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 !!

Lungar Gupp XVII

1. It is believed that the "FILE" has come out of the sanctum-sanctorum on 23rd Feb evening. The contents are, however, still 'TOP SECRET' ( I am referring to the file regarding postings of Security Officers) They should be common knowledge in a short while.
2. One of the last officers to join the Bank from the latest batch of Security Officers (Officers from Central Police Organisations) has reported at the New Delhi office last week. One guy from the same batch at Guwahati resigned from service owing to 'not being treated properly' but withdrew his resignation on second thoughts. It is understood that Guwahati office is NOT having second thoughts on this issue.
3. Of all the preposterous utterings I have heard so far in my service in the Bank the one I am about to recount surely 'takes the cake'. At one of the centres a senior officer has remarked to one of our colleagues " You guys have joined the Bank after being court martialled from the Army, isn't it ?" or words to that effect !! This is the level of maturity and general knowledge some of our so called 'senior officers' have. I am not going to sit on judgement here but 'Thank God' I was not at the receiving end of such a foolish and irresponsible tirade.

Mail Forwards

Here are acouple of good mail forwards which I came across. Contemplate on the first and laugh at the second !!!

This is life....
God created the donkey and said to him:

"You will be a donkey. You will work un-tiringly from sunrise to sunset carrying burdens on your back. You will eat grass, you will have no intelligence and you will live 50 years."

The donkey answered: "I will be a donkey, but to live 50 years is too much. Give me only 20 years"

God granted his wish.

God created the dog and said to him :

" You will be a dog. You will guard the house of man. You will be his best Friend. You will eat the scraps that he gives you and you will live 30 years.”

The dog answered: "Sir, to live 30 years is too much, give me only 15 years. "

God granted his wish.

God created the monkey and said to him :

"You will be a monkey. You will swing from branch to branch doing tricks. You will be amusing and you will live 20 years."
The monkey answered: "To live 20 years is too much, give me only 10 years."

God granted his wish.

Finally God created man and said to him:

"You will be man, the only rational creature on the face of the earth. You will use your intelligence to become master over all the animals. You will dominate the world and you will live 20 years."

Man responded: "Sir, I will be a man but to live only 20 years is very little, give me the 30 years that the donkey refused, the 15 years that the dog did not want and the 10 years the monkey refused.”

And God granted man's wish.

And since then, man lives 20 years as a man, marries and spends 30 years like a donkey, working and carrying all the burdens on his back. Then when his children are grown, he lives 15 years like a dog taking care of the house and eating whatever is given to him, so that when he is old, he can retire and live 10 years like a monkey, going from house to house and from one son or daughter to another doing tricks to amuse his grandchildren.

That's Life. Isn't it ?

Now for some laughter !!!

Access Control and CCTV Articles

N.B. The following two articles have been reproduced from the SecurityPark newsletter. The link to this site is given on the side bar for more details (click on Security News and Articles).

BPT System 300 video door entry system secures Manchester landmark building
The BPT Entry Control Solutions System 300 video door entry and Impro16 proximity access control systems has been installed by Tailored Fire & Security into Great Northern Tower, one of Manchester's most prestigious new developments. Great Northern Tower, a development by George Wimpey City, is a modern, sophisticated building, designed to look like a shard of glass with metal and grey coloured decorative tiles. It features 257 high spec apartments, with 24 hour manned concierge and secure underground parking.

BPT's System 300 video door entry system, which uses just two wires for all video, audio and data signals, providing maximum installation and cost efficiency. System 300 has been used with BPT Lynea monitors in all 257 apartments at Great Northern Tower, a single main digital vandal resistant video entry panel on the main entrance and an IPD-300 porter switchboard at the reception desk. The door entry system has been integrated by Tailored Fire & Security with an Impro16 proximity access control system, also from BPT. Impro16 supports up to 2,000 tags operating 16 doors and allows residents to freely come and go, whilst restricting access to all other visitors, who must then request access via the door entry system.

The system is controlled from a PC on reception and allows all admin tasks to be carried out on site via a GUI, without the need for specialist programming.In addition to controlling the pedestrian entrances at Great Northern Tower, reception also has full control over the car parks and trade entrances. This has been achieved by Tailored Fire & Security linking the BPT switchboard to ten single button vandal resistant audio panels with integral Impro proximity access control readers on the car park and trade entrances.

Tailored Fire & Security Project Manager Ian Gratix is very pleased with his choice of manufacturer for this installation, which is one of the largest the company has done using BPT equipment: "We have used BPT before and found the equipment to be very flexible and our engineers are familiar with it. The price was right as well, plus the client's preferred manufacturer was BPT."

