AFVOA Newletters of Year 2004

Page 103 of 153 Training Academy (OTA) was scheduled for the 17 th September. In deference to our request, 10 invitation cards had been earmarked for members. These were meant for officers of the rank of Lieutenant Colonel (and equivalent) and below. Members interested in attending the function were requested to give in their particulars immediately to the Secretary so that the formal invitations could be given to the concerned officer. 10. Maj Gen C Govindaswamy, the President then took the podium. He mentioned that the ECHS Polyclinic was functioning in full swing now. Lt Col DS Reddy had been appointed as the Officer in Charge of the Polyclinic. The Waiting Hall is well furnished and is also air conditioned. In addition, a Coffee/Tea dispenser Unit has been provided to cater to the needs of the waiting members. A dispensary has been added to the Polyclinic. 11. A large number of job opportunities for retired personnel are available with Col A Krishnaswami, VrC, VSM**. Jobs include both within and outside India. One of the more attractive ones was that of ICICI Bank who are recruiting officers in the rank of AGMs and above. Members interested may obtain further details from him. 12. With these announcements, the normal Meeting was closed and members waited patiently for the Chief Guest to arrive. 13. At the stroke of 1700 hours, the buglers heralded the arrival of the Chief Guest. Maj Gen and Mrs Paramjit Singh, were received and ushered in by the President and Mrs Chitkala Govindaswamy. Brig Balachandran welcomed the guests and requested them to be escorted to the dais. Once the Guests settled down, Col Krishnaswami, the Master of Ceremonies took charge of the proceedings. 14. Col Krishnaswami gave the genesis of the Association, which started in a modest way in the Youth Hostel on 07 th August 1994. He mentioned that the first meeting had a strength of Ten “not so young” retired officers who were based in and around Adyar, who agreed to ‘greet, meet and relive the past’ at periodic intervals. The Association has since blossomed into its present strength of over 250 members who hail from all the three Defence services and are spread over the entire Metropolis. In fact, we do have a few members who live outside Chennai. With the increase in numbers, the activities of the Association were also expanded. One of the objects was spreading awareness of the Armed Forces amongst the community. As a first step, a telephone directory of all retired Defence officers settled in Chennai was compiled, and published as ‘Hello Veterans’ in April 2001. The revised updated version was slated to be released later in the day. The new Telephone Directory has about 1000 more entries than the earlier issue. Col Krishnaswami indicated the enormity of the task involved in collecting, collating, verifying and listing them appropriately. Based on the experience gained from publishing the first issue, certain features have been added in the new edition. Noteworthy amongst these are the inclusion of Help Lines for the Aged, list of hospitals with particular reference to those that have been empanelled as part of ECHS, meals on wheels, old age homes. 15. Maj Gen Govindaswamy, the President then formally welcomed the gathering. He made a special mention of Maj Gen Paramjit Singh, VSM, the GOC ATNKK & G Area, who spontaneously accepted the invitation to release the Telephone Directory, in spite of his innumerable engagements. In fact the GOC was so considerate, that he changed his tour programmes to fit in this engagement. The President then profusely thanked the well wishers and benefactors who made financial contributions which went a long way to ensure completion of the Directory Project. In this context, he made a specific mention on the