AFVOA Newletters of Year 2005

Page 3 of 75 (Registered under Tamil Nadu Societies Registration Act, 1975. Registration Certificate No 3/2004) Patron Lt Gen C Sundara Rao, PVSM Tele: 2446 1085 President Vice President Secretary Treasurer Maj Gen C Govindaswamy Tele 2234 5106 Maj Gen R Karthikeyan Tele 2249 1704 Brig SP Balachandran Tele 5218 4916 Brig NB Subramanian Tele 2490 3934 No 1 of 2005 Newsletter #01/2005 4 th Mar 2005 Accept fate, and move on. Don't yield to the seductive pull of self-pity. Acting like a victim threatens your future. ~ Unknown Dear Veterans, From the Editor’s Desk 1. This is the first Newsletter in this calendar year. Due to the havoc caused by the Tsunami during December the programmed Picnic had to be postponed to the month of February. This resulted in a longer than normal interval, between this Newsletter and the previous one. 2. The Panchatantra as is well-known is a collection of five volumes of stories written by Vishnu Sharman - a reputed teacher to help instruct the different aspects of kinghood for princes. They are a real treat for everyone – be it teachers, students, parents or children, as the stories therein, help in understanding the values in human life. I wish to narrate one of the stories from the Panchatantra titled “The Sage’s Daughter” The story goes like this: Once upon a time there lived a sage on the banks of a river. He and his wife did not have any children. One day when the sage was praying in the middle of the river, an eagle happened to pass by and the eagle dropped a female mouse in the hands of the sage. The sage found the mouse in his hands on opening his eyes, and took it home to his wife. On reaching home, he talked to his wife about the mouse and they decided to convert the mouse into a young baby girl. The sage and his wife began to take care of the girl child and brought her up as their daughter. The child grew day by day who by the age of sixteen became a beautiful maiden. At this age, the sage decided to find a match for the girl. As the sage and his wife wanted the best groom for their daughter, they decided that the Sun God who is the source of energy, would be an ideal match for their girl. So the sage prayed to the Sun God and requested him to marry his daughter. But his daughter said, "Sorry! I cannot marry the Sun God because he radiates intense heat and I will be reduced to ashes if I remain by his side." Though the sage was