AFVOA Newletters of Year 2003

Page 31 of 170 to occupy (on the basis of a firm, irrevocable commitment) the seats for the round trip from the Youth Hostel to the DOC Club and back. As Col Viswanathan was preoccupied in the shifting of his residence to a permanent flat, Col Krishnaswami looked after the catering arrangements. At the DOC Club 8. With assembly planned for 1800 hrs, the “Adyarites” had converged upon the Youth Hostel, and were duly checked and accounted for by the convoy commanders. At 1700 hrs, we were ready to roll, but for the absence of an officer, who is otherwise among those you can set clocks by. Our confidence in him was not misplaced, for he was in by 1705hrs. Happy to let the burden of negotiating Chennai traffic be taken over by the cab drivers, we reached the DOC at 1730 hours. Cols Viswanathan and Narayanan took upon themselves the responsibility of registering members arriving for the evening’s get-together, and of collecting annual subscriptions for the year 2003-2004 (due at the time of the meet, and overdue by the time you read this Newsletter, if you are one among those who have not received/not acted upon the last newsletter) and the Meet contributions. Brig Subramanyam and his younger daughter, Capt Nrutya (who, along with her fellow medical officer husband is here on a sojourn from the upper reaches of Arunachal Pradesh where they are currently posted) got on to selling tickets for the Tombola planned for later in the evening. 9. Maj Gen Viswanathan, presided over meeting, before handing over the baton of President to the new incumbent, thanked Gen Chari for his efforts and generosity in allowing the AFVOA to meet at the DOC Club. He also thanked Col Raju, whose equally silent large- hearted efforts have complemented those of the other “old timers” who have kept the AFVOA ticking right from its very inception. All this is quite certainly old hat for most of our members, but that should not prevent us from placing on record the fact that but for the contributions of the “few” and also of the “many”, the AFVOA would never have reached where we are today. Gen Viswanathan mentioned that one of our senior members, Maj Gen Aban Naidu had sent his good wishes, while deeply regretting his inability to attend due to a spell of arthritic affliction. He also mentioned that Cdr SR Prasad, who is one of our regulars, and in the forefront of anything that requires hard work and sincerity, had a fracture in his left wrist-whereby his absence (as an aside, you would be surprised to know that Cdr Prasad –a trained Madras Port Trust Pilot of the maritime variety, was remiss in his pre take-off checks, and neglected to take his Scooty off the side stand before driving off, with inevitable consequences). The President mentioned, once again, the ongoing work with the registration of the AFVOA, the revision of the telephone directory, and the 1962 War Articles project. He complimented the editorial team for the success of the newsletter, through which medium the AFVOA was rendering yeoman service in reaching out relevant, important, as well as informative and amusing information to our fraternity and beyond. This fact is borne out by the fact that we are now getting matrimonial inserts from as far afield as Jalandhar. He asked for volunteers to join up with the editorial team, so as to provide fresh blood and ensure continuity. Gen Viswanathan reminded everyone about the Adjutant General’s forthcoming address on 01 Mar 2003 at MH Chennai about the proposed ECHS scheme sanctioned by the Central Government. 10. The Patron, Lt Gen Sundara Rao welcomed the new members, and mentioned that his vision was for a complex to house the secretariat and venue for such Meetings, so that the accommodation could also be used for setting up a library – and other facilities for which the time has come in the life of the AFVOA. In his own inimitable kind way mentioned that we should have time frames for completion of projects, be it the revision of the telephone