I know I will be castigated and made to walk the plank for the title! Fact is that the term ‘rude naval officer’ is an oxymoron, an anomaly. The officer may hurl the choicest expletives and epithets in the work environment or at a stag party of batch mates but in a social environment, he is an epitome of dignity and grace - the quintessential ( Read more... )

The military ingests perfectly normal, fairly intelligent human beings and converts them jnto soldiers. The hard nuts refuse to get digested and are excreted out intact while the pliable ones are metabolized and assimilated into the system.

To be candid, the general populace does carry the impression that defence personnel are a tad dense in their ( Read more... )

 Thanks to globalization, the Indian lifestyle has become a curious blend of the occident and the orient. And one frequently encounters situations of mirth and merriment arising out of this curious mix. I came across one such incident today.

I had gone to the local D Mart with my wife to shop for the monthly groceries.  Inside the hypermarket, I ( Read more... )

There are two primary stereotypes of armed forces officers created by Bollywood in the minds of the general populace. The first is that of the dashing hero who dances and sings in the Regimental Mess, gets the heroine, goes and lays down his life fighting the enemy leaving a grieving but proud widow behind. The second stereotype is that of an ( Read more... )

Recession is biting! And amidst home budget belt tightening, the mistress of the house decreed that my extravagant book buying budget is to be slashed to zero with immediate effect! Funny thing this globalization - some wise guy in Lehman Brothers attempts to subvert the system in America and poor me is deprived of books to read…. Being a wise and ( Read more... )

One of the benefits of spending 22 years in the armed forces is that you can conjure up an anecdote almost at will. I find this attribute very helpful in a social gathering wherein starry eyed pretty women listen very attentively to my fiction-based-on-truth tales. It is indeed unfortunate that no HR Head seems to have been impressed by my story ( Read more... )