Fudge » The Indian Airforce http://www.fudge.co.in Dosent it make you hungry ? Wed, 18 Jan 2012 04:37:31 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v= Human Error http://www.fudge.co.in/2009/09/03/human-error/ http://www.fudge.co.in/2009/09/03/human-error/#comments Thu, 03 Sep 2009 15:50:58 +0000 Aman Yajurvedi http://www.fudge.co.in/?p=253 Human beings are a highly evolved life form on this planet. The word comes from the Latin, Homo Sapien , meaning wise man. And Wise he is. Today Humans have the most complex and developed brain capable of logic, structural thinking , ability to love , feel pain and numerous complex emotions. They can communicate use of gestures, by speaking languages. But perhaps the strongest and dominant of all qualities of Human Beings is that they are social primates. Sure there are other species and all most all are known to be socially active, but nothing as complex and deep rooted as the Human Beings. We are capable of living in groups, forming colonies, families, partners, involve in courtship, form social boundaries, governments, countries. Social interaction between humans has given birth to traditions, rituals, values and ethics. In a sense we are all connected by this human bond. It is also our biggest weakness. The Error in Humans. Its a well known fact that is also a popular expression (with numerous variations, but the meaning remains the same)- “The best way to be happy is to make others happy” Its true. We seek happiness in other peoples joys and sadness in their misery. In war the most effective means of torture is by threatening the prisoner’s most loved ones – his family, his children. No other specie is capable of such superior emotion and thought process. It is why we plead, take us but spare them. We are ready to face death in the interest of their survival. Man appears very selfless. But behind this selfless act is a very simple rationale. We are needy, we are needy for love for companionship for support for our basic existence. Solitary confinement is the worst punishment. It is why we are most disturbed when our near and dear pass away. They leave a vacuum in our lifves that can not be filled. A Void. This is man’s greatest gift and greatest folly. Its simply Human Error.

There are many ways to define our fragile existence. Many ways to give it meaning. But it is our memories that shape its purpose and give it context. The private assortment of images, fears, loves, regrets. For it is the cruel irony of life that we are destined to hold the dark with the light. The good with the evil. Success with disappointment. This is what separates us. What makes us human. And in the end, we must fight to hold on to.
-Heroes : 2.08

Written in memory of Gp Capt. SK Bhatia , may your soul rest in peace

]]> http://www.fudge.co.in/2009/09/03/human-error/feed/ 5 Party Party! Bomb Bomb! http://www.fudge.co.in/2007/12/09/party-party-bomb-bomb/ http://www.fudge.co.in/2007/12/09/party-party-bomb-bomb/#comments Sun, 09 Dec 2007 14:06:58 +0000 Aman Yajurvedi http://www.fudge.co.in/2007/12/09/party-party-bomb-bomb/ Let me paint a picture for you : A father sits on the sofa, one evening when his son comes up to and asks him – Hey Dad, how was it in the Squadron in your days? The father reminisces and talk in length about the good ol’ days. The late night parties and winding up in rooms that you don’t recognize next morning stinking of alcohol; yet waking up, getting clean and reporting to work. Not very pretty huh ? No, it was one of the best times…

The armed forces are known for a very close knit fraternity like lifestyle where everyone lives like a family. You go to work every day thinking you are serving your nation. The prestige and pride sat on your uniform crisp as a cracker. You curse your wits out if you get a bombing wrong or you screw up a sortie. If a pilot died, your cry your heart out, because its family. If you get the feeling you are leafing through an old tattered book with yellow pages around 30 years old, well you are right. This happened then. 30 years ago. Today, a party is a party and a bomb is bomb.

However the armed forces boast of tradition, charm and “the real deal”. What you saw in Top Gun. Maverick upside down giving the birdie and flying by the tower faster than the speed of sound. So when a person today has to decide if he wants to join the forces and experience a once in a lifetime lifestyle or get a corporate job with a good pay and go through mid life crisis 10 years early, why do you think he should chose the prior to the latter? The guy is well justified in going the corporate way because the chances that you’ll be experiencing whats in your mind are pretty slim.

So the M.O.D decides that if its money that people want then we’ll give them money. But that’s not why a person joins the armed forces. Don’t get me wrong, the armed forces have to keep up with the growing economy and increase the pay scale so that a bright young officer doesn’t have to feel shy in front of his school buddies who are driving the fancy cars. Its the honor, and charm which I feel matters more. Its the charm which is losing its mark today and I doubt any increase in pay scale can restore that. The close knit family is slowly disintegrating and its every man for himself today. The only thing that a young recruit is bothered about is his next pay day and impressing his boss at all costs (and of course the free stuff! no one forget the free stuff ! :smile: ). The defense forces is just another organization and serving the being an defense personnel is just another job.

