WOW: Give Me A Magic Wand And I Will…

Who doesn’t want a magic wand to use, just like they show in the fairytale movies. So here I am, this weekend, letting my thoughts run really wildly over what would happen if I get my hands on a magic wand and led all my extreme fantasies come to life in reality. A note of caution is that in these wishes and thoughts there are a few instances where human existence does not matter to me, that’s how it is there. Here it is all without any sequential order and just as they come into my mind-

· The magic wand would enable me to get my hands around the iron pillar in the Qutab Minar complex. Stretchable hands I don’t mind but let me have it.

· The Black Taj would be constructed overnight and the white Taj would be restored to its former white glory. In fact, monuments all around the world would be reinstated to the condition where they were one day after they were finally completed. That would mean that there would be no effects of time, weather on them. They would be as new as they were centuries ago.

· All the ugly, nonsensical graffiti and handwriting that the Indian public has carved on the monuments would vanish just like that and they would get an invisible coating which would prevent any more love stories being written on the walls of the historical monuments.

· The biggest of all- the ozone layer would be fully repaired and if the need arises, a second ozone layer would come up on top of the present one so that the earth becomes cooler.

· All the things taken by various countries over the years from India world be back and automatically kept in the safest of protection zones from where they can’t be moved. This includes the Kohinoor diamond and the peacock throne too.

· Every year, hundreds of people climb Mount Everest and Everest itself grapples from the problem of garbage left behind by the Mountaineers. One swoosh of the magic wand and every bit of garbage left behind by the Mountaineers would be cleaned up and would come down to the cities from where they can be properly disposed of and recycled.

· Continuing on the same front, the bodies of air crash victims, Mountaineers who died on various mountains and all would be magically retrieved and they would be handed over to their respective family members instead of them being preserved in the icy cold mountains.

· Now this is a fun part from my side. I would wave my magic wand and every bit of is gotten wealth collected by the politicians of India would automatically go into the fund, which would enable the defence forces of India to make their necessary purchases of hardware, equipment, weapons at ease without having to worry the amount of burden it would put on the exchange. So the forces could be modernised and fully equipped at the expense of the politicians money which in turn is a public money in the first instance. Well, I have a biasness towards the armed forces so I would wish the money to be diverted to them.

· The so-called transformers type resurrection would happen in the case of INS Vikrant and it would automatically be converted into a naval museum. A far cry from its present state where it fell into the greed of the politicians and was sold as mere scrap to a business group who did nothing but used for its own purposes and then decided to show off its patriotism.

· All the products in the world having been discarded right now would be recycled in a very unique and different way. All the products which have been not recycled and thrown away as garbage would go many steps back towards their manufacturing stage, having being broken up into the raw materials. To get a clear picture of this, let me give you an example, suppose there is some unused product which is made up of wood and has now been discarded. The wood from all such products which have been so discarded would automatically go back and become a tree again and that tree would reclaim the spot from where it was first cut down.

In this way, all such wasted, discarded natural resources would go back to the places where they were before they were extracted or cut down by usage in various products. If the place from where said tree was cut, now houses some homes where humans are living, that tree would grow back into the very same spot, even if it means that the humans have to now displace themselves. Another type of reverse is where there is a mixture of various raw materials coming together to make one product. Supposedly a tyre making company at full storage capacity of new tires in terms of raw materials and a few tires need to be reborn. The tire would be bifurcated into the raw materials and those raw materials would displace an equivalent amount of raw materials from the already full capacity production facility. The raw materials now free would go back into the same states as they would went back to be a tree again.

In this way the wastage of things would help mother nature get back a lot of the green and forest cover it has lost over time in centuries to the greed of the human race.

· All such kid products which were discontinued over the years would be back- Gold spot, Bonkers, Uncle chips in its former avtar, Amul chocolates and a lot more.

You can very well see that on my magic wand has not done anything which would help in increasing the greed of the human race. There has been no increase in production capacity of the factories or storage as they would facilitate more cutting down of the natural resources.

Well this is my magic wand and this is my craziness so this is what I want my magic wand to do for me..

‘This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda.’

Heroes: Eagles over Kargill - Indian Air Force and summer of 99.

This small post is a salute to the Indian Air force for its role in the `99 Kargil conflict. There are numerous stories all documented , shown, published and even telecasted with regards to the heroics of the Indian Army…there is not that much about the Indian Air force in any of the media and whatever is there is mostly fragmented or even too technical. This post is stitching together all that events which happened during the summer of 99. 

This is also a breakaway from the usual poetry mode of narratives which are usually a feature of these posts in the Heroes series.... 

Even before the air force opened up its doors for woman combat pilots as fighter pilots, 2 women were already a part of the war in the summer. Flt. Lt. Gunjan Saxena and Flt. Lt. Vidya Rajan were providing support as air observation officers in their cheetah helicopters, well within the range of pak artillery and shoulder fired missiles range. They were well engrossed in the job giving target information and damage assessment to the Indian fighters.

