‘AFTER ACTION REPORT’ (AAR) on 28th NDA GOLDEN GOA GET-TO-GETHER
(GGG - JUNE 2015)
In the Navy, we do have a ‘ Debrief ’ and a ‘Report’ I am sure but whether it is called an ‘After Action Report’ (AAR) or something else, I am not too sure.
If you are on board a Warship, then, if after action, you are still afloat, then during RAS ( Replenishment at Sea) whilst taking in Rations , water & fuel etc., , the Fleet Commander will send in a ‘Bag Containing a Gift’ ( if you have done a good job!!) which is invariably a nice ‘Bottle of Champagne’ or an fine expensive
wine!! If not you will “ Get a Bottle” by an ‘ Personal & Exclusive ‘ Signal & in the AAR, he will write your fortune for sure !!
However, we, without going into any ‘Action’ / ‘Battle’ recently, saw so many & opened bottles !! Lots of good Whiskeys, Wines & Cocktails, etc., and gourmet food at St Tropez @ SSHV , Cavala & Cheeno’s and I think we deserve it !!
Now on a more serious note ( is there a need to be serious ?), formally, I wish to convey that it was a pleasure and a honour to get an opportunity to organize the “Golden Goa Get-to-gether (GGG) 28th NDA Course Reunion” at Goa from 19th Jun to 23rd Jun 2015 on the occasion of completing 50 years of our passing out from our alma mater NDA which took place on 29th May 1965. (To celebrate 50 Glorious years of Togetherness as coined by KK).
Mind you, you can imagine how lucky I am & my selflessness ( in doing all that I did) as I am going to be celebrating the same again in Nov/Dec 2015 with the 29thCourse and will try to get Jai Chaco, Avinash Bhasin and 9 other ‘Naval Dopes’, ex 28th ( as the Pongo’s used to call us) over to Goa.
The idea of hosting the GGG at Goa was out of sheer affection for you ‘Diler’ guys as I could not believe that you all, from a 1 Polluted City ( Delhi, Mumbai or Pune etc.,), will all fly to B’lore ( another Polluted City) and try to celebrate; I am very sure that the B’lore Boys would have pulled off a lovely ‘Get to Gether’ as anywhere else but your health was my major concern; did you all feel a shade better after 4 days here? Ask your ‘Lungs’!! LOL!!
I shared the idea of hosting the event with Sharat Anand who promptly acted as the motivating factor & got into the act of shaping it with all earnestness.
K. K. Nanda (Secretary of GJC-’12) was roped as he was armed with all the finer points of getting the course together moving. We also roped in Ashim Choudhary who has similar expertise.
We interacted on daily basis and what fun it was. Record, 1 Hr 10 min talk with KK on one day and that too while he was outside the ICU with a ‘Mask’ on. I really felt bad to disturb Sharat Anand in the Golf Course but his ‘Foursome’ was very tolerant too; whether they are still with him or they have moved on to another, I am not too sure!!
Our better halves were very tolerant indeed despite not getting much attention during the 5 months as they were used to earlier.
My aim was to make the GGG, fun filled, easy paced tension free enjoyable ‘Get Together’ in the Coastal Belt of North Goa.( Instead of Golf, PT, Drill & Equitation ( a bit of front rolling for those still capable) between 0500 hrs & 1100 hrs @ NDA!! LOL !!
Somehow, I had never communicated with the Course as such before ( can you imagine that I did not know the ‘ Collective Call Sign’) and therefore requested Sharat to take charge of the Communication aspect as a good ‘Sparrow’ should do. Promptly, Sharat Anand informed all the CMs and within a short span of time and we had 36 CMs confirming at the first instances and another 5 joined in thereafter. The effort put in by Sharat & KK to motivate so many CMs is indeed commendable as no one will be able to comprehend the necessity to go to a known rainy place at a great expense to see CMs when you can see them all in NDLS with ease!!
I believe that it was the first time that such a large gathering of CMs took place away from NDA khadakwasla ( Now you know why?) signifying the camaraderie, course spirit and bonding among our famous 28th Course.
Most CMs came in bunches in various flight to Goa. One flight had a bunch of 20 and they almost took over the flight having high flyers like Jagdish Grewal, Vipin & S D Vijh, who had ground support from Ujjal, Sharat, KK, Satish, Bhatia, Ahluwalia, S C Gulati and others on the flight. It was such a pleasure to see Raghu Rao with his talented daughter & son, S K Nagpal with his talented granddaughter and Kuki & Ruby who especially got over their daughter to join in the fun; such was the course spirit.
