In some respects our services are still living in a colonial era with much of their ethos dating back to that period. While there is nothing wrong with retaining some good factors of that period, there is certainly no need to behave like our erstwhile lords and masters used to do in the pre-Independence days.
Unfortunately, today's blog brings out yet another aberration in the system wherein the 'system' has become such that each senior officer blindly emulates what other senior officers have been doing, particularly those who preceded, with the cumulative effect that many of their doings not only look incongruous to the present day rank and file, but they also look positively ridiculous.
In the present instance we have a letter which has been circulated to the subsidiary units of a formation in order to inform them of the diet preferences of the General Officer Commanding lest he visits their unit and they have to host him.
Take a look at the minute manner in which each of his preferences have been spelled out. Right from what he would like for breakfast to the type of 'Dal' he prefers (Arhar, Chana, Dhuli Masoor, Dhuli Moong, Sabut Masoor) and the manner in which his tomatoes must be cooked (without the skin).
To an outsider it looks nothing short of a joke, but rest assured, all this is quite normal in the olive green world. However, questions have now begun to be raised over such inane stuff being put forth to cater to the whims and fancies of senior officers. Let us further examine what the General Officer likes to consume.
The AAG who has sent off the letter further amplifies that under no conditions is coriander to be used in cooking and that the General is quite partial to chicken tikka and chicken seekh kabab as snacks. These snacks he presumably enjoys when he is having a taste of Napolean brandy, Vat 69 or Teachers. However, during official briefings he restricts his like to "assorted biscuits" and tea.
Not a frugal eater, he also likes to have a dish of chicken or fish during lunch and dinner along with the routine dal, vegetables, salad, chapati, rice etc.
The letter also specifies that these are just basic guidelines which have to be adhered and for anything specific the Staff Officer to the GOC can be contacted.
What day and age are we living in? Can we not move forward and focus on our job at hand? Even if such ambiguities had crept into the system is it not possible to do away with them and keep up with the times?
The other day I wrote on the hilarious Santa orders. I received a tirade in return. Some of it, which was publishable, has been published in response to that blog. Getting brickbats for telling the truth is not a problem. Closing our eyes to stupidity is.
Wake up and smell the Green Label tea, er, I mean coffee. Before it is too late.
Do the senior echelons read this blog you think? Has there been any response to your articles that would indicate that they do?
ReplyDeleteIt is read by those who should read it.
DeleteOh Great! I it reminds me of a GOC, who later became an Army Cdr. He had given three types of Menu, Platinum, Gold and Silver to Colonel Commanding ASC Battalion and AOC Div Unit. Both the Commanding officers were suppose to contact the ADC of the GOC every day at 1330 to confirm, which menus is to be served at GOC's residence on that particular evening. The Choice of the menu was dependent upon the guest list of the GOC. If senior officers were calling on him, it included Black Label, Glenlivet, varieties of 5 non vegetarian snacks and five course main meal. This continued for more than eighteen months and both the Colonels followed it religiously. Fortunately both retired as Major Generals and the GOC retired as Army Commander.
ReplyDeleteInterestingly, now the same Army Commander, after retirement is surviving on Iron Menu ( Dal Roti) and praising a lot about the qualities of tap water in comparison to Mineral Water.
Aman, time is changing, very soon impact of AAM ADMI PARTY principles will also enter ARMY and the prevalent whims and fancies of the officers like the aforementioned GOC will vanish. By the way, last Army Chief is also desperate to join any of the political party. ha ha h a
It is a sad state of affairs. The sooner such people stop their feudal, colonial activities, the better it will be.
