AFOVA New Letter 2 of Year 2021

Section 6 - Memoirs CV 2 No. 02 / 2021 Page 213 of 332 Sure enough, the Army arrived in their scheduled time. Just as the event was about to start, a Messenger arrived from the HQ to say that the Commandant would like to participate and if the start could be delayed by 5 minutes. There was excitement in the air and this was not something that the conniving group of DS from the Air Force had factored in but it was too late to alter anything. A very bright and popular student officer from the Army, a sure shot candidate for DS Grading, was fielded to introduce the Sand Model. After the customary greetings to the Chair, followed by a short personal introduction, the Presenter turned towards the Model and started his well rehearsed speech “Lady and Gentlemen, as always, the Arrow points to the North”. Hell broke loose as there was no Arrow and nothing pointed to the North. It was an unmitigated disaster. Quite understandably, the cacophony was a little more pronounced from the Air Force seats. Without the Arrow, the Presenter lost total orientation. He stuttered and stammered but his flow was totally arrested. A few Army DS jumped into the fray and was looking for that elusive Arrow, but with no luck. The arrow was not there alright, but the directions remained intact, North remained where it was and so were the other directions. King Dasrath would still have been able to drive his chariot to all the ten directions that he was famed for, but it was very critical for the Army to have the legendary arrow pointing to the North, as always, to get going. What was expected to be a mere temporary brake had grown into catastrophic show-stopper in no time. The Air Force and the Navy attendees couldn’t help their gazes straying to the group of DS seated behind the balustrade railing in the balcony seats overlooking the Sand Model. The position of the DS’ Group was no different than that of a thief who was stung by a scorpion! Sensing that the situation was going out of control, a very composed mastermind of the plan, the Air Force DS came down the stairs, walked up to the model nonchalantly, picked up the Arrow from where he had placed and restored to it’s original place and stated “From where I am seated, I could spot the shape of the Arrow though it was upturned. I think the wind must have blown it to this end of the Model”. The Presentation resumed from that point onwards and the audience was treated to one of the finest events of the entire Course. The Air Force was level. During the next visit to the same Hall, one saw that the red ‘Arrow’ made of card board in the Sand Model Room had made way to a thick wooden one, such that the ambient wind within the Hall had no chance of blowing it away. All’s well that ends well, ain’t it? JAI HIND