AFVOA Newletters of Year 2004

Page 45 of 153 3. This issue is largely devoted to the useful talk given out by Lt Gen MG Girish, VSM, who updated us on the ECHS. The scheme has taken off with quite a few members already opting to be treated at civil hospitals of their choice. We were fortunate, that Wg Cdr Ravi Mani, was present on that occasion, and thus was able to pant a lucid picture of all that transpired. We do hope, that we will be able to have a “volunteer” who will do these honours for the next meeting, as Ravi is unlikely to be in town at that time. In order to stress to the importance of good health, we have included a few pieces from alternate medicine. 4. We have included briefs on the last two of the Param Vir Chakras. A transcript of an excellent talk given by Mr. Butch Jimenez, and a letter from Col Pradeep Kapoor on a matter which concerns all of us has been included with a hope that we can try and make some positive change in the Society around us. Finally, do remember that a star has five ends; a square has four, whereas a triangle has three, a line has two ends, and LIFE has one end. But then Good relations have NO end. Let us strive to continue to have Good relations always! Meeting Gone By – “An Impression” by Wg Cdr Ravi Mani When spider webs unite, they can tie up a lion. ~ Ethiopian Proverb Backdrop 5. The meeting of the 16 th May at the Indira Nagar Youth Hostel was historic, as for the first time ever, in that, a distinguished guest in the form of Lt Gen MG Girish, VSM, Director General Discipline, Ceremonials & Welfare, flew in from Delhi, specially to address us on ECHS, which also was his portfolio. This was the only time a serving officer had come over from the Services Headquarters at Delhi to talk to the members. This was followed by the first Annual General Meeting, after which we honoured three of our elderly octogenarians. Prologue 6. In the normal course, what would have passed off as yet another one of our routine but interesting meetings was to have included in its agenda the momentous task of deciding just who amongst our large membership would qualify as “volunteers”(read murgas ) for election to the Committee for the next year. Not that this was inopportune or untimely, for we have just completed the task of deciding who will steer this lovely Nation of 1000 million, and get to decide on such matters of the highest import such as what perks may be legitimately added to the overflowing list of benefits that our politicians skim off from the fat of the land, while the rest of us, mostly the “hoi polloi”, have merely to bask in the reflected glory of being participants in the largest democratic exercise in this world. But, we are digressing. The origins go back to our Patron, who appropriately enough has been singularly responsible for this last meeting being a thumping success. Young as the Patron is, he cannot deny that he has seen four score summers, and this time, the Almighty decided to gently remind him of the fact, and so it was that Lt Gen Sundara Rao happened to be in the Apollo Hospitals not too long ago, to have a minor botheration common to people above 60 years, attended to. Since he had long ago set an example by becoming a member of the ECHS, and since he had been referred to the Apollo facility by the ECHS polyclinic at Chennai, now functional in more ways than one, he thought he would breeze through the hospital, and be back home, lighter of heart, without necessarily being lighter of wallet.