TRAVELOGUE CORBETT- PART II (20 & 21 MAR 2016

The day in the wilderness began with invigorating sounds of chirping birds. If you read Jim Corbett's book "Jungle Lore", you would be fascinated with the sounds of birds and insects. Each sound has a meaning and indicates happiness, fear or anxiety as the animals too live their lives. These sounds can propel humans to understand nature's sensitivity and their role in conservation along with the morality as a seminal trait.

Jim lived in these parts of India till 1950s before he migrated to Kenya for his business and remains buried there. He remained such a strong personality that in the spring of 1985, a film crew came to his hometown Kaladhoongi to shoot a film on his life. Suddenly, an old Kumaoni man of about 80 Years arrived to meet "Carpet Sahib" as he was fondly called by locals. The man had heard that Carpet Sahib had arrived at his home and he traveled 100 Kilometers in 2 days flat to meet his icon!! This generation has long gone. If you ask an average Kumaoni today, you may be surprised with their answers about Corbett. Corbett name today is about business and the writ of business runs larger than the Corbett persona.

As ,I powered the 4×4 Duster through the winding roads in and around Kaladhoongi and criss-crossed the jungles,I could vividly imagine Corbett walking through many of these areas along with the majestic animals and flora. The tell tale signs of the animals are written large over the signboards which guide humans to be careful with nature and not to walk alone into the woods. Humans never walk alone in any case. We come in droves with all sorts of fancy gadgets and each one of us does our bit of damage to the ecological system. Some of us steal the woods,many of us dump the litter and in the end it is the quintessential selfie which remains our only possession till another one replaces it!!

The Sivalik hills have eroded- the greens are a pale shadow of their rich past. Maybe, if Carpet Sahib comes back,he will not even recognize these zones. I drove slow and steady keeping my headlights on to forewarn the speedsters who kept zipping on the curvy roads. Dried up Kosi River,threw up many questions as its white boulders devoured each drop of the little rain that came by as a welcome note. 

 I did not see any animal other than some small birds and the jungle was silent. I did get a resolute salute from Pankajkali,a tame elephant as she dropped the Safari tourists.

Somewhere,deep inside these woods, a Tiger would be looking up as its home is getting shrunk each day. Would the gracious animal survive to stitch another Jungle Lore? The naked hills,the dried up river and the pale yellow woods all silently weep as the Big Cat puts its head on its paws and its intestines churn. The Tiger is no match to the technology of today. Maybe the game would have been perfect if human would have fought it one on one with the Tiger. Alas, humans are not known for fair deals and sound decisions.

I am powering back to New Delhi now and leaving yet another beat in Corbett's Zone. Looking forward to yet another trip down here and a prayer that we must do a little for the Jungles.

TRVELOGUE CORBETT- PART I (18 & 19 MAR 2016)

The heat of the moments and constant throbbing of the brain was becoming a constant feature at New Delhi. I had hung my Military Uniform on 31 Dec 2014 and was fortunate to get some money as my retirement benefits. I parked almost 1/3rd of the bounty into a 4×4 Renault Duster to keep following my passions. The Duster joined my Vehicle Collection, but, the trips out of New Delhi just dried up. Last year,in 2015, I could squeeze a week out only to get holed in Chennai,raise a beard and just pray to get our son into an Engg College. Phew! I look back and firmly realize- it was not my Class XIIth,right?

The hanging of Uniform and move to the Corporate World can really blow the steam out of a human. The grind began and the Duster kept aching in Delhi. Finally, after 13 months of plying 4×4 on Delhi roads,my passion to know more about Jim (Corbett) propelled me and family out of Delhi and we finally began the drive.

We got out of New Delhi after a 2.5 hours of struggle through Delhi,Indirapuram and Ghaziabad. The traffic just seems to be ballooning up in NCR. Whatever infrastructure gets created seems to get gobbled up in no time. Ah,my beloved Delhi!!.

A pit stop at Hapur on Highway Haldiram charged my energies and the sweet Lassi put sucrose into the brain. The drive till Ramnagar was good and here we met the Harley boys from Chandigarh led by a tall Sikh. The Harleys drove along with us and it was fun as the Green Duster and Orange,Silver and Black Harleys Fat Bob,883,1200 etc captured imagination of onlookers. Whoa,this is life!!

Now,we are breaking out at Samsara Wildlife Resort and having a break with nature. Tigers and Leopards have gone into hiding and oblivion along with Old Jim. We went to Kaladhoongi yesterday and paid respect to Jim. He must have been a great man and lived a great life. I have read his autobiography a couple of times and it is intriguing. Maybe,we have never seen those beautiful animals who walked in line with Jim!

It will take at least 20 more trips to Corbett to finally proclaim that I have been to all those places which Jim walked and left his footprint on. Keep alive Jim,we need many more of your ilk to keep nature alive. 

