AFVOA Newletters of Year 2007

Page 23 of 68 was deeply moved by this fine gesture. Similarly, when he was unwell and was undergoing treatment, the CII insisted on sending a car daily to convey him to the hospital although he never wanted it. They had not forgotten his contribution during his tenure with them after his retirement from the Indian Navy. He admired the qualities of loyalty, devotion to duty that is mostly prevalent amidst Service Officers’ Community. During his interaction with a variety of officers he found that everyone exhibited confidence and ability and indeed the spirit of camaraderie. Citing an example, he narrated an incident. His daughter Leela, then very young was keen to learn classical Indian dance. While at the NDA one of his Officers, Major Rajan, had arranged a teacher from Pune for that purpose. Not being a satisfactory arrangement, Major Rajan took it upon himself to arrange for a proper Dance education for Miss Leela. He used his acquaintance and connections with the management of “Kalakshetra” at Chennai. He left no stone unturned till he got her admitted to the prestigious institution. Leela with her hard work, devotion and perseverance, came up in the field to win several accolades and National recognition and today she heads the Kalakshetra as its Director. The family has however not forgotten the help of Major Rajan who unfortunately died during the 1962 war. The Admiral emphasized that the spirit of Camaraderie is very essential and he was indeed happy that the AFVOA is fostering it very admirably. The Admiral’s quality of humility was greatly applauded by the audience. Today in his “Nineties” he stated that he would rather not talk about what he had achieved during his Service career and for which he won distinctions and awards. He would much rather prefer to be known after his illustrious daughter as Leela’s father. The audience gave a standing ovation to the Admiral for his articulated and inspiring speech. The Secretary, after thanking Admiral Samson for his inspiring speech, requested Maj Gen & Mrs. A Balasubramanian and Lt Col & Mrs. N Ramaswamy to occupy seats in front of the podium and read out their bio data with their respective achievements both during service and post retirement periods and stated that it was a matter of great pride for the AFVOA to honour them as respected Octogenarians. At the request of the Secretary Maj Gen Aban Naidu, PVSM, AVSM presented the memento to Maj Gen A Balasubramanian, AVSM and Mrs. Aban Naidu handed over a floral bouquet to Mrs. Balasubramanian. Lt Col N Ramaswamy was presented the memento by Maj Gen C Govindaswamy and Mrs. Chitkala Govindswamy handed over the floral bouquet to Mrs. Ramswamy. Talk by Ms Leela Samson. Tthe Secretary then read out the credentials of Ms Leela Samson and went on to say that sometime during the year 1996 while at Tezpur he was honoured to receive Ms Leela Samson when she had visited the Stn for a dance performance representing SPICMACAY foundation. He said that he was now privileged, as the Secretary of AFVOA, to request her to speak about KALKSHETRA. The lady obliged with spontaneity. Ms Leela Samson at the very outset thanked the Patron and all members of AFVOA for having invited her along with her parents for the meeting and considered it a great honour to be present among the Service Officers’ fraternity. She said that she was very young when she joined Kalakshetra but enjoyed learning the art as she was most fortunate to be under the direct guidance of Mrs Rukmini Devi Arundale who was very particular about the cultural tradition, a strict disciplinarian and practiced vegetarianism. She also said that it was a matter of great pride to her personally for having been appointed as Director of her own Alma Mater and concluded by saying that she was also proud to be the daughter of a great and popular Service Officer. At the request of the Secretary Mrs. Kala Karthikeyan presented a copy of “Hello