IndigoVision IP Video solution protects Qatar Airport
As part of the preparations for the 15th Asian Games, the Doha International Airport (DIA) in Qatar expanded its main passenger terminal, added new first and business class lounges and increased the capacity of its cargo facilities. The existing analogue CCTV system was replaced with an IndigoVision IP Video solution following an in-depth evaluation of competing technologies by the IT department of QATAR Airways, the managing authority for DIA.

IndigoVision’s IP Video solution is at the heart of a 600 camera CCTV surveillance system at the newly expanded Doha International Airport. The 600 cameras are a combination of PTZ and fixed, with each being connected to an IndigoVision 8000 transmitter/receiver module which converts the analogue feed to DVD quality full-frame rate digital video for transmission over the newly installed LAN.

“In our technical evaluation IndigoVision’s system scored 87%, well ahead of the other systems tested” said Sourav Sinha, Head of IT Department at Qatar Airways. “We were particularly impressed with IndigoVision’s ability to deliver very high quality video with minimal bandwidth, its integration with the access control and alarm systems and the powerful features of the video management software.”

The new system, installed by IndigoVision’s local partner Capital Technology WLL, provides security staff with centralised monitoring of the whole airport complex from one control room located in the main passenger terminal – the furthest camera being located some 5Km away. In addition there are satellite monitoring stations in the cargo terminal and the new first and business class terminal. In total, 11 operators and 2 supervisors use dual-display workstations running ‘Control Center’, Indigovision’s enterprise video and alarm management software.

‘Control Center’ allows operators to monitor live video feeds from any of the 600 cameras and recorded footage from the IndigoVision Networked Video Recorders (NVR). Ten NVRs have been installed to provide a redundant recording solution that can record in excess of 30 days of video from all cameras at 4CIF 25fps, via 225TB of Raid 5 storage. The flexibility of IndigoVision’s IP Video means that a ‘Control Center’ workstation can be located at any point on the network, which has allowed the location of further workstations in the DIA CEO’s office and with the Qatar Airways security supervisor.

Capital Technology also installed a new access control system that was fully integrated into ‘Control Center’ to provide full alarm management. The tight integration of alarms with video management in ‘Control Center’ allows the virtual matrix to be driven by alarm events, e.g. a salvo of cameras can be displayed when an alarm is raised from a given access point. IndigoVision’s compression technology minimises bandwidth requirements and ensures that the operators view video that is indistinguishable from analogue. This project demonstrates IndigoVision’s IP Video technology is flexible and provides CCTV solutions that cannot be matched by traditional analogue systems.

Noteworthy Snippets

1. A few days back I got a call from Maj Avasthi from Guwahati. He was in a tizzy as the MASI had suggested closing down of the toilet within the CVPS at that centre. His problem was that the locals were raising cain on that issue. At that centre all issues ultimately take a "local vs outsider" hue so his apprehensions were not misplaced. I informed him that this was an all India issue and compliance has already been done at most places (Bangalore included). He was wondering that where will all this (strengthening of security arrangements) end ?? To quote him" what will come next" ? To this my response, in the instant case, was - we may have see through clothes for CVPS staff in future or maybe see through smocks sans underclothes so as to ensure that nothing can be concealed anywhere. Avasthi was one up in declaring that it was better to install CCTV cameras in the toilet rather than closing it down. Come to think of it - not a bad idea to have one dome camera on the ceiling and one in the WC (waterproof type) to deter potential pilferers !!! One other option is to issue disposable pouches ( like the ones jet fighters use ) to all members of the staff working in the CVPS.

2. The other noteworthy development at Guwahati is that Security Officers are no longer being used as 'bodyguards'. Threats form ULFA (real or perceived) almost always work at that place. This scenario is at times exploited by some of the locals to acheive their aims as well.

3. Careless whispers are doing the rounds at 'North Block' (this is the new name given to our central office by one of the youngsters here). These are regarding the annual transfers in our cadre. It is understood that a lot of youngsters have applied for transfers. Some have even got alternative avenues lined up to take care of 'worst case scenarios'. Well the grapevine from 'North Block' is that the transfers will be handled by the DGs office !! ( some level jumping I must say !!). Nobody is willing to stir up a hornets nest by trying to do this exercise. Well, let us see which way the cookie crumbles.

Widgets on my Blog

I have just added the following widgets to my blog (on the right side bar) :

1. Mini clock to show you the date and time (lest you get too engrossed). Even the users can choose their own style and personalize their experience.

2. Videos from 'YouTube'. Just click on any video and you will be taken to the YouTube site and you can then either view the chosen video or any other one depending on your fancy.

3. Music charts from last.fm Click on any song to listen to that particular track through last.fm or any other artiste of your choice.

Owing to the addition of the said widgets, the blog may take a bit longer to open. In case of a broadband connection this lag is minimal. Ditto for surfing links and the widgets !! Apologies to dial-up connection users (time to go for an upgrade guys !!)