A day more here today before we set off back to work and take charge of lives. Lots of new ideas have come in and work would become much easier with better analytics and graphs speaking volumes towards corrective courses. Chirping birds are adding on to the thinning down of Adrenalin. After all, humans cannot keep Adrenalin pumping always and pit stops are required to charge up the brain ,heart and other vital organs.

Looking forward to the day in wilderness.

RIPPING FAULTLINES

Admiral Sergei Gorshkov was appointed at the helm of the Soviet Navy in 1956 at age 45 and went on to command it till 1985. This duration of 29 years saw the Soviet Union’s expansion into a global sea power. Gorshkov’s 29 years as the Soviet Navy’s Chief demonstrated that he was not only a survivor and but also an extremely patient man. His tenure saw through five Soviet leaders in the post-Stalin period. This speaks volumes about his ability to play his political cards right with the Kremlin. He also survived a defense structure dominated by WWII-era party officials fixated on land power and Red Army marshals who were contemptuous and ignorant of naval matters in equal measure. Thus, Gorshkov clearly understood the limits of inter-service rivalry and intellectual rigor within the Soviet system.

Gorshkov penned forth his vision of sea power, Russia’s maritime heritage and destiny, and the naval component called    Operational Art. Gorshkov’s writings led to vigorous debates amongst Soviet naval experts in the West and established a strategic discourse for the superpower naval rivalry that, in hindsight, was truly remarkable. He was, if we may conclude, successful in bridging various fault lines which emerged as he led the Soviet Navy through the tumultuous 29 years wherein the Cold War ran at its peak.

This analogy leads us to an interesting debate which emerges on the fault lines which have been ripping the world apart in various human arenas. Each and every field of human life is seeing ripping fault lines cracking up the domains within no time. Each new fault line shifts the strategy to new corners and seams of the arenas are always getting torn apart. Can we name even a single arena where the issues are closed and chaos does not prevail?

These are interesting times. Humans have developed interesting traits. There are hardly any followers now. Each human is a leader in his or her own right. In majority of the cases, even if they follow a leader, it is for certain gains and if there are any pains then the followers simply vanish. The shift of focus is fast, furious and premature exits are the norms of the society. The challenge build up each day and not on each day the human are willing to take the challenge head on. The energy levels of each human are different and so are the capabilities. Getting a bunch to think alike for the progress of the society hardly finds any takers!!

The deep penetration of social media should have been a boon for the humans. Even in this arena, the fault lines have ripped apart the thought processes. The smallest of the issue has multiple confused solutions which eventually do not lead humans anywhere near the peace, prosperity and joy that humans always strive for. Agitations, threats, insinuations, sedition are the buzzwords of these times. Stability has been lost in a myriad of desires and broken dreams. Cracks and fissures are competing with each other at a maddening pace.    

What do humans actually need? This definition seems to have blurred approaches and therefore is the natural cause for ripping fault lines. Every human wants to breathe, but it seems that they only want to breathe for themselves. There is no space left for others to join and to gain happiness. The only bright spark is that all is not lost yet. There is scope of getting around and getting better. Maybe, many of us need to calm ourselves down and take a strong look at the future. A fractured World will be of no use to man or mankind. Calm and peaceful humanity would bring about the best results to soothe the pains. It seems to be easier said than done, but, it is not difficult to achieve either.

Each one of us in our own arena needs to calm down the nerves of our associates and to guide them to plug their own fault lines. A little help at the correct time can prevent the small issues to escalate into a full-fledged fault line. Probably, this is exactly what Admiral Gorshkov achieved many a times in his 29 year long stint as the Soviet Navy’s Chief. It must not have been easy for him to have lived through five political leaders and to put the Soviet Navy on the path of growth. With each change at the helm, Admiral Gorshkov would have meshed his plans, plugged the gaps and ensured that no fault lines are created.

Calm heads and clear visionaries are the need of the hour in any Organization. Only those organizations, where a clear path is shown and smooth movement of people is ensured will grow in the fault line strewn world. These professionals would be able to bridge the gaps and ensure that they do not topple. Each one would have to carry many individuals with them to spread the message farther and farther. The ripping fault lines are moving at a hectic pace and time is absolutely right to plug them up. The results of plugging the fault lines will bring in the much human desired and long lasting peace, prosperity and happiness.  

So, if you need to live a smooth life, get up and hold some one’s hand to stop him or her from creating yet another fault line to rip the World apart. Do you have it in you, eh?

FIRE THAT IMAGINATION

World War-II saw a pitched battle at Atlantic Ocean, Pacific Ocean and Mediterranean Sea. The battle was fought between the U –Boats and the Allied Ships. According to the War Shipping Administration, the U.S. Merchant Marine suffered the highest rate of casualties of any service in World War II. Officially, a total of 1,554 ships were sunk due to war conditions, including 733 ships of over 1,000 gross tons. The colossal battle reached its frenzy many a times even as the Oceans kept on throwing multifarious challenges to the navigation and control of vessels on either side. These battles saw many a men fire their imaginations and setting the records straight.

