Concern for soldiers

Got this in circulation mail. A must read:


Barry Whiteley, British and proud of it!

Airline Lunch
I put my carry-on in the luggage compartment and sat down in my
assigned seat. It was going to be a long flight from Gatwick. I'm glad
I have a good book to read Perhaps I will get a short sleep,' I
thought.

Just before take-off, a line of British Army Youngsters came down the
aisle and filled all the vacant seats, totally surrounding me. I
decided to start a conversation. 'Where are you blokes headed?' I
asked the young man seated nearest to me. 'Cyprus. We'll be there for
two weeks for special training, and then we're being deployed to
Afghanistan.

 .... After flying for about an hour, an announcement was made that
lunches were available for five pounds. It would be several hours
before we reached Cyprus, and I quickly decided a lunch would help
pass the time. As I reached for my wallet, I overheard a soldier ask
his mate if he planned to buy lunch. 'No, that seems like a lot of
money for just an airline lunch. Probably wouldn't be worth five Quid.
I'll wait till we get to Cyprus'. His mate agreed.

I looked around at the other soldiers. None were buying lunch. I
walked to the back of the plane and handed the flight attendant a
fifty Pound note. 'Take a lunch to all those soldiers..' She grabbed
my arms and squeezed tightly. Her eyes wet with tears, she thanked me.
'My young bloke was a soldier in Iraq, it's almost like you are doing
it for him..'
Picking up ten lunchboxes, she headed up the aisle to where the boys
were seated. She stopped at my seat and asked, 'Which do you like best
- beef or chicken?'

'Chicken,' I replied, wondering why she asked..

She turned and went to the front of plane, returning a minute later
with a dinner plate from first class. This is your thanks.

After we finished eating, I went again to the back of the plane,
heading for the rest room. An old bloke stopped me. 'I saw what you
did. I want to be part of it. Here, take this.' He handed me
twenty-five Pounds.

Soon after I returned to my seat, I saw the Captain coming down the
aisle, looking at the aisle numbers as he walked, I hoped he wasn't
looking for me, but noticed he was looking at the numbers only on my
side of the plane. When he got to my row he stopped, smiled, held out
his hand, and said, 'I want to shake your hand.'

Quickly unfastening my seat-belt I stood and took the Captain's hand.
With a booming voice he said, 'I was an army pilot a long time back.
Once someone bought me lunch. It was an act of kindness I never
forgot.' I was embarrassed when applause was heard from all of the
passengers.

Later I walked to the front of the plane so I could stretch my legs. A
kid who looked about 18 was sitting about six rows in front of me
reached out his hand, wanting to shake mine. He left another
twenty-five Pounds In my palm.

When we landed I gathered my belongings and started to depart. Waiting
just inside the aeroplane door was a man who stopped me, put something
in my shirt pocket, turned, and walked away without saying a word.
Another twenty-five Pounds!

Upon entering the terminal, I saw the soldiers gathering for their
Trip up to their training area.. I walked over to them and handed them
seventy-five Pounds. 'It will take you some time to reach your
training area. It will be about time for a sandwich. God Bless You
Blokes.'

Ten young blokes left that flight feeling the love and respect of
their fellow Brits. As I walked briskly to my car, I whispered a
prayer for their safe return. These soldiers were giving their all for
our country. I could only give them a couple of meals. It seemed so
little...

A British/Indian Serviceman is someone who, at one point in his life,
wrote a blank cheque made payable to

'My Country'for an amount of 'up to and including my life.'  That is
Honour, and there are way too many foreigners in this country who
don't understand it

And here in INDIA , the Politicians not only robbing our Citizens with
Millions and Billions of Dollars but are also robbing the DEAD
Soldiers who Died for the Country and Countrymen, “The ADARSH”
SCANDAL, is just one of the known incidents. Get up with your Mighty
strength and DRIVE away the SCOUNDRELS with the voting power, do not
forget to Educate the Poor and Illiterate who are victim to Bribe,
else one day AMERICA and WEST will repeat IRAQ & LIBYA to our Country.

May you have the strength and courage to pass this along 

I JUST DID!

DEMOCRACY

Got an interesting reading : True Democracy in Action.

JOGISHWAR SINGH

 

 

As a Swiss citizen born in India, I am many times brought to think about my experiences of the democratic systems prevalent in the two countries.

Before Indian ‘patriots’ start screaming murder at what I am going to say, I should point out that I am fully aware that I am talking about two different historical realities.

Switzerland has been independent for over 800 years while India is a newly created entity, now a mere 66 years old.

Switzerland has a population of only 8 million while India has the second highest population of any country in the world at over 1.2 billion (give or take a few million). And expected, in the near future, to even outstrip China, and become the world’s most populous.

The trigger for this set of reflections was what I saw on the 7.30 pm evening news on Swiss TV a couple of weeks ago.

The Swiss President, Mr Ueli Maurer, was leaving on a five day state visit to China. The news showed him arriving at Zürich airport in an ordinary private vehicle. The President got out of the car by opening the car door himself. He walked to the nearby baggage trolley stand outside the airport entrance. He took a baggage trolley out, rolled it towards the car, lifted his suitcase and travel bag himself, put these on the trolley which he then rolled towards the entrance like any passenger lambda like you or me. He walked up to the check in counter with just two other persons walking behind him. He checked his luggage in for a commercial flight without any special treatment being meted out to him.

