VEEKAY’S NEWSLETTER -2021
Dear Friends,
Another year has ended. For some reason, days, weeks and months seem to be passing much faster than they did ten or twenty years ago. As one grows older and the final destination comes nearer, one wonders why the time when the journey will end remains unknown. When you travel in a train, car or aeroplane, you look forward to the end of the trip. In the journey of life, you don’t know when it will end, and thank God for it. I know people who are older than me who play 18 holes of golf, run in marathons and do sky diving. Only last week, my course mate Pramod Tembe took part in a para jump commemorating the para drop at Tangail in 1971.
Like 2020, this year has been severely impacted by COVID-19. And now another monster, Omicron, has appeared on the scene. Our lives will probably never be the same again. Perhaps the ones who are affected the most are the children. Schools and colleges are closed and classes are held online. What about the friendships that one built up and nurtured in school and college? The crushes of adolescent years; the pranks and games played with classmates and neighbours; sharing lunch boxes during breaks; the rendezvous in the college cafeteria; and the thrill of ragging the freshers - these will only be memories now. Times are a changing, and there is little we can do about it.
The year opened with the celebration of our golden wedding anniversary on 19th January. Thanks to the pandemic, we had to make do with a small get together at home, with the children and grandchildren. There was the mandatory cake and the birthday song, followed by some photographs. Kumud and I were wondering where the fifty years have gone. Most of it was spent in packing boxes for move to a new station; long journeys by train and road; admitting the kids to new schools; getting to know the neighbours; making new friends; etc. etc. There were many holidays and trekking trips in the hills; picnics and parties; weddings, births and deaths; and so much else.
Most of my earlier newsletters have been full of the problems associated with my book India’s External Intelligence – Secrets of the Research & Analysis Wing (RAW) published in 2007, which exposed the corruption in that organisation. Irked by the exposure, the spooks convinced the powers that be to slap a case against me under the Official Secrets Act of 1923. The Home and Law Ministries were reluctant to do this, since the book had not been banned.
The NSA, MK Narayanan, (he was an ex spook) was pressurized by Ashok Chaturvedi, the then Chief of RAW, to do this, on grounds of national security. I had filed a case in the High Court in 2008 to quash the proceedings. Arguments in the case were closed and the judgement reserved on 11th August 2017. But the order has still not been issued. This is in spite of an order of the Supreme Court that limits the time for issue of the judgment to six months after it is reserved. With judges in our country being accountable only to themselves, there is little one can do but wait.
Talking about the judiciary, I am sure some of you must have come across the term ‘in the interest of justice’ which is used in orders granting adjournments when one of the lawyers is absent or requests for an adjournment. This is prevalent in all courts of law as well as judicial forums such as the Consumer Disputes Redressal Forums and Commissions. In a case I had filed in the Consumer Forum in Gurgaon against Nissan Motors, their lawyer was absent for the first and second hearings. Finally, he gave a reply after several months. According to the Consumer Protection Act, the time limit is 30 days. This can be extended up to a maximum of 45 days provided sufficient justification is submitted. I pointed this out in written arguments submitted during the final hearing. However, my case was dismissed. In the order there was no mention of my arguments on the point of the time limit being exceeded.
I filed an appeal in the Haryana State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission in Panchkula in 2019. Nobody from Nissan appeared in the first two hearings. In the third hearing my course mate Brig HS Chahal appeared on my behalf. Again, there was no one from Nissan. The President (he is an ex High Court judge) said that the case will be decided ex parte. However, the order reads “In the interest of justice, adjourned for 06.12.2019 for arguments”.
I attended the next hearing. The hearing was held in another court. A lawyer appeared and submitted a power of attorney on behalf of Nissan. I told the Chairman that the time limit for submitting the reply had already been exceeded. But again the order reads “In the interest of justice, adjourned for 08.04.2020 for arguments”.
