A zone institute is always a great time to listen to some incredible stories from and about ordinary people who have done extraordinary things to reach out a helping hand to the less fortunate. At the Tejas Institute in Delhi too, the 1400-odd participants got a chance to meet some incredible people. But this time around, two of the speakers who left us spellbound and speechless were both from the Indian Army — Capt Raghu Raman, who spoke on Leadership at 26000 feet and Brigadier D S Basera, recipient of the Vishisht Seva Medal and currently the secretary of the Kendriya Signing Board, Ministry of Defence, who takes care of the welfare of ex-army personnel and the families of those who have been killed at the front.
Capt Raman painted a vivid scenario to the stunned audience on what life is beyond 21,000ft at the Siachen Glacier, where temperatures can go down to minus 20–25 deg C, and more, if you include the wind chill factor. Through video clips he showed patrolling soldiers carrying packs weighing 15–20kg, and a rifle to boot. Whereas a patrol in normal conditions from Delhi to Dwarka would take 3–4 hours, in a glacier it would take 4 days.
He said leadership had to be provided in an impossible terrain where to get a cup of morning tea, a soldier used a pick axe to break “pieces of concrete-like rock solid ice, heat it in a patila for an hour and half with tea leaves.” The soldier’s clothes were black, thanks to the abundant use of liquid gold of the glacier — kerosene. “You can survive without food or water for weeks, but without kerosene, you will not survive a single night, because if the bukhari in your enclosure goes off in the night, in the morning, you’ll wake up like an ice tray.” Here leadership had to be provided by military generals taking their men into battle “without ESOPs, pay hikes, employee of the month award or bonus,” he said wryly.
In a moving speech Brigadier Basera told Rotarians how the armed forces “fight for naam (country), namak (soil) and nishan (Indian flag). This is the reason that we are fearless; if we are alive, we have medals in our chest. If we are dead, our name is in the national war memorial which is behind India Gate, written in golden words. Every day, thousands of people remember us. What bigger honour is there than to be wrapped in the national flag and depart from this world?”
While these two speakers alone would have provided the paisa vasool feeling to the participants, two outstanding sessions that stood out included At the Crosshairs, where past RI President K R Ravindran quizzed the RI President, Vice President, the two Indian directors on the RI Board and a TRF trustee on tricky questions such as ‘Who really runs Rotary — the RI Board or the staff!’ The other one was where three polio warriors from India — PRID Ashok Mahajan, PDG Deepak Kapur and former Union Health minister Harsh Vardhan, who were honoured, spoke about their polio journey.
The icing on the cake was each participant receiving a car of her own, which annihilated the need to battle with Uber or Ola, and the evening sessions filled with great food, music and dance. And of course, the women made a beeline for the popular yoga trainer Saurabh Bothra.
All in all, the trip to a pollution-laden Delhi, proved enjoyable.
Rasheeda Bhagat