The sing song session, I believe, started right from airport to the resort with hits like, 9 & 9 make 14 and 4 & 4 ……… “I got to know” …….being sung by the group with Ujjal and KK giving the lead. Sadanand Joshi missed his favorite song. The monsoon rains gave a wonderful welcome to all and the bear hugs among all at the reception area was heartwarming & emotional.
The kick start was given to first evening by a local band duo of Bryan Ivor Rodrigues with everyone joining on the floor. Jai Chacko led the pack with his old numbers on the clarinet, followed by Ujjal on his mouth organ with the captivating tune of ‘Ploma Blanca’ and then by Kuruvilla with his old numbers and lastly by KK with his Elvis number “Jail House Rock” .
The next morning on 20th Jun, we all assembled and paid homage to the departed CMs (on this historic occasion) whose name we displayed on a nice Flex board. It was a very solemn and emotional ceremony held with full respect. We remembered 85 of our ‘Dear Departed Course Mates’ with a 2 Min Silence. We prayed that their ‘Souls rest in Peace’ and we are sure their spirits and good wishes were with us and these CMs watched the complete proceedings from top. We assure their families that we of the 28th Course are always available for any kind of assistance.
There were many high points of the get together but the “ Up River “ boat ride on the Mandovi River for 4 hours on 20th June was a trip out of the blue with music, DJ John , Bar, Dance and what not. As we started out down the river first, DJ John played ‘Happy Birthday’ for Vijay Raheja and all on board sang along and wished Vijay. After that there was an attempt to give Vijay Raheja ‘Birthday Bumps’ but I think better sense prevailed. Almost all the CMs were wearing the Yellow T- Shirts made in GJC-12, painting the river Mandovi yellow. Rao’s daughter gave a stunning start with her super dance on ‘ChittianKaliyan’, followed by the talented granddaughter of S K Nagpal who at the age of 8 was already looking professional. Our special thanks & love to both of them. Thereafter anybody & everybody was on the floor dancing away to glory. Almost all attendees danced; such was the enthusiasm and bonhomie. The weather was a stormy for a while and it tried to rock the boat but the 28th course rocked the ‘Santa Monica’ much better and the storm had to take a back seat. Solo dance steps by Bobby Bhandari and some others including ladies were the surprise items of the day.
The evening of 20th Jun. was spent in “Cavala”, Courtesy my friend Marios, who put in special effort to welcome the 28th Course. The Band ‘ Lace’ in attendance belonged to my friend Lauri Lace and he ensured that mood was well set for the party. This band was a twin, Father & Son Team. As a surprise to Vijay Raheja, Marios lined up a ‘Birthday Cake’ and opened Champagne on the occasion. An evening which Vijay will remember as 80 + people sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to him; He remarked that never have so many friends wishing him and singing happy Birthday to him!! Music was fabulous as the Bandsmen of Lace were professionals. Dinner was good I believe.
All the evenings were packed with class dinners, music dance and bonhomie and I feel more than satisfied that I was able to pick the right places thanks to Iona’s keen eye & friends in the Hotel industry!!.
The 21st morning we had a sing-song session where the Karaoke expert Amrut Naik, requisitioned by me. He had to take a back seat thanks to the 28th Course ‘Guys & Gals’ who took over the proceedings. Many sang to their hearts content and Savita Kumar, Kalra & Jaspal, Nagpal & Little Samira, Karminder & Roop, Nirmal & Santhosh, Pushpi, Satish & Saroj, Vijay Paul & Ritu, Veena and Ruby Gill and many others sang some real memorable songs. Amrut sang & played all the 50s, 60s & 70s Hindi numbers and all the ‘70 Yrs Young’ enjoyed and sang along with Amrut Naik.
Prior to this the 12 Foxies with their spouses had a side show wherein two of the local Foxies (from junior courses) Rajan & Jayant especially came to meet the 28th Course Foxies and presented each one of them a wine bottle.