I guess I am like the villager complaining about industrialization/globalization destroying his farms and the village life. Some people like to stick to traditions and the old way. Its really not a debate I guess. Or who knows, maybe 10 years down the line we discover that ignoring the development in its nascent stage has cost us our planet…

]]> http://www.fudge.co.in/2007/12/09/party-party-bomb-bomb/feed/ 1 Where is the fun ? http://www.fudge.co.in/2006/10/10/where-is-the-fun/ http://www.fudge.co.in/2006/10/10/where-is-the-fun/#comments Tue, 10 Oct 2006 18:11:29 +0000 Aman Yajurvedi http://www.fudge.co.in/2006/10/10/where-is-the-fun/ Professionalism and perfection . It seems that the world revolves around these two words . True ,they are very important for a developing nation but the price we pay for it must not be priceless. Picture this – when was the last time you went out had fun.
I am sure most of you must be recalling the last time you and your pal went out to Pizza Hut or mabey went to the disc. No not that fun ; fun where you bonded with your friend . Fun where you were not worrying about the time being lost (which could be rather spent working to gain an extra in your paycheck). Cant seem to remember can you ?

The times are changing. The good are getting better and there no place for the average. So to be perfect the rules have got to be followed and your goddamn creativity goes down the drain. I hate to admit it but our forefathers were much better at having
fun that us . Sure , they didn’t smoke ,drink or have a girlfriend (oh dear !) but they had fun. Answer me one question , Given the choice what would you chose , A paid trip to Srinagar or a paid Internet service at speeds of 512 kbps (any high speed ! ) . Do I see you drooling at the second choice ? I think so . Why is it that the tangibility from the fun is missing ? Dont blame the gadget , they are necessary ! But for them to take one another’s place is a sin.

Coming back to the topic of being professional and perfect. I agree that both of them will make any organization’s efficient and produce better results. But we are humans , we cant behave like machines. Remember the times when u slapped the bosses back or mabey had fun at his cost. No you would be lying if you said that thats stupidity. We as humans have a natural tendency to do whats not allowed. If asked not think of an elephant for the next 20 sec , the first thing that pops in your head is a big fat elephant ! So breaking rules , doing stuff quietly is human nature – let it flow. Combined with that , a level of seriousness and spirit t o work can work like a charm.

I asked my father ( a pilot in the Indian Air Force) how was his life as a young pilot. He just went on and on telling me all the mischief and pranks they played. Doing a unauthorized aerobatic at 3 in the night, drinking till 2 and flying at 8 next morning.Kinda reminds me of Tom Cruise in Top Gun, doesn’t it ? During all this he also said something important – people died doing this. There were a section of people that was sidelined and ignored. So you can argue with me and say that todays attitude is correct , but hey let be check you again ! More number of people die today because of work stress , drugs road accidents. A larger section of society is unattended to and is in the dark. So would you rather die trying to live life at its fullest or be trapped in a society that allows minimal growth ?

Continuing with the IAF as an example I find lower spirit levels and josh today. People work today so that they can progress and build a great big bungalow tomorrow. There increased level of competition and this leads to corruption. The desire to do well at all cost overpowers the ethics and human sentiments. Your entire life , you work toward being a boss’s nice guy and for a good ACR(Annual Confidential Report , used to decide promotions etc. ) Theres a positive part too – better performance and discipline.

Two things , like I said before , important for a developing nation. However comparing the two I feel that the times before were more enjoyable. So can we not integrate the two times and work towards the better future? Instill the feeling of bonding and togetherness , work as a human team for not yourself but of everyone in the team. Have fun and break the occasional rule ;)
Be true to yourself and not to your Boss. Indulge in human level fun and not virtual fun ! Enjoy what you do form your soul , let other factors be secondary. I promise a better India to all of you . Jai Hind :)

    [tags]today’s life, how to have fun, Indian Air Force, improve efficiency, enjoy life[/tags]
]]> http://www.fudge.co.in/2006/10/10/where-is-the-fun/feed/ 50 74th Air Force Day http://www.fudge.co.in/2006/10/08/74th-air-force-day/ http://www.fudge.co.in/2006/10/08/74th-air-force-day/#comments Sun, 08 Oct 2006 09:58:16 +0000 Aman Yajurvedi http://www.fudge.co.in/2006/10/08/74th-air-force-day/ What do you get when you mix a scintillating and marvelous air show with great trance music. Also when the cheif guest , the Chief Of Air Staff lands , and I mean that literally, lands from an height of close to 7000 m , well thats something just out of the blue ! Yup , this year the Chief of Air Sttaf , Air Chief Marshal SP Tyagi dropped from a helicopter right in before our eyes. Now thats called a heroic entry ! ;) This was the usp of the 74th Air Force Day celebrations. The venue was shifted to Air Force Station Hindan this year die to air space constraints in Palam. With the Air Force entering its platinum year, the need to show our dominance as a strategic Air Power is very important and thats just what we got to see today.