Due to the pandemic the next hearing kept on getting postponed and took place on 29 Nov 2021. Brig Chahal appeared on my behalf. After the hearing he told me that nobody had appeared for Nissan. However, when I down loaded the order next day, I found that a lawyer was present and had requested for a date. Again, the order read “in the interest of justice, the case is adjourned for 07.04.2022 for arguments”. I was surprised and rang up the Secretary of the Commission. He could not explain how the order showed a lawyer for Nissan being present when actually he was absent. But I know how this happens, since this is not the first time. Lawyers usually grease the palm of the reader or court clerk who types out the order. The judge obviously does not remember what exactly happened and signs the order. The lawyer gets paid for every hearing, so he does not mind sharing a part of it with the court clerk.
Two things are brought out. The first is the angle of corruption mentioned above. The second is the one of accountability. The judges, knowing fully well that the case should not be heard in view of the time limits, still adjourn the case “in the interest of justice”. Should not the order read “in the interest of injustice?” The Consumer Protection Act was enacted to protect the rights of the consumer. Are the judges not violating the letter as well as the spirit of the law?
Another interesting case relates to the AWHO. I have mentioned something about it in my newsletters of 2009 and 2010. After taking over a flat in Sector 56 in Gurgaon in 2002, I measured the size of the rooms and discovered that the area was less than what was claimed by the AWHO. I had filed a complaint in State Consumer Commission in Delhi in 2003. After about four years I noticed that my case is always listed in the end and is thus never heard. A little amateur detective work revealed that the lawyer employed by the AWHO has ‘arranged’ this, through the subordinate staff. At the next hearing, I mentioned this to the President, Justice JD Kapoor, who assured me that he would decide it in the next hearing, which he did. Vide an order passed on 20 Jan 2009, the AWHO was asked to pay me Rs. 75,000 within one month. Copies of the order were given on 18/3/2009.
As expected, the AWHO did not pay up. After a month had passed and they did not appeal in the National Commission, I filed an application for execution of the order. Suddenly in October I received a notice for a hearing to be held in January from the National Commission. I discovered that the AWHO had filed an appeal. I wondered how this was possible, since the time limit was one month. When I went through the copy of the order of the State Commission that had been attached to the appeal by the AWHO, I discovered that the date was different from what was given in my copy. The date of issue written in hand in my copy was 18/3/2009. In the copy submitted by AWHO, it was 18/8/2009. The figure 3 had been altered to look like 8! I brought this to the notice of the Registrar of the National Commission, who was shocked. He said that this could not have been done without the involvement of his staff. He promptly raised a query with the State Commission which confirmed that copies had been given to both parties on 18/3/2009. It was a clear case of forgery. I subsequently filed an FIR with the Delhi Police, but nothing came out of it.
We got our COVAXIN doses in March and April. The second dose was administered on 10 Apr 2021 but the certificate shows the date as 16 April. How this happened is another story. We got the shots at the PHC in Palam Vihar, very close to my house. After the second dose, we did not receive any message. Col Anil Vaid who lives nearby had also got the second dose along with us. He walked across to the PHC and questioned them. Apparently they had not uploaded our test results. Finally, on 16 Apr we got the message and downloaded the test report. The date shown is 16 Apr, instead of 10 Apr, when it was actually administered. So much for the authenticity of our official records about the COVID vaccines.
Like many others of my age, I have been afflicted with medical problems for the last 20-30 years. I have been suffering from lumbar canal stenosis for many years. It all started with two fractures in my vertebrae in 1965 while doing PT during the YOs course. I was taken to the MI room within 15 minutes of the injury. The MO felt that all YOs are ‘shammers’, and prescribed APC and heat treatment for a week. He did not even bother to lift up my OG jersey and examine my back. Needless to say I was in terrible pain. After a week I went back to him and he repeated the treatment. Next week I went to him again and requested him to send me to the MH, since the pain was unbearable. Very reluctantly he referred me to the surgical specialist in the MH.