This para is more about the Gills than an incident. A little prior to the Karaoke morning and the merry making that went on at St Tropez, at the St. Silver Sands Holiday Village Resort, another sideshow played out for Ruby and Surinder Gill. There were 2 major electrical faults (to put it mildly) in their rooms and though, greatly shaken, the Gills however showed amazing grace and composure and joined the ongoing programme and reunion celebration. I was telling Ruby, in a lighter vein that I will tell the owner of the Resort ( who had come in with his unregistered Lamborghini Sports Car and parked in front of us) to take her on a tour of Goa in his Car to get over their trauma. A typical Englishman would have said to the Gills “ Good Sport Mate”.
The evening of 21st Jun was in Cheeno’s, ( I am still sorting out the bills as you guys seem to have had a really had a good time there!!!) and whose 1st Floor had been shattered by a coconut tree falling on it the previous night) but the owner (who’s father was an ex NDA guy), showed the great grit and ensured that the ‘Show must goes on’ as planned. The Basement is the actual venue and the overflow goes on the 1st Floor. It was originally called ‘ Malts & Wines’ owned by 2 acquaintances of mine and they being ‘ builders, ensured a very nice ambiance and created a ‘15 meter Massive Bar’ glittering (Wet) Bar literally – pun intended as the rain water was slowly dripping on it but with the 2 fine musicians, Russell and Mereike, the 28th Course went on a ‘Good Drinks Binge’ ( for which I have photographic proof) and danced the night away. The high light of that evening was celebration of the 44th Wedding Anniversary of Kuruvilla’s opening a case of champagne to add more good spirits to the event. We also wish them all the best and pray for many many more Anniversaries to come!!
CMs were asking for more but Loud Music has to end at 11 PM but we went on till 1 Am, I believe !! Owner tells me !!. Thanks to Mohinder Mahajan ; He ensured everyone got back home in the last bus.
On the forenoon of 22nd June, the group visited the St Francis Church and Mangeshi Temple for the spiritual well being of individual sinners and the good course. It sure had the effect. They polished off all the beers (It took me, 1 hour 30 min to transport it to the venue) in 30 min during the lunch at Kennilworth Hotel.
The last evening, 22nd Jun eve, was the ‘Gala Golden Jubilee Dinner at ‘ St Tropez ‘ . The party was already in high mood before the start and continued at higher level till the end with fine musicians like Pierre and Dona Noronha & Dancers who took it to another level. We had a Goan Cultural Dance followed by a dance by the Ukrainian Belle Dancer and they did 4 dances each and the last set by the Goan Dance Troup got all on the floor and the real ‘Merry Making’ started. The Goans are professionals in doing this !!
However the real high point was not the ‘Belle Dances’ but the ‘Belle Dancer’ and surprisingly the decent gents ( all of them) abstained from whistling and a lady too remarked about this !! (maybe the spouses were around) but all had a great time.
We hear that Ujjal Jai Chacko, Kuru et all have had offers to start their bands in the next season in Goa.
One of the biggest achievement of the Golden Get Together was the close bonding which took place especially among the spouses.
The evening’s last but one event was me thanking all participants and put Sharat Anand in front to tackle the rest but he smartly put Ashim in the limelight; but Ashim did a great job with a ‘Proper 2 Min prepared Speech’ in DSSC style and covered all points wrt the Yahoo Net and all; he thanked all involved with the GGG including the Hotel Staff and requested if anyone wanted to say anything else; Standard Agenda Point initially “ This is North ” & lastly “ Any Other Points?”!! Just Kidding !!
RSK & Kuki came up and RSK thanked Sharat, KK, Ashim & me. Very graciously they presented a bottle of Whisky to the GM & me. It was indeed a nice and thoughtful gesture on their part to have remembered Peter in particular. They gave me a Single Malt !!?? Though, I saw the best of ‘Wines & Whiskies’ on board, I am the ‘ Tarrah type Chap ‘ but it felt good. The GM was more thrilled when I got PPS to hand over another bottle of Scotch to him the next day from the course. I have also been promised a nice trip to anywhere in India by RSK; Now please get your NEFT procedure active again !! LOL !!
Last was that all the tired GGG mates went off to their rooms and a few stayed back / were held back by Jai , Ujjal & Kuru’s talents and a good musical session followed. This went on n must have been late, say 1 AM as I remember distinctly that I had to drop Kuru & Grace to their home nearby as there were no taxi’s available at that time; so the night was memorable, I am sure.