Delete"There is nothing new in the letter and the matter you exposed. It has been going on since ages and will continue so long as seniors think the want to live like Ruling Class i.e. Aurangzeb and Victoria or George V. These styles of living continue till they retire. This practice was in existence even when Gen TN Raina was COAS. After retirement they can't afford even a large peg of Peterscot. Senior Commanders specify even colour of Toilet paper, Cigar make etc to be provided to them during their visit and that too either without any mess bill or nominal bill whereas it should come to more than Rs 1000/- per day. Who can afford to give correct Mess Bill? It is an investment from regimental Fund and Officers Mess Fund. Another form of corruption. Their wives cost still more. Surely Min of Def, CBI, IB, RAW etc are aware of it but who will bell the cat and invite wrath? Col SK Aggarwal, Retd Advocate Panchkula
ReplyDeleteI understand your cynicism Col Aggarwal. But change always takes place, for good or bad.
DeleteThe aim is to ensure that such issues do not remain hidden and are openly discussed so that change happens from within the org and for good.
A one sided view is being taken of the issue. Dietary preferences are circulated for all politicians, civil officials etc who travel a lot. They are usually on a tour more than 15 days a month. Imagine their health if they eats food cooked in so many varieties. It also gives the host a fixed menu to plan his menu.
ReplyDeleteIf you have to find fault, find it if the person concerned does not pay for it, not the type of food he prefers. Misplaced angst, it is!
Indeed. Imagine the GOC CIF Delta's health if he drinks something other than Napolean Brandy, Teachers or VAT 69.
DeleteGet real man. Stop fooling yourself.
He can drink all and what he wants, for Gods' sake. All that is wanted is that he should foot the bill. Rest is all baloney and taking offence where none is meant or given.
DeleteChinna, one thing surprises me. You I believe are a fauzi kid. Yet you revel in showing the warts of the organisation. One can laud that also but your sheer obsession with that is stark. Is there another reason for this apparent single point agenda?? Why I say this is that your normal coverage as reporter is meagre compared to defence; in that too such articles are more than the normal ones. Did your father not get the rank you think he deserved. Bcoz such are the reasons which manifest in the writings of most fauzis/ fauzi kids.....Ajai Shukla ko hi le lo, Praveen Sawhney.... You can always say the betterment of fauz is in my heart. But that is ostensibly not the case and for Godsake dont plead otherwise. The apparent dislike for army seeps thru ur articles as also the glee at exposing it.
ReplyDeleteTell me, if your Editor in Chief was to come to ur house for a meal, would you not like to know his food preferences???
This ranting shows the absolute depths to which some individuals within the system have plunged.
DeleteThe aim to publish such rantings is to show the kind of baseless allegations they level when confronted by facts which they cannot deny or lie about
I only hope that either such individuals get some medical help for their delusions or the organisation posts them at some place where they do not damage its reputation further.
DeleteIt is better if the comments of ANONYMOUS are not put on the blog. They are not only coward but so scared of the system. even after retirement that they would not like to say any thing against the system. No doubt, if there is no health criticism, there is no improvement. BHED CHALL MAT CHALO, Retirement ke baad do badlo. I am afraid,, who these cowards will behave in front of enemy troops. There is s limit to sycophancy.
ReplyDeleteThis is a classic example of institutionalized sycophancy in the army.
ReplyDeleteEarlier all this information was usually verbally obtained from a GOC's adc/so by a CO who was on the visit list of his GOC for the first time . But to issue a 2 page memo and circulate it to all in Delta Force ( and the military hospital too !!) is laughable.
I know the Army is facing an officer shortage, but if the AAG has enough time to churn out this kind of s**t , there are a lot of questions that come to mind.
I am indeed glad you have the moral fibre to bring this and other deplorable practices in the Army to the attention of the aam aadmi. Keep it up!!
army is issuing certain rations 80% of preferences which has been given are to be ex market, and these senior officers have to be presenting examples to Jawans. WHAT ABOUT preferences of Jawans........ Jat eating rice, South Indian eating ROTI and never cribbing about it.............. Gentlemen this is half truth..... the full truth is 80-90 % of such luxury is on the house ----------and few take a subsidised bill........THIS IS THE TRUTH
ReplyDeleteA lot of the ills plaguing the army originate from the humble upbringing/ backgrounds of the officer cadre today. Their career long aspirations are limited to aspiring to reach the top rungs to enjoy the 'perks' (as also to show off to relatives)they have not enjoyed as kids.Unlike previous generations of offrs, today there is virtually no culture of giving back anything worthwhile to units/institutions in a personal capacity. The focus is entirely on cornering freebies. It is sad but the services are no longer a way of life. They have been reduced to another sarkari naukri which young men join because they are eligible for but not passionate about.Officers children who have seen the organisation in better days and who could have helped steady the boat of values prefer other avenues.