If I remember correctly the surgical specialist was Maj Kalra. He promptly asked me to get an X ray done. When he saw the X ray he mounted on me. He asked me why I had come to him two weeks after the injury. There were two fractures, one of which had not joined properly. I told him that that the MO had seen me and prescribed only APC. He picked up the phone and got through to the MO in the School of Signals (I do not recollect his name, but he was a Bengali). Maj Kalra berated him for his negligence and told him that because of him I may suffer later in his life. He did not downgrade my medical category but I was excused all out door work including PT and games till the end of the course. After this I did not have to carry cable drums during outdoor exercises. During the 1965 war, there was a blackout in Mhow and YOs had to do a lot of night patrolling. I was asked to man a field telephone in the Airfield Mess and report any untoward incident if it came to our notice.
After the course, I was posted to 17 Div Sig Regt in Sikkim. It was located at MS 9 on the Gangtok-Nathula road. The CO was Lt Col PK Roy Chowdhury, the 2ic was Maj George Paisley and OC 1 Coy was Maj SK Dovedy. After about a month, my course report reached the unit. It was mentioned that the officer had not done any outdoor exercises or tests such as PPT, BPET. I was told that since I was not medically fit, I could not serve in HAA. I pleaded that now I was OK and should be allowed to remain in the unit. Finally, Maj Dovedy intervened on my behalf and I was allowed to stay. Interestingly, he was from 1st JSW course and I am from 26th NDA. Between him and me, there was no other ex-NDA officer. I think that accounted for his soft corner for me. But he was quite strict. In Dec 1965 there was incident in North Sikkim when an Indian patrol was ambushed by the Chinese and some Indian soldiers were killed. A Flash message was initiated by the unit (17 AR). I was on ADSO duty but after the traffic was cleared I had gone to my tent at about 2 am and was fast asleep when the Sikh LI runner came and woke me and told me that the Superintendent had asked him to inform me about the message. I told him to get the message cleared and went back to sleep. After an hour the Sikh LI orderly came and told me that OC 1 Company wanted me in the Signal Centre. When I reached there, I found the CO, 2ic, OC 1 Coy and DSO all here. Maj Dovedy gave me a mouthful and told me to put on full FSMO and start walking towards Gangtok as soon as my shift ended. When I reported to him after a couple of hours, he told me to forget it. “Don’t do it again,” he said.
For the next 25 years or so, I had no problem and even did the commando course in 1966. It was in 1989-90 when I was posted in JC Wing of the College of Combat that I started having pain in my leg when standing or walking. As a result, I was permitted to take classes, including sand models, sitting on a chair. This continued even in my next tenure in Wellington in 1991-92. There was no MRI then but I was able to keep the pain under control by extension exercises. It was only in 2001 that an MRI done during the periodic medical board revealed that my spinal cord was being compressed at three places – L3, L4, and L5. My medical category was downgraded for six months. I raised a hue and cry but the surgeon in BHDC said he was helpless. Before my retirement in June 2002 the release medical board found the same problem and I retired with 30% disability. I was in low spirits till my course mate Man Mohan Singh, who was then in AG’s Branch, told me that I should be celebrating. He sent me a copy of the orders which said that the disability element as well as the service element of the pension was exempt from income tax. So, my disability turned out to be a blessing in disguise.
This year, on 23rd March, my life changed forever. The LPG cylinder had to be changed. Our part time maid had left so I decided to change it myself. I had to bend down for quite a while because the regulator was not fitting properly. When it was done, I realised that I could hardly stand due to the pain in my back. Kumud had told me to sit on a stool while fitting the regulator or call my son who lives upstairs, but I did not listen. That is why they say that you must always listen to your wife! I didn’t and am paying for it now. The next couple of months were spent in visiting various hospitals to consult neurologists and spine surgeons. Finally, I had to undergo surgery of the spine at the Indian Spinal Injuries Centre on 22nd June 2021. The procedure is known as surgery Posterior Pedicle Screw Fixation + Decompression + Discectomy + Fusion. This was all Greek to me. When I searched for it on the net, I found a number of videos on YouTube which explained how it is done. I now have ten screws, eight rods and two cages in my back. Though the ISIC has given me an Implant Certificate, I doubt if I can go anywhere by air. The X-Ray machines will start beeping and not stop. It has been six months since the surgery but the pain is still there, especially when I stand or walk. Some parts of the body such as the back are completely numb. There is some numbness in the hands and feet also. They say that it may go away with time.
