AFVOA Newletters of Year 2002

Page 49 of 84 cow to anyone who asked for it. The King was amazed and wondered as to how the Prince could gift so many cows, if he was fated to possess only one! On reaching the ashram, his doubts were instantly cleared – for he saw that as soon as the Prince gifted one cow, he was given a few more from his devotees! In other words, every cow given away resulted in many more coming to him!! To echo the words of St. Francis of Assisi, the Italian Preacher, and Founder of the Franciscan Order, it is best to “Remember that when you leave this earth, you can take with you nothing that you have received - only what you have given: a full heart enriched by honest service, love, sacrifice and courage.” Let us learn to give rather than take – for we as veterans have already taken (experienced) much during our long years of service, and need to give back something before we fade away. Meeting Gone By - “An Impression” by Wg Cdr Ravi Mani Start with what is right rather than what is acceptable. ~ Peter Drucker ~ (1909 -, Management Consultant ‘Guru’, Writer) The third meeting of the Association for the year 2002 was held on the 16 th of June at our usual venue, the lawns of the Indira Nagai Youth Hostel. It was heartening to note that a sizeable number of members and their families were at the venue even a quarter hour before the scheduled time. As the evening progressed and the clock showed the quarter hour after seven bells, it was, as usual, with mixed feelings of joy and pride together with apprehension that the organising committee watched the numbers swell from the confirmed (?) figure of 85 to 149! Anyway, this minor discomfiture did not detract from the thoroughly enjoyable evening that followed. As usual, the meeting was called to order and the President; Maj Gen Viswanathan welcomed the gathering. The day’s proceedings commenced with an invocation to Lord Ganapathi - the remover of obstacles, by Mrs Jaya Subramanyam, who sung in a bell clear voice. The invocation was to be a precursor to a violin duet by two young performers. The President then announced certain initiatives taken by Area HQ concerning ex- servicemen. Ex-servicemen located in Vellore District could now book firm demand items such as refrigerators, scooters, cars etc., from the CSD from their own locations instead of having to come all the way to Chennai to do so. A suggestion to obtain a consolidated mailing list of those of the AFVOA members who were also members of the Gymkhana Club be utilised to gather the force of numbers to successfully pilot services-friendly initiatives through the minefield of the Gymkhana Club’s governing body was being studied. Gen Viswanathan also mentioned the progress made in conceptualising the steps to be taken to make the AFVOA a registered body. He stated that further information would follow as we neared a final conclusion on the road map to be followed towards the realisation of this initiative. Col A Krishnaswami, the Secretary, then took to the mike, and requested the new members to introduce themselves. Surprisingly, this took much longer than anticipated, as there were a large number of new comers. And those that came in for the first time, spoke more than the customary “two words”. The organisers had planned that immediately after the