Love with a Girl who dropped her Veil

The Girl who Dropped the Veil and Showed her Face

In Indore many girls cover their faces while going out ir driving. The purpose is to save the skin from the hot sun. All the same it creates a mystery.While driving through the hot afternoon I espied a slim girl in jeans drivjng forward.

I was taken over by instinct and I tagged along with the girl on the scooter. Soon she was conscious that I was followkng her and she was the object of my admiration.

Two traffic signals passed and I remained close to the girl in jeans. At the 3rd signal , I was extremely close to the girl. I did the unthinkable. I said" you are so lovely, why hide your face?"

The girl looked at me and in a second removed her veil and with a smile replied" see me then, do you like what you see?"She was indeed lovely with a fair skin, large black eyes and winsome eyed.Fotune favors the brave and I asked her for coffe at the Raddisson and the star of a relationship that ended in bed

Dare Devil Operation: Rescue of Mussolini from Captivity

What is bravery? It is an act of attempting to do the impossible. One such episode has caught my imagination. The man who carried out this act was a German Para Major named Skorzany. He was specially selected by Hitler for this act. A man of infinite courage and a dare devil, he was asked by Hitler to rescue Mussolini the Italian dictator from a mountain ski resort in Central Italy. The Italians who made Mussolini retire were aware that an attempt would be made to rescue Il Duce and so were shifting his residence every 2 months.

However German Intelligence was able to pinpoint that Mussolini was held at the ski resort in Central Italy. Major Skorzany assured Hitler; he would rescue Mussolini and get him back to lead the Axis powers. In real terms Hitler was well aware that the Italians were just waiting to make peace with the Allies and would also hand over his best friend to them.

Thus in September 1943 Skorzany made a daring plan to free Mussolini. It must be noted that the ski resort was only accessible by cable car and there was no road. So a decision was taken to land Gliders on the resort. The Major himself led the assault as the Gliders were airborne. It was a risky operation to land a glider on the small ground of the resort, but the German Para troopers did just that. Only one paratrooper lost his life in the landing. A master stroke was to take a senior Italian police official who on emerging from the glider shouted in Italian 'don't fire... don't fire '.This sowed confusion in the hearts of the guards who were quickly over powered and Mussolini was freed without firing a shot.

Mussolini and his girlfriend Clara were then whisked away by a small German light plane to Germany. It was feat without parallel in terms of audacity and bravery. Somehow this feat is not given much importance and Hollywood which has been making all sorts of war movies has conspicuously ignored this romantic saga of bravery. Maybe, because they would not like to propagate an episode of bravery from the Nazi era. But then Hollywood has never been known to be objective.

The Major was involved in a few other attempts of dare delivery. One of these was his assignment to assassinate the 3 leaders Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt at Yalta. But the task was too gigantic and he gave up the plan, after it was compromised.

What about the famed Major? He was arrested after the war, but escaped to Spain, where General Franco gave him refuge. He died in 1975.

The Punjabi Custom of “Chaddar” and Widow re-marriage to Younger Brother

 “Chaddar” literally translated means Bed sheet.

How Society Reacted to Widows Rehabilitation

 Punjabi society had its own solution for a problem of a widow and her future life. They adopted a custom that took care of this problem. Nobody is aware how this custom originated. The custom involved the wife of a deceased man marrying the younger brother (her brother in law). This was done in a brief ceremony where the widow placed a white Chaddar (bed sheet) on the younger brother. From that moment she became the wife of the younger brother. This was done to keep the woman in the same family and provide protection to children from the first marriage. Otherwise her life was doomed. As can be assumed woman was forced into this alliance by the mother in laws.

Practical Aspects of Chaddar

  Placing the chaddar had its own problems. In some cases a widow became the second wife of her brother in law. In other cases the bridegroom was much younger than the widow, yet the marriage was consummated. There were cases of a widow entering a new house hold where there were already pubescent daughters. This had its own problems but the generally placing the chaddar on the younger brother gave a new lease of life to the widow in terms of sex, companionship and status.

Effect of the Chaddar on Land Holdings

One reason for placing the chaddar is to stop fragmentation of land holdings. In the Punjab land has tremendous value and agricultural land in particular is a status symbol. This is particularly prevalent among the Jat community, who are the major owners of land in the Punjab.