As if this was not enough, on 16th December Kumud’s brother Col Jitendra Singh (82 Armd Regt) also underwent a major operation, when his right leg had to be amputated in the RR Hospital. It was found that his arteries were completely blocked and attempts to clear them by ballooning failed. Bypass surgery was tried but did not work and the only option was amputation to stop the spread of gangrene. He had already lost his left leg in 2007 in similar circumstances, when an operation to remove blockages in his arteries by inserting a stent performed by Dr Naresh Trehan in Apollo Hospital went wrong and the wound became infected. He was discharged but had to be readmitted twice. Finally, the leg had to be amputated. Shortly after this, in 2011, his son, Maj Aditya Singh died in an accident in Kashmir, leaving behind a young wife and four old son. Needless to say, the whole family is traumatised by the latest tragedy. There have been cases of officers losing both legs but these usually happen at a young age. (Late Lt Gen Pankaj Joshi lost both his legs in Sikkim in 1966, when I was there. He was our Sergeant in my 1st term in C Squadron. Took part in the Himalayan Rally with me in 1982). Jitendra is seventy three years old. But he is a strong willed man who does not lose heart and we are sure will come out of this misfortune also.
What we miss most now is our annual holidays and the weekend picnics with the grandchildren. There is hardly any socialising and even the annual Corps Day party of 15th February is not being held. The same goes for the biennial reunion of my unit in Hisar. It was due in November 2020 but had to be cancelled. Now another year has rolled by. We have regularly held the monthly Meet & Greet of our NDC course from 1984 onwards, without a break. After February 2000, even that is being held through Zoom. The same goes for the course get together. One never knows if it will remain like this forever.
We are staying at Abhimaur Vikum in G-31, Palam Vihar in Gurgaon since 2004. The plots behind our house (East) and the two on the side (South) were vacant and we enjoyed sunlight almost the whole day, especially in winter. About a year back, a new house began to be constructed to the East, next to the vacant plot next to our house. Like most houses in Gurgaon, it has five floors, the ground floor being used for parking and the others for residents. As a result, our quota of sunlight has been drastically curtailed. I now realise that those living flats in condominiums are better off, since they have balconies on 2-3 sides. It cannot replace the luxury of sitting in your lawn but at least you get the sun. When we moved to Palam Vihar, only two floors were permitted. Over the years, builders got the limits changed to three, then four and now five. This is now true of all plotted colonies, including DLF, Sushant Lok etc.
My son Abhimanyu lives on the first floor with his wife Jasmine and their two children Bhuvanyu (19) and Khushi (17). Bhuvanyu had passed Class 12 last year and joined the College of Vocational Studies in Delhi University. My daughter Mauravi and her hubby Vaibhav are still living in Trinity near the DLF golf course, with their two daughters, Mriggya (19) and Eshaana (17). Vaibhav, a Captain in the Merchant Navy is presently on the high seas and will be coming home only in March 2022. Mriggya has already changed several colleges. She had initially joined Sophia in Mumbai last year and started her online classes. Once admissions were opened in Delhi she was admitted to Miranda House. But she had to take Bengali as an additional language and was not too happy with it. So she decided to switch over to another college. She is now in the College of Jesus and Mary. She has lost a year but is not at all perturbed.
I think I have already written more than enough. This is my 15th newsletter. Those who wish to read the previous newsletters can do so by logging on to my blog veekaysnewsletter.blogspot.com. My second blog that contains chapters from my books and articles on military history is veekay-militaryhistory.blogspot.com. The third blog that has most of my articles is http://veekaysarticles.blogspot.com.
Wishing all of you a Merry Christmas and a Very Happy and Prosperous New Year.
Vinay and Kumud Singh
Tele: 0124-4074077
Mob: 9873494521, 9899110913
23rd December 2021
This picture was taken in July 2021 about a month after my spine surgery. Standing from left to right: - Ben, Khushi, Jasmine, Mauravi, Mriggya, Eshaana and Bhuvanyu. The boys are missing. Vaibhav is sailing and Abhimanyu is taking the photographs.