The IAF lost few air warriors in the process – Squadron Leader Ajay Ahuja was captured and killed in cold blood after he had to do an ejection while providing cover to the name many must have heard then- Group capt. Nachiketa who was the only POW from the IAF to have been captured and then returned to India. Nachiketa and Ajay Ahuja were on a strike mission when the rocket salvo fired by Nachiketa in his MIG 27 from heights well at the very limits of such weapons in the very thin air of Kargill, led to an engine flameout and he had to eject. Ajay Ahuja decided to provide cover to Nachiketa for the rescue while being in the range of SAM ( shoulder fired surface to air missiles). His MIG 21 was hit and he had to eject as well. He never made to india alive as his bullet ridden body was handed over to India days later. 

The current Chief of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Birender Singh Dhanoa, was the boss of Ajay Ahuja and on 27.5.2017 BS Dhanoa flew the missing man formation in MIG 21 to honour Ahuja and all the fallen comrades during the war.

What happened at Muntho Dhalo : On 27 May 1999 at about 10.30 am in the morning, six aircrafts -- four MiG 27 fighters on attack role and two MiG-21 fighters in escort role -- took off from Srinagar. Their mission was to bomb Muntho Dhalo, the biggest Pakistani supply base in the Batalik Sector. As the MiG-27 fighters struck Muntho Dhalo, first with bombs and then with rockets, the engine of the MiG-27 flown by Flight Lieutenant Nachiketa would flame out, forcing him to eject. Squadron Leader Ajay Ahuja and Flying Officer Reddy were following-in on the attack in two separate MiG-21s to assess the damage caused by the bombing. Their mission was to photograph the damage. "Squadron Leader Ahuja had Global Positioning System (GPS) on his aircraft -- something not very common those days -- and therefore he decided to locate where Flight Lieutenant Nachiketa had ejected and send back the GPS coordinates so that he could be rescued," said a senior IAF officer who was part of the mission but didn't want to be named. He added, "A little later Flying Officer Reddy was low on fuel was sent back to base by Squadron Leader Ahuja. He knew that Muntho Dhalo was defended by missiles but decided to carry on and try and locate Flight Lieutenant Nachiketa. The worst would follow. Squadron Leader Ahuja was hit by Stinger missile. Although, he would eject safely and parachute down, he was shot dead by Pakistani soldiers."

The 1st mission of the force was over Tololing where the Wing Commander of the Squadron himself flew in the very first sortie. Tololing attack was the same time when IAF was employing attack choppers. 4 choppers with 128 rockets in total were on a attack run when one was shot by a SAM and IAF lost 4 air warriors. 

Srinagar Airport was off limits for civilian transport and was in under complete control of the army and the airforce. Elsewhere too, the various airbases were a buzz of activity too. Ground crew did not care about their work timings as they worked well past their time and into the overtime loading fighters with weapons and eventually came the reply, “ Overtime can be worked out later on, fighters need to be prepared right now.” The force also gave permission to them to post various graffiti on the bombs which were to be dropped, something which happens rarely. 

The fighters used to create avalanches and landslides in majority of cases because of the very steep slope of them coming into the targets and the target being just tiny dots in the snowy terrain. Bombs on target were dropped from as high as 5-6 kms because below that the fighters were in range of counter fire. Bombs were dropped at points where the resultant explosions would create avalanches and landslides at supply lines and therefore destruct the enemy logistics system. The IAF worked in seemingly tight restrictions as they were not allowed to cross the LOC and also the fact that they were fearful that any munition might hit the friendly forces who were almost eyeball to eyeball at various places. The workhorses like the MIG 21, 23, and the various other strike fighters who did not have updated avionics and target guidance systems for targeting of bombs, the pilots in those crafts carried handheld GPS systems to bring in a wave of innovation when close fire support was needed to be provided to the infantry.

The MIG 29 were tasked to provide interceptor and top cover support to the strikers and they also had the authorisation from the high command to chase down any enemy F-16 fighters which may try to engage the strike force. Thankfully, the F-16 never engaged once during the Kargil conflict. 300 sorties were flown alone by the MIG 29. Jaguars, who are primarily used to neutralise attacks over land and sea were also pressed into service when they were fitted with cameras and pressed into photo recon missions.

