Dear Friends,
We were a case of, from the ‘frying pan into the
fire’; our pre commission training in the Indian Military Academy, Dehra Dun
cut short by the imminence of the 1971 Indo – Pak war, which midwifed the birth
of Bangla Desh, from the geographical confines of East Pakistan. Our batch christened itself as the Born to Battle
course, which has the proud honour of having on its rolls the late 2nd
Lt Arun Khetarpal, PVC, who was martyred in a bloody tank battle in Jarpal, Shakargarh Sector.There were others too, who made the supreme sacrifice for the honour
and glory of the country. This makes us very special and our camaraderie is
exemplary.
We have a Google group aptly called born2battle,
through which mates keep in touch and share the same spirit of friendship,
brotherhood and mutual trust as when we initially came together as a course.
This remains an excellent platform for most of us to also share our
acquisitions, musings and writing, on various subjects of interest; in keeping
with our individual likes and facility. I for one have reading as a hobby and a
penchant for writing, essentially on issues which impact and influence
leadership in general and military leadership in particular. My desire was given
a tangible expression, when soon after my superannuation from service in 2008,
I self published a book titled Passion for Courage – A Winner’s Creed and had
it released in Dehra Dun on 23 Jun 2009.
The book is a collection of my writings, on my
views on matters and issues as they obtained then and continue to do so, even
now. Most of what is in the book was also published in various institutional
and in house journals and magazines, contemporaneously. The purpose for
publishing this work was primarily to reach out to the young and junior
leadership of the Armed Forces and the Army in particular, and provide them
with encouragement and hope to serve and live with the courage of their
convictions, irrespective of the consequences thereof. More so, the work being
an honest effort; without any factual air brushing to make it appear and read
more righteous than what it actually is, was born of my personal understanding
of what I imbibed from my family, school, training and service career. It
advocates functional leadership, premised on the three pillars of character,
courage and competence.
It is with the intent and desire to read, reflect
and write on what is closest to my heart, that we purchased an apartment in a
community housing complex; Arborea Luxury Homes, just off the Rajpur road and
in proximity of Rajpur village. The complex is picturesquely located at the
Mussoorie foothills, which remain perennially verdant with trees and bushy
undergrowth. The environment is relatively free of pollution, traffic and the
noisy hustle bustle of town living and city life, and provides a conducive
feeling for indulging in one’s creative talent. My wife shares this sentiment
with me and occupies herself with her hobbies of painting, reading and music. It
is in these surroundings, that among my other interests of walking, yoga,
Sudarshan kriya etc, I have been very active in writing and blogging in my URL
passionforcourage.blogspot.com, on contemporary matters of interest.
I wish to send to you a few of my
stories/features/articles, for your reading, so as to share another view point
which may be different from what you have heard or else written about. These
are as follows -:
a)
On Gen (retd) V K Singh
b)
On Suresh Kalmadi
c)
On corruption in the Country
d)
On corruption in the Army
With Very Warm Regards,
Brigadier (retd) S D Dangwal
+919410900051
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