AFVOA Newletters of Year 2008

Page 5 of 56 All men dream but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity; but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes to make it possible. Lawrence of Arabia A Special Request to Members: In case you are changing your address, phone / cell number or your e-mail ID please do let us know so that we can update your information. From the President’s Desk 1. Let me start by thanking all members and families who had turned up in record strength to make our Annual Picnic held on 20 Jan 2008 such a success. We all had a pleasant and memorable day with our families. I should also congratulate those of you who had worked so hard, both behind the scenes and up front, with a single minded aim of ensuring that the event goes off well. I think your efforts got their just dues. 2. Looking to the future we do have a lot more work to be done in the year underway. The tasks of revision of ‘Hello Veterans’ - our telephone directory - and the publication of ‘Suryasthaman’ as a compact, compendium for Veterans are already in the hands of senior members. 3. I am confident that we will not only complete those works on time but also achieve much more. My optimism in the future gets a further boost when we consider that the problems that had vexed us during the past few months in relation to ECHS have disappeared like dew afore the rising sun. We are happy to find that most of the well known hospitals in the City of Chennai have come back to the ECHS fold and have started accepting patients. The remaining hospitals too are being welcomed. At the same time the other annoying glitch that existed regarding ‘death certificates’ to departing veterans has been sorted out. ECHS will now give the necessary ‘death certificates’ in respect of veterans under their treatment. For all this we have to thank the ‘serving fraternity’ of the defence forces whole heartedly. They listened to our plaints and acted selflessly for our welfare. 4. That brings me to the point of what we can do for ourselves. One of our chosen aims is to help out brother veterans and families in distress. To systematize the procedure of provision of succor we have given an impetus to the idea of Core Groups by making them geography based. We have divided our City into areas of concentration of veteran officers and appointed ‘Friends in Need’ in each such area. Details of the same have been published in the last Newsletter. It is upto each one of us to make the system work so that we make life a little easier for all of us. 5. Another aim of our association is to give motivation lectures at schools and colleges and train young aspirants for the Services Selection Boards. For this too I now find that I have to fall back on the leaders within Core Groups. I would request each core group to form teams for such motivation lectures, and once they are ready I would request you to approach the school and college authorities in your areas. Our ancient sages traveled far and wide to spread the teachings. Taking a leaf out of their lives we have to go to where the students are. Please do let me have your ideas on the subject and please do call me; I am sure to come. 6. Let me once again wish you all and your families all happiness and prosperity. God be with you.