The 3 main turning points in the conflict were the bombing of an oil dump at Kukartham, the striking of the logistics camp at Muntho Dhalo and the now iconic image of a laserguided bomb striking the top of Tiger Hill from a mirage 2000. Dhalo was a major supply camp, which supplied to a lot of forward posts in the area. Mirage were actually on a different mission when the cameras picked up a cluster of huts and settlements in the blinding snow. Within a few hours the same fighters dropped in 24 , 250 kg bombs and totally destroyed that area. At 16,500 feet Tiger Hill was an important feature to be captured and a mirage dropped in a laserguided bomb totally destroying that bunker and making the intruders think that they were under the hammer now. These fighters flew normally 40 sorties a day from the inception till the end of the war. After the bombing of Tiger Hill, this is the message the IAF received from the Army headquarters-

You guys have done a wonderful job. Your Mirage boys with their precision laser-guided bombs targeted an enemy battalion headquarters in Tiger Hill with tremendous success… . The enemy is on the run. They are on the run in other sectors also. At this rate, the end of the conflict may come soon.

Laser designator at tiger hill

These all might be small incidences which people might not have known or forgotten in the last 18 years but these are such small important clogs in the wheel which complete the bigger picture. You might read them in bits and pieces over the Internet but when you look at it overall, would you realize that what part the IAF played in the whole conflict and what losses they also had to incur on their side.

We at Memories salute the contribution of each and every air warrior right from fighter pilots, chopper pilots to every last ground crew who did their bit in helping us take back what was rightfully ours. A salute to them all.

तुम्हारी हाँ का इंतज़ार है मुझे...

तुम्हारी हाँ का इंतज़ार है मुझे

ख़ामोशी से किये बहुत सवाल हैं तुम्हारी आँखों में

अपने दिल को महफूज़ रखने चली हो तुम, है भी यह बड़ा बेईमान

मुझसे लगने से डरता है , शायद इसीलिए बेवजह दूरी बना रही हो तुम

खुद तोड़ रही हो दिल अपना और तुमसे दूर हो जाने के डर से बिखर 

रहा है मेरा दिल

यह आँखों और दिल के बीच चुप छुपाने की रस्म भी अजीब है

दिल हाँ कहना चाहता है मगर आँखें तुम्हारी न जाने क्यूँ उस बात का

इज़हार नहीं करतीं

आँखों का दर्द कोशिश करता है कहने कि पढ़ लो मेरे अन्दर छुपे प्यार

को मगर न जाने क्यूँ तुम खुद ही अपनी आँखों की पहरेदार बन जाती

हो ?

“ तू वक़्त बर्बाद कर रहा है मेरे पीछे “ कह कर पता नहीं तुम दूरियां 

बनाना चाहती हो या मेरे अन्दर के जिद्द की इन्तेहा देखना चाहती हो?

तुमको पाने की यह जिद्द किसी शर्त का हिसा नहीं, हिस्सा है तो दिल 

के उस हिस्से की जो कहता है मुझसे, “ यह ख़ास है तेरे लिए”

तुम्हारी हाँ का इंतज़ार है मुझे.....

अब दिल भी क्या जाने कि यह ख़ास हाथ थामने का तो कब से 

इंतज़ार कर रहा है, बस अभी दूरियां बनाकर रखे हुए है मुझसे

“ मुझसे और अच्छी मिल जायेंगी तुम्हें” कहते वक़्त वो आँखों के 

किनारे से जो आंसूं चुपचाप छलकने लगता है वो दिख जाता है मुझे , 

उसको रोकने की नाकाम कोशिश करती हो तुम

यकीं मानो, तुम जो करती हो न यह सब, उससे दर्द होता है मुझे भी

लड़का हूँ इसलिए कह भी नहीं सकता अपना दर्द 

इश्क में प्यार करने की वजह गिनाई जा सकती काश, तो बता  

सकता तुम्हें 

शायद यह लफ्ज़ बयाँ कर पाते तुम्हारे ख़ास होने की वजह

चोट खाने से डरने वाले वाले दिल को किले की मज़बूत चाहरदीवारी 

से घेरने का फायदा नहीं

दिल ने कभी घेरे में रहना सीखा ही कहाँ है ?

तुम्हारी हाँ का इंतज़ार है मुझे

पता मुझे भी है कि आईने के सामने खड़ी होकर मुस्कुराती हो

रोज़ एक जंग लडती हो न हाँ और न के बीच ?

कुछ पल अकेला नहीं बैठना चाहती क्यूंकि तभी उस पलों कि यादें

सताती हैं

तुम्हारी हाँ का इंतज़ार है मुझे, तुम्हारी हाँ सुननी है मुझे

उसी छलकते आंसू के साथ जिसको गिरने से छुपाती हो

हम दोनों की ही भीगी पलकों के साथ, तुम्हारी हाँ....

The story behind this- These lines attempt to show the mindset of the guy when he loves his friend. Majority of girls although love the boy but dont know why they don’t express that love. Only they know why do they look for their heart and in the process don’t speak yes although their eyes speak otherwise. Its a mystery no one can be to decode and these lines try to go on the same situation when the boy knows she loves him but is instead pushing him away ..