ReplyDeleteHumble origins of officers has nothing to do with this degradation. It is a systemic collapse of values and traditions which is the main cause.
DeleteMan if you want to point out everything wrongwith Army iit's fine, India is a democratic country but remember this freedom you have is because of sacrifice of these very Armed Forces guys. Why don't you write about wrong being done to them like lower grade of pay, like non implementation of Non functional upgrade, like one pay retirement iasues. More over I have personally seen you reporters demanding scotch and chicken tikka during interaction with army. This is wrong but what about writing wrong ofyour proprofessional work. Bask in short lived glory in freedom provided by us, cause when we loose our mind there would be no place called free India. It's our blood and lives which adorns thr flag. You want to see how armed forces are treated go to any ministry and see babus sitting behind tables in ac environment questioning reason for exisitng army. You want to see psychophanchy go to any political party or even your own media house. Don't keep rubbing the magic genie wrong way time and again when it is the only remaining bastion of our country. Try writing wrong in all correct police force and you would realise how difficult life is. It's our maturity that we disregard people like you and your comments.
ReplyDeleteThe above commet has been published to reveal the warped mindset of some of these freeloaders or 'freedom fighters' in the Army who think they can get away with anything. They are wrong. They will be exposed.
ReplyDeleteWhat is your greatest weakness is a question most people face in job interviews and it is toughest to answer for many. In the case of the General in question, he can easily answer the question: I am little too particular about what exactly I eat or drink! Not bad considering there could be much worse answers, like: I am unable to openly admit that the current strategy is just not working — no matter how uncomfortable it is, or how much has been invested in getting to that point or how so ever so much my boss is wedded to the idea so far!
ReplyDeleteI wonder what the brouhaha is all about! After, all don't we all try to put our best foot forward when we have a guest, of any type, comes visiting. We all try to make the guest comfortable. And the gentleman who has circulated the list has only tried to help the unit being visited to save on effort and money.
ReplyDeleteIf the list is looked from this point, it makes eminent sense. Rather than have the unit being visited trying to stock up on a larger scale, such a list helps narrow down the provisioning requirement and thereby contribute to savings of time, effort and money.
I am sure that those of us who are vegetarians and have gone to meet an acquaintance for the first time have felt extremely awkward when faced with a table laden with non-vegetarian delights arranged by the host for us just because it was assumed that a person who has travelled a bit round the world WOULD BE A CARNIVORE!!!
I think it is about time that we stop trashing all that is being done and take a practical approach.
Mr Chhina-Sorry you seem to have fired in the wrong direction by quoting this example.
Mr. Chhina,
ReplyDeleteAppreciate your efforts to exposing a so called scandalous practice. However, in all fairness, all you are seemingly bringing to light is the dietary preferences of a visiting "dignitary", if you may. Note that the visiting General is not coming on a pleasure trip, rather it is his duty to inspect a number of units in his formation. nd he has to travel by various means to get there- sometimes the journey is perilous, mostly arduous. If Mr. Chhina has ever left the cushy environs of his office and actually had the 'pleasure" of visiting some of our field formations, he may notice the godforsaken locations they are in. The unit is merely given a standard menu to cater for the visit. I don't see a single exotic demand in there. And what's wrong in eating something that you are used to eating normally, as long as you pay for it. The General's health is quite likely a big factor in asking for a standard menu instead of eating different oily preparations in different units. Has Mr. Chhina seen the mess bill presented to the inspecting General? Or is he basing his criticism on assumptions?
Regards.
Beekay.