Once a woman cast a chaddar on her husband’s younger brother she became his wife and all the land owned by the elder brother came to the younger brother. Thus fragmentation of the agricultural lands was avoided and land remained within the family.

The Significance of 12 September

Not many people know that 12 Sept is one of the most important days in the history of the Indian Army. This is also celebrated as the Raising day of the Sikh Regiments when they pass out from the Sikh regimental Centre at Ramgarh.
The first Sikh regiments were Incorporated by the British in 1846 after the first Sikh war.  The Sikhs over the years built up an association with the Raj that endeared for over a100 years. They served the Raj faithfully and loyally and there is no doubt that they were the linchpin of the British control over India. it was certainly a mercenary act, but then the entire history of India is replete with this particular facet.
However on 12 September the Sikhs were asked to garrison the fort at Saragrahi ( now in West Pakistan). In fact it is part of the troubled North West Frontier region in Waziristan. It is on record that 21 Sikh Soldiers led by havildar Iswar singh were put in charge of this small fort at Saragrahi. In 1897, about 10,000 Afghan Moslems rose up in a  holy war Jihad against British rule and accordingly attacked Saragrahi as well. It was a battle of 21 against 10,000 and certainly puts Thermopylae into the shadow. But this battle is not given its due.Records show that the Sikhs held the fort and for over 10 hours against this moslem horde and inflicted over 1000 deaths on the enemy. Such bravery is seldom seen.
All the fallen Sikhs were suitably rewarded and their next of kin got land grants. The entire  British Parliament also honored the Sikh's with a standing ovation. Surely the Indian Army and government should give due credit to this battle which remains a golden page in the history of the Indian Army,

Secret Mission over Tibet and a US Girl in Bed

The Mission to Photograph Tibet

The MIG 23 PR version

The Beginning
About a decade and a half back I had returned from an exercise with the USAF from Alaska. There I had struck up a friendship with a USAF Captain. She was white and lovely. Maybe, she liked me for she accepted my invitation to spend a week with me at the Himalayan resort of Darjeeling.
Accordingly the lass took a seat in the Commander in Chief Far Eastern US Air force's plane on his periodical visit to Delhi. I was to recieve her and then we had planned to fly to bliss.
The Fatefull Meeting
I was just leaving when the Commodore, the old Foggie called me. I cursed, but went alll the same to meet him at Vayu Bhavan( Air Head quarters). I found the old man in a sombre mood. He got to the point immediately
"Look MG,I backed you and put nothing in your reports after you were regularly sleeping with the NCO girl in the USA."
I wondered why the old foggie was bringing this up. He continued " Look son, I did it beacuse I felt you are one of the best pilots we have,Now I hope you will prove me right. You are selected for a secret mission over Tibet. You will take off tomorrow from Chabua in Assam and fly the MIG23 photo recce version across Tibet and photograph some senstive sights. We have satelite images but we want eye witness photographs from ground level. You will photograph and continue to Leh in Ladakh."
The Foggie continued." you will be on your own and in case the Chinese down you, we will say that you are a renegade pilot and we have nothing to do with you. I know you wont say NO as the recce mission is cleared at the highest level. Further details will be given by satation commander, Chabua."
I wanted to ask about Captain S. But he had read my thoughts" the girl is being picked up and taken to the Darjeeling resort of the Oberai and she is told that you will meet her there, I f you come back".
That was it , the interview was over . I saluted and left. It never occurred me to say no. I felt the blood in my nostrils as I boarded the AN32 to Chabua. I only hoped the mission was secret, because a similar mission in 1959 had been leaked to the Pakis and a F86 was airborne and waiting for the Indian Canberra, which was shot down.
The Mission
I took off from Chabua, ere the sun had just risen. The Station Commander who had briefed me , saw me off. Good luck was all he said.
I climbed the MIG 23 to 25000 ft and crossed the Himalayas. I immediately came down low and sped towards my target. I wondered whether the Chinese radar had caught me. I maintained radio silence and activated my ECM. A flew low over the site and had two runs , shooting with my camera all the time,
I saw Chinese air Force planes being scrambled and I knew the real test had begun now and I was unarmed. I pulled up and sped towards Leh. I had maybe 2/3 minutes lead as I touched 2.6 mach. I prayed to Guru Nanak as I saw a bright light and knew that a missile had been fired. My ECM worked and I dodged and continued. It was one hell of a run and I saw Leh airfield and I know that I had won.
The Finale
I landed in Leh and taxied to the exclusive hanger. The old foggie was there . All he said was " there is a plane waiting to take you to Siliguri and a chopper will take you to Darjeeling."
I reached Darjeeling and was delighted to be with my girl. As we retired to the bedroom, there was a knock and a waiter entered witha large wrapped hamper.
I opened it and found that a bottle of the rarest scotch Royal Salute was neatly gift wrapped with the word "Well Done". The old foggie had his own way of saying thank you.
After that what happened is my private moment of bliss. Neeedless to add that in the Independence day list I found my name for a commendation by the Chief.

