A General lies dead!
Was it an act of war? Sabotage? Pilot error? Mechanical failure?
He was not killed on a battlefield leading his men, not from an act of vengeance for some previous act to save the country, but dead, traveling on his own warhorse, piloted by his own forces and brought down in a time of peace, in an area of no insurgency!
How did we allow him to die?
Would people of any other nation forgive themselves if their chief got into a helicopter which they do every day and have the machine crash because of engine failure or pilot failure? Or if sabotage, intelligence failure?
And if engine failure, how? Through poor maintenance, no thorough check ups, or our ‘chaltha hai’ attitude?
I flew on Flight AI 101 two weeks ago from Delhi to New York. Fifteen hours of continuous flying in seats that would have made a pygmy squirm. What most do during this torturous experience is divide their time between inflight movies, reading and sleep!
The lights went off as soon as the aircraft gained altitude, I pulled out my book, switched on the reading lights, but darkness stared mockingly at me!
‘Sir, most of the reading lights don’t work!’ she whispered into my ear.
‘Okay,’ I told myself as I smiled at her, ‘So it’s the movies then!’ and I switched on the console.
‘Sir,’ she said, this time from within the safety of the drinks counter, ‘Most of the screens don’t work!’
‘What works?” I asked looking fearfully out of the window at the huge engines.
‘Sir, these are old aircraft and we are just waiting for Tata’s to take over to get new parts and engineers who will spend time on the maintenance!’
I shuddered again as I looked at the engines outside.
Did our brave General shudder too?
Are we so involved in building new parliament buildings, tall statues and religious places for the world to see, spending millions of rupees on showmanship, when national carriers, helicopters, roads and bridges are on their last legs?
When Trump arrived in Gujarat on his way to see the statue, walls were quickly built to hide the slums the poor lived in. Was the helicopter given just a fresh coat of paint?
A General lies dead!
Not killed on a battlefield leading his men, not from an act of vengeance for some previous act to save the country, but dead, traveling on his own warhorse, piloted by his own forces and brought down in a time of peace, in an area of no insurgency!
How did we allow such a good brave man to die?
If we can come out from behind our painted walls, if we can stop waiting for a Tata or Birla to take over, and instead, take responsibility for our people, our machines, our infrastructure and it’s maintenance then the good General would not have died in vain..!
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Robert Clements is a newspaper columnist and writes a daily column, which has graced the pages of over 60 newspapers and magazines, from a daily column in the Khaleej Times, Dubai, the Morning Star, London, and in nearly every state in India, from The Statesman in Kolkata, to the Kashmir Times in Kashmir to the Trinity Mirror in Chennai.
Where’s the time Bobby, I just heard the ruling party say with a sigh, where’s the time? So much to do, elections to be rigged, MLA’s to be bought, all out efforts to be made to bring other parties down and divisions between religions to be made creating hatred. So you tell me, where’s the time to concentrate on upkeep and maintenance? You tell me.
You’re right Bob. A newly built bridge across the Mandovi in Goa is closed fir over a month fir repairs. Traffic in the area has become a nightmare.
We’re busy building Temples and Statues and Parliament House but no time for the tax payers who make all this possible.
It’s really Sad that our General, his wife and his core team of officers had to perish in the ghastly accident.
They were a total of 13 people who died and one critically injured. In a strange coincidence, just a few days ago 13 civillians were mistakenly killed and one critically injured by the Army in a botched up ambush at Nagaland, for which the Home Minister expressed regret over the incident in Parliament.
May all their souls attain eternal peace and may God give strength to their families to bear the irreplaceable loss of their loved family members ?
Om Shanti ?
Well said Bobby, Anchees and Capt. Eddie Veignas. A young honestATS officer, Hemant Karkare, was shot dead in a so called bullet proof jacket, by terrorists. Was it foul play? He had imprisoned one, released now,an MP, PragyaThakur.
You are just like the vapor or the Dew on earth, just for sometime and you are gone. Eventually your walk with Jesus on earth is what matters. You may be a General or a toilet cleaner and all end up in the dust. I can bet a child of God will never have a bad end.
Unfortunately too many died ,we do not yet know the how but at least 5 too many !( Hopefully the 6th would survive so we pray and plead for him)
Unfortunately, Generals no longer die on the battlefield nor do they go anywhere near there of their own volition !
Unfortunately, the Generals now need a security detail to protect them from their own !
Unfortunately Generals these days lend their own voices and speak for their masters and not for their own or their nation !
Unfortunately , the Generals now are a disgrace unto themselves and they bring upon disgrace to the nation but yet get decorated and do not retire or resign in disgrace any longer !
Unfortunately , the Generals these days do not have the fight in them and only make it convenient for the Chinese or anyone who fancy their chances !
Unfortunately the citizens can be misled and brow beaten to say we are winning when we are bleeding profusely !
A General is dead!!!
Is there any face saving grace that we can consider?
People have no individual respect for humans. Life goes on with no effect on our conscience. And this fact is widely accepted by the masses!!!!!
May the souls of the General and all the brave hearts who lost their lives in this most unfortunate and tragic incident rest in peace. We lack a good governance. It doesn’t matter if lives are lost but statues, temples must be built and re built! Nothing will change unless our understanding, sensitivity and transparency changes.
The apathy and chalta hai mentality is sadly ingrained in our mindsets since years This has to change to a sense of accountability and ownership for any positive change to come about Perhaps each of can be a part of the solution in our own small way As Mahatma Gandhi said ‘Be the change you want to see in the world’
The article is good with reasonable comments.solution to this problem is overall development of people and reasonable prudence of politicians. The later part is difficult to a large extent. Live and wait for good times.
We should mourn the loss our bravehearts, in unfortunately what was a peacetime tragedy .. and should not lose the focus of the moment .. but will we ever know the truth which could very well be due to the apathy of how our govt run infrastructures are presently operated.. ?? Hope this would prove to be a wake up call ??
Very well written. I wish we take a lesson or two from this tragedy.
A General is Dead !
Yes , we all mourn the death of not only the General but also all those who perished in the accident which ought not to have occurred !
I’m sure everything had been taken care of ; procedures followed, air worthiness checked , clearances obtain ac allowed to take off . But there are Hazar Imponderables, possibilities between a smooth take off and happy landings …… unfortunately, in this case it turned out to be a tragic , disastrous mishap ;from available data one understands that General wanted to keep his appointment at Staff College …… it appears to be a case of gethomeities , in this case keeping an appointment ! General expressed the desire , and everyone did everything to acquiesce with it …..what happened was that the cardinal rule of not flying in a valley during marginal weather condition was given a go bye ; flying in the IMC conditions was tried taking a chance that you would see the ground soon and land safely !
Don’t blame anyone other than destiny; a calculated chance was taken , avoidable as it was , to a disastrous end !
It has happened before but this is not the last time that it has happened…… people who have flown in the valley and in mountainous terrain know that the weather there is like
like a women’s mood ….. very unpredictable at best of the times , especially after 11-1200 hrs in the afternoon !
This is my reading of the scenario…. maybe wrong but could be……???
Men could very well be unpredictable as weather. A moody person can be of any gender. So it’s unfair to the fairer sex to be paid uncomplimentary remarks that are untrue, in fact. We are not frail, vain or silly.