K.P.Umrao, Self, Balli and Sudershan at the NCDC Campus

Balli exercising his vocal chords at the party hosted by purshottam Das

PS . Purshottam Das had forwarded 101 photos to me. I have only posted some of them in which my mug also features - naturally !!!

Fire Training at Nagpur

I returned to Bangalore a couple of days back after attending the Fire Safety Management Course conducted by the National Civil Defence College, Nagpur. Since 19th March was a holiday over here, I came back via Delhi, hence the delay in this post.
The course was especially designed by NCDC for Security Officers from RBI and was very well taken. This was the first “officer like” course I have attended ever since I joined the Bank. The stay arrangements at Hotel Tuli International were good and the food was delicious. Most of the classes were conducted in the hotel itself except for a couple of lecture cum demonstrations which were held at the NCDC campus. Airconditioned comfort coupled with sumptious food sure made a heady mixture.
The course content adequately covered most of the areas of concern to us and future courses will be better if the feedback given by us is taken into account. The Security Adviser told us that such courses would be conducted every quarter provided they can be fitted into the NCDC calendar.
Other than myself, Amarnath, Balvinder, Pal and Sudershan all the other participants were of 4 to 6 years service and less in the Bank and everyone had a good time. Purshottam Das from BTC had brought his digicam along and he was very busy taking snaps all the time. I am going to upload some of the photos which he has been kind enough to forward.

He had also organized a get-together for all the ‘oldies’ which none of us are going to forget in a hurry. The highlight of the evening was Balli and Sudershan regaling us with old hindi songs.

Application of the Army Act at OTS, Madras

I was under training for being commissioned into the Army at Officers Training School (OTS), Madras (as it was then known) from May 1977 to March 1978. During that time I witnessed the use of Section 63 of the Army Act 1950, with impunity. This section related to acts of omission or commission that violated good order and military discipline. This was applied with missionary zeal even on minor offences and it was an all-encompassing section which could cover all offences that were not dealt with by other sections of the archaic act. Two incidents are etched in my memory which I am about to describe – the first happened while I was there and the second is hearsay as it happened after I had passed out (but I knew the hapless culprit).
In the first instance a ‘gentleman cadet’ was caught in an out-of-bound area with a lady companion in his birthday suit. He was promptly charged under Section 63 and the charge sheet read thus : “ An act prejudicial to good order and military discipline, in that No……..GC……..while at OTS, Madras, on (date), at (time), was found consorting with a woman of ill repute near Marina beach”. The bloke was summarily punished and promptly relegated to the junior course. Well, this guy also had his connections and advisers and he went into appeal. This particular charge was withdrawn as it would be tough to prove that the woman he was caught with was of “ill-repute”. However, he was again charged under the same section for “violating anti-malaria precautions” and duly punished.
In the second case a gentleman cadet reported sick and it was discovered that he had contracted some ‘sexually transmitted disease’. He was also charge sheeted and asked to pack his bags. This guy later went to court and won the case as, under the Army Act, ‘contracting’ such a disease was NOT an offence whereas 'concealing' it was. He was reinstated with his course and even got some damages I believe.
PS. The decisions in most cases dealt with under the Army Act 1950, used to be overturned by the civil courts either because of inherent flaws in the said act or because of the wrong application of the provisions made thereunder. We have been hearing of the Act being overhauled and updated since time immemorial but it is still in use.

Lungar Gupp XVIII

1. Postings Tsunami. The annual transfers this year have come in the form of a virtual ‘tsunami’ in the Bank. It has been unprecedented in terms of the number of officers transferred, the ‘indispensables’ being shifted and the geographical limits till which they have been flung. And the process is still on !!

2. Poetic Justice . This refers to my earlier post regarding a senior officer raving and ranting about Security officers having joined the Bank after being court martialled from the Army. It was sweet music to the ears to hear that the said officer has been court martialled (transferred) to one of the ‘cold storage’ departments. Sadly the trappings of power could only be enjoyed for a very short time !!

3. Postings in our Cadre . It is believed that ten of our colleagues are being transferred this year. In line with the NEWS funda (North to South, East to West and vice versa both ways) expect major a shake up guys ! For example if you ask for Chennai you will get Mumbai, beg for Chandigarh and you’ll get Bangalore or from Delhi you want some centre in the same zone you are sure to get Chennai. This is ‘National Integration’ folks. And don’t you dare crib – you are supposed to be used to getting transferred every 2-3 years. You have served in the defence services blah, blah, blah !! One of my friends has been dogging me for quite some time now, so I will not be surprised if he follows me to my present location too. Pucca news will be available on 5th March – so keep holding your breath till then.

4. Pallav . I just got a call from Pallav this morning. He has joined a multinational company in Bangalore a couple of days back. I asked him how he had taken to the new organization. His words were “like a fish to water”. He says that he has been on a sabbatical for four years from the private sector to which he has now returned. I expect to see him more often now. Here is wishing him luck in his new assignment.

PS. All the above headings start with a ‘P’. This is coincidental but if you look after your ‘P’s the ‘Q’s will take care of themselves !!