For any Indians (or others) who might find it difficult to believe what I have described above, you can CLICK on the link provided hereunder, at the end of this article, to view a TV news clip from the evening prime time news for July 16, 2013..

You’ll get visual proof of the Swiss President’s arrival at the airport, his check in for his state visit to China and a short interview with a TV journalist. This clip is really worth watching.

Conditioned by my personal experiences of dealing with politicians and government ministers in India while serving as an IAS (Indian Administrative Service) officer, I was so struck by the contrast between what I had experienced in India and what I was seeing on the TV screen that I told my wife that this represented one of the finest examples of democracy for me, certainly of the Swiss variety. It made me proud to be the citizen of a country where the serving President behaves like an ordinary citizen and does not feel the need to consider  special privileged treatment as his divine birthright.

I remembered the countless times when I had seen the fury of Indian politicians, much below the level of the President of a country, at what they considered as a slight because they had not been treated as demi-gods.

I am not a psychologist. I do not know whether centuries of slavery have generated this distorted VIP culture in India but I remember that we all did curse the politicians there for causing so much inconvenience to the general public by expecting, demanding and getting privileged treatment.

Who in India, except maybe some politicians or bureaucrats, has not been inconvenienced by VIP visits for which miles of roads and highways, even entire neighbourhoods, are blocked off to traffic, and flights are delayed, awaiting the arrival of some VIP or even his/her flunkies/family members?

Any such inconvenience would cause an uproar in Switzerland.

In India, it does not generate even a whimper.

In this context, an incident from the not very distant past strongly lingers in my memory. A few years ago, a former IAS batch-mate of mine (1976 batch) had visited Switzerland.

I have noticed that Switzerland becomes a prize destination of choice for a lot of Indian ministers and bureaucrats during their hot summer for attending all kinds of useless conferences which are essentially talking shops organised by the United Nations, an organisation which is a hotbed of nepotism and inefficiency.

This IAS officer wanted to see Switzerland, so I acted as his local tourist guide.

While we were going around the Swiss federal capital, Bern, it was lunch time so we decided to have lunch at a restaurant very close to the Swiss parliament building.

As we took our seats at a table, a Swiss gentleman sitting at the next table, reading his newspaper while sipping his coffee, greeted us in English. While we ordered our meal and waited, he finished reading his newspaper, drank his coffee and called for his bill which he paid before leaving. While going out, he again politely wished us goodbye, even saying, “I hope you enjoy your stay in Switzerland” in English.

After he had left, I asked my visitor if he knew who the man had been. Obviously, my visitor did not know the answer. I informed him that we had just been greeted by the then serving Swiss President, Mr René Felber.

My guest thought I was making fun of him. He would not believe me so I called the restaurant manager to confirm the veracity of what I had told him. The manager duly confirmed what I had said.

My Indian visitor was flabbergasted. He said, “How can this be possible? He actually paid his bill before leaving”.

So, what struck my visitor the most had been the fact that a VIP had actually paid his bill! I wonder what he would say if he saw our current President, Mr Ueli Maurer, personally loading his bags on to a baggage trolley and wheeling it to a check-in counter just like any ordinary citizen. His disbelief could only be countered by visual evidence on the TV!

My visitor’s reaction brought back memories of when, as a serving sub-divisional or district level official, I had been called upon to organise lunches and dinners for numerous collections of freeloaders travelling with ministers or bureaucrats in India.

I seldom remember any politician or bureaucrat actually paying or even offering to pay for the bonanza laid out for them. Those who did offer to pay, did so at the ridiculously low official daily fare of eleven rupees (today, a mere 20 cents US) per person or something like that.

Nobody ever asked how it had been possible to lay out a lavish meal comprising several dishes, accompanied by expensive alcoholic beverages, for such a petty sum. I never found out myself who used to pay for all this extravaganza at the end of the line.

Like a good Indian bureaucrat, I just used to pass the buck down the line to my junior magistrates and revenue officials. To this day, I am unable to clarify which poor victim -- read, citizen! -- who got stuck with paying for all the freebies on offer.

While working as chief of staff to the President of the Swiss Commission for the Presence of Switzerland in Foreign Countries many years ago, I had the chance of accompanying him to Strasbourg for meetings of the Council of Europe. I also had the privilege of close interaction with several Swiss members of parliament over an extended period of 12 to 14 months.

The contrast to the behavioural pattern of what I had experienced in India with politicians was so stark that it has stayed seared in my mind even till today.

I am by no means suggesting that Swiss politicians are angels but the kind of behaviour that Indian politicians or bureaucrats get away with as a matter of routine in India would torpedo their careers in Switzerland in a jiffy.

Each such incident deepens my gratitude to Waheguru Almighty for having made me settle down in a country like Switzerland where the President carries his own bags to the check-in counter.

Where no roads are blocked for hours so that some VIP can, in the name of security, be whisked around in convoys of official vehicles.

Where politicians and bureaucrats pay their bills in restaurants.

Where grossly sycophantic behaviour is not the general and accepted norm.

Where no red-light beacons or screaming sirens signal the passage of VIP vehicles. Indeed, the red-light-beacon culture of officialdom in India merits a full story in itself.

I might accept India as a true democracy the day I see its President or Prime Minister behaving like the Swiss President before his departure on an official visit abroad.

I don’t think I will ever see such a sight in India during my lifetime.

You think, maybe, my grandchildren will?

 

To view the TV news-clip, please CLICK here.

 

 August 1, 2013