So much for all the fun stuff; now the imperative stuff:--
a) Our special thanks to KK for getting those lovely Beer Mugs made which were given to all as mementos/ souvenir during this historic occasion. Besides the NDA crest KK aptly inserted the caption “50 Glorious Years of Togetherness” how emotional!!! These mugs were voluntarily transported to Goa by kind courtesy R. P. Singh, B. S. Ahlawat, T. S. Kalra, Jitti Mann, Vijay Raheja & S. D. Vijh. What course spirit!
b) Our thanks to other CMs who voluntarily assisted at Goa, with Vijay Raheja acting as the DS-Co-ord along with Vipin & M. N. Mahajan, S. D. Vijh (tea totaller) as the wine member, Jai Chacko, Ujjal, Kuru, KK & Mrs. Ruby Gill as the entertainment member. Jai Chako on his clarinet & Ujjal on his mouth organ were magical.
c) KK, we shall always remember your poise and concern when you had to leave your baby midway on Sunday morning due to personal reasons.d) We missed Arvind Sharma, Kuldip Garcha, Rajiv Mehra, Ranjan Kakkar & Arun Karandikar who wanted to attend but could not attend due to their pre occupation and …..
e) ………….of course, our friends, Vijay Deep, Pooja Nanda and Rita Madan, who had earlier confirmed their attendance, were missed as they were conspicuous by their absence due to reasons of ill health. We wish them a speedy recovery and hope to see them next year in Dehradun.
f) I want to thank Mohinder Puri & PPS Bhandari for their deep appreciation of our efforts and also for their support from the very outset.
g) I also must acknowledge Iona’s support wrt suggesting Venue’s, speaking to a large number of friends & restaurateurs she knows here and lastly for suggesting the various Menu’s; I am a near vegetarian you see and left to me it would have been a total disaster.
Iona & I thank each one of the 41 CMs and their spouse who brought with them so much of enthusiasm, course spirit and added all the colour & spice to each of the events.
All good things have to come to an end but this one was especially nostalgic for me, having met some of my CM after 50 years. I believe the Delhi gang is already planning a follow up party. Thanks to all of you we had such a grand gathering. (List of participants with Sqns attached for record).
This note is being written at the behest of Narinder Dhand who wants to put the ‘After Action Report’ on the Course Blog (we missed you Narinder). Sharat and KK are the main authors of this note & I am only the “Masalchi” !! Also, Narinder, a big ‘ Thank You ‘ for uploading 1000 odd pictures on the web site; you are Wiz Kid with this stuff.
Keep Laughing all & do LOL !!! Good for the Lungs I believe!!, Enjoy !!!
Narasimhan Venugopal, 4968 F
THIS REPORT PERTAINS TO THE SURPRISE ON THE LAST DAY OF THE GGT AT GOA.
‘AFTER ACTION REPORT’ (AAR) on 28th NDA GOLDEN GOA GET-TO-GETHER
(GGG)
PART II & LAST
I had left the ‘Best for the Last’; This part would have been lost in the ‘Seven Pages’ of the ‘AAR GGG’. Though 21 Jun was “World Yoga Day”, ( the sing song forenoon) of course we thought of making you guys do Yoga, PT & Parade etc., but we thought better let you guys off the hook.
At about 1230 hrs on the same day, the GM came to me @ St Tropez and said that there was a ‘Surprise and with a little bit of a hiccup, he did bring in a Table with some stuff but covered. He then announced that Young Bani ( Kuki & Ruby’s Daughter for those who do not know) had gifted a Cake to
Celebrate “ Fathers Day”. None of us had remembered this!!
Celebrate “ Fathers Day”. None of us had remembered this!!
There was excitement suddenly and all hell broke loose and guys descended on the Cake and I got Kuki & others to cut the cake and of course, there were ‘n’ no of pictures taken thereafter with all fathers crowding around the Cake for a ‘ Memorable Picture’. Its all there in the CDs. Once the shoot was over, the 3 cakes disappeared like ‘Tipsy Pudding’ used to in the Battalion Lawns even before it was put on the table; remember that guys?
Inspite of all the beers I had had, I remembered to call out to Bani and some very nice pictures were taken with this most thoughtful and affectionate daughter. Some very nice pictures are there for you all to see on the Web that Narinder Dhand has up loaded.
Like KK says, “Ye Zindagi na milegi dobar; so people, just Chill” !! He added that these 4 days in Goa will add 4 years to your life and your Children & Grandchildren will enjoy your company that much longer!!
Narasimhan Venugopal, 4968 F