English Girl Amy Johnson in Hindi and Tamil films

things are happening that have never happened before. Indian cinema never had heroines entering the screen from England and the USA, but that is happening now and the latest girl to make an entry in the world of Tamil and Hindi cinema is Amy Jackson. Here is a pure white blooded English girl, wearing Indian dresses and making it good in the world of Indian cinema.

Amy Louise Jackson was born in 1990 in the Isle of Man in England. Her father was working with the BBC. She won the ‘Teen Princess’ award in 2008 and came in the lime light. Immediately she landed a modeling contract for $20,000 that took her to the USA. She narrowly missed getting the Miss England award after being crowned Miss Liverpool

.In 2009, some Indian film producers saw her on a model website and invited her for a screen test. She passed the test and got the role of British Governor’s daughter in the Tamil film Madrasapattinam(1947: A Love Story), opposite actor Arya. The film was released in 2010 and was a commercial success. This prompted the producers to cast hr in Mumbai Hindi film. She has now debuted in the Hindi film Ek Deewana tha opposite Prateik, son of actress Smita Patil and Raj Babbar. In this film she plays a Malyali Christian and is a remake of a Tamil film Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa. The film appears to be a commercial success. Credit must go to producer Gautham Menon who cast her in this role

Amy Jackson is perhaps one of the first British girls to make it good in Hindi cinema after a success in Tamil films. She is also well educated and attended Edwards College. She has 2 Tamil films on the sets.Amy Jackson in the Mumbai film carries herself with aplomb and looks fetching in the sari. She has some lovely love scenes with Prateik in the film, which are an aesthetic delightThe globalization of Hindi cinema is complete with the coming of a British girl in Indian Cinema. 

My Greatest love Flying Supersonics, drink Chivas and a Fair Girl

I got my wings when I was 21 and flew for a decade and a half before quitting to enter the corporate world. Its been one roller coaster ride and now I cannot help felling that Louis Armstrongs immortal song " what a wonderful world" is true for me.I love flying, especially supersonic Mach II interceptors.

Getting into my G-suit was a thrill. I always had a hearty breakfast of sausages, eggs, ham, toast, butter and cheese before a sortie. This is a recommendatory diet ad you are going to experience forces of 3 and 4G snd your blood sugar level must be high. I flew the MIG 21(BIS), THE 23 and 27 and the Sukhoi.What did I feel hurtling at supersonic speeds up in the sky? Frankly I was at peace and always recited the Jap prayer of Nanak, which I knew by heart.I always wanted to extend my sortie, but my flight commander would order me back to base. So reluctantly I would come back and taxi to my hanger.

I always lived the adrenaline that went with my flight and after that I would pick a bottle of Chivas, my favorite Scotch from the officersbar and head for my quarter. My bearer had the snacks roasted chicken and kebabs laid out next to my luxurious bed. Thr lsst part was getting a fair girl in my arms. Somehow I always lijed fair girls and even my Tamil girl friends were Brahamin and fair. In that respect I was color concious. Many girls from America some from USAF, but only fair and no dark ones.

I hope people will excuse me for this.The last part is my exclusive secret, but there is nothing better than to fly at Mach II + and then drink good scotch with lovely girl in your arms. I don't think anything better than thus