It was a black night and a strong westerly was heaving the Atlantic Ocean. The U- Boat was on surface and heavy rain was falling from the top. The visibility was almost dead zero, but, there was a sparkle in the blue eyes of the U-Boat’s Commanding Officer Kapitan Karl Wachter. He was keen to slip inside an Allied convoy, unseen and therefore welcomed the wind, waves and the stinging rain. His imagination was all fired up.

Somewhere close in the Atlantic Ocean, Captain Donald Macintyre was holding the compass binnacle on the open bridge of his Destroyer Herperus. He was all fired up and steering at the end of the convoy. His Officers and Men were continuously hunting for U-Boats and to safeguard their convoy.

Karl Wachter ordered a dive of his U-Boat to periscope depth and scanned the area. His sonar picked up the trace of convoy ahead and starboard (right) side of him. Wachter surfaced the U-Boat and searched, but there was nothing that he could find. The ocean was unending and the waves continued to batter the U-Boat. He dived again and got the bearings checked again. There was a constant bearing gain and Wachter surfaced to close to the target. Zero visibility was adding fuel to Wachter’s burning desire to carry out an attack on the Convoy ships.

Donald Macintyre was leaving no stone unturned to save his convoy and soon as he saw a blip on his radar, 5 miles astern, he shouted U-Boat and ordered a high speed turn. The alarm gongs went ringing and the big Destroyer straightened out and ran at full speed down the radar bearing. The imaginations were running based on calculations. Karl Wachter had not imagined such a quick turn of events. He thought that he was well hidden in wind, waves and rain. It was late when he ordered a swing to starboard (right) when he saw Hesperus , bow –wave creaming, running down at him out of the rain.

The U-Boat went into an urgent dive and Macintyre had seen his prey. He went silent as the U-Boat disappeared and then laid down a pattern of depth charges which inflicted severe damage onboard the U-Boat. The gauge glasses shattered as depth charges continued to explode all around. The battering was so severe that some battery cells cracked and pungent chlorine gas leapt across to capture the compartment volume. Wachter continued to dive the boat deeper. The crew fought bravely and restored the emergency lighting and one of her motors. The U-Boat started limping slowly. A difficult decision lay ahead and the only hope of U-Boat was on surface. Wachter pulled all his imagination to his side and surfaced the U-Boat. Soon as he surfaced, the good luck prevailed and both her diesels fired to life. Wachter saw the Destroyer less than 300 meters away and swung the U-Boat to its stern to vanish in the rain squall.

The Destroyer was turning around too and fired its guns onto the U-Boat. Wachter positioned his stern tubes towards the Ship and fired a salvo of torpedoes. The heavy sea were making the matters worse and the torpedoes missed their intended targets. The firing on either side was now to defend their respective skins but imaginations were running wild. Both Wachter and Macintyre were facing ferocious weather and each other’s capabilities. They both had orders in hands to finish their respective enemies, but, at this stage both lay in a different situation. The 3^rd dimension of rain, wind and heavy seas added difficult factors to this hunt. In their hearts, both had a silent admiration for each other as darkness engulfed once again around them. They both had to live for another day of action and slowly both drifted into respective darkness envelopes to steer clear of the Harm’s Way. Wachter and Macintyre were living the imaginations of their leaders and their national interests. To execute those imaginations, they had to match the mission requirements using their own imaginations. Imaginations are fluid in nature and continuously merit changes as per changing situations. If the situation changes and the corresponding imagination is not changed, the results can be catastrophic.

Imagination is the bedrock of humanity. The capability to imagine and then to build upon that imagination has been the hallmark of humans. After all humans have the niche capabilities of being able to do almost each kind of activity which other living things can do in limited quantum. This is a great gift to the mankind and its correct utilization is the responsibility of each human. However, imagination knows no bounds. Therefore, imagination has the capability to run wild. The capability to run wild leads to chaos as targets of each imagination are different. Should this deter from imagining? Imagine humans must and worthwhile should they imagine. In each one’s own way, the humans will continue to imagine and lead their lives. Each life in turn becomes a cog to churn the big wheels of society.

Now, is the time to think big. Should the humans fire their imaginations and in which direction? This is a dilemma for many humans and their imaginations take them to choppy waters in their respective life. Do they have the capability to understand that their lives gravitate towards difficult ends due to their skewed imaginations? Does anyone ever guides them? Who are their role-models? Majority blame their circumstances for their lives. They do things without realizing the repercussions of their actions. Can they be helped or guided? This is the time and topic to ponder.

We end up following various humans as role models. These are the people who fire their imaginations at the correct time and ensure that they do actions to love up to those dreams. Imagine big, imagine good and imagine correct- Life would not go astray if the path to imagination is laid out well. After all, it is the power to imagine which keeps the World moving on its axis. Let us endeavor to fire our imagination in the right direction and touch scores of lives in our human arena to motivate them to imagine for good. Humanity thrives belligerently in chaos. The reverse is also true that inventions occur when chaos prevails. Imagination is the key to keep the chaos under control.

So, are you willing to fire your imagination to better this World and to live a peaceful life?