The show kicked of with the Air Warriors receiving the medals of honor by the Chief Of Air Staff. The VSM and VM were awarded along with trophies going to the best Air Force Station. Then stated the Fly Past. First zoomed in the jaguars , displaying their speed and attack capabilities. They were followed by the Mig 23 and Mig 21-bison respectively. Next came the air defense aircrafts , the Mig-29s. The helicopter unit was lead my 2 Mi-35(*absolutely sexy !! ) and the Mi-17 trailing behind. The finale flyby was by the stunning Sukhoi 30 MKI.

After the usual fly past there was a display of combat tactics and operations by a team of commandos and MI-17 helicopters. A MI-17 landed and a jeep came out carrying a team of commandos who simulated a blowing up of enemy resources. A hay stack was made a dummy and was blown up using detonated bombs ! The Chetak then displayed it talent in rescue missions by giving aid to commandos and rescuing a injured commando.

There was then a solo by the Su-30 MKI which confirmed the fact that what an excellent multi role combat aircraft it is. It can fly at speeds 2.5 times that of sound and can also slow down to 200 KMPH. Stalling in midair,vertical dive and loops are are piece of cake walk for this advanced jet.

To brighten up the sky came the Sarang team flying in their peacock painted ALH (Advanced Light Helicopter) or Dhruv. They displayed some of the most unbelievable stunts that a helicopter can do. Flying backwards with excellent precision and acrobatics that made us hold our breath in awe. They flew at high speeds and literally went through each other as part of one of the manoeveres .


The Vixen Break

The grand finale was like always carried out by the SKAT(Surya Kiran Acrobatic team). Plying in their majestic read and white Kiran MK-II the lit the sky ablaze with fire. Being third best acrobatic team in the world, the SCAT have performed in various countries and won hearts of many. Some of their amazing manures are the “Aircraft Bomb burst Loop” the “Heart Loop and Cupid”(*two aircrafts go up in a loop and form a heart while the third cuts across diagonally like an arrow through the heart) and the “Mirror Run”(*one aircraft flies over the other inverted which appears as the mirror image of the first) to name a few. The show ended with all the Surya Kirans landing before us one by one and the last three landing together(*Vic Landing) leaving behind a smoke of the Indian tri-colour on the runway. Claps and Applauses are just not enough for such an event ! :)


See various surya kiran formations


See various surya kirna tricks

]]> http://www.fudge.co.in/2006/10/08/74th-air-force-day/feed/ 12 How Rang De Basanti is Anti-National http://www.fudge.co.in/2006/04/01/how-rang-de-basanti-is-anti-national/ http://www.fudge.co.in/2006/04/01/how-rang-de-basanti-is-anti-national/#comments Sat, 01 Apr 2006 14:40:28 +0000 Aman Yajurvedi http://www.fudge.co.in/?p=15 You’ve seen the movie, you’ve loved the songs, you’ve loved the “teri maa ka ..” dialogue. But have you ever thought about the after –effects of the movie. Amir Kahn sure earned a million. But have you ever thought what the movie has done on the minds of toady’s generation? RDB severely criticizes the Indian Air Force. In their valiant attempt to show how the corruption is rampant in India, they have strayed away and politically attacked the former government. They did not stop here ; they have taken up the issue of the innocent IAF pilot and blown it out of proportion , the mother of whom now says that RDB has cheated her.

The movie has now implanted in the minds of everyone that every crash that takes place in this country is due to either the faulty aircraft or its is because the government have been careless to buy cheap spares. People, who are supposed to take pride in their defense services, now talk about it being a suicidal profession.. If people really want to talk about the corruption then talk about the corruption in Bollywood itself! It is not clean! Why target something that protects your country and yourself?

Another fact why the IAF has come under fire is because of the fact they don’t disclose the reports of the accidents. Let me tell you that none of the Air forces in the world do this. This is confidential information and the secrecy must be respected. Most of the crashes take place due to pilot error. The aircraft sorties are a risky business and a high element of risk it attached to it. People die in Formula 1 crashes, no one criticizes that!
But when it comes down to your countries frontline defense service, they are up in arms!
Tagging aircrafts like Mig-21 as flying graves is ridiculous. They are one of the best aircrafts till date. They are being replaced by the higher versions as they are devoid of latest technology. Flying aircrafts are not the only aspect of the IAF. We have helicopters and ground units which are equally vital. Can we forget that the success of Kargil is due to a major part played by the IAF? Should we blacklist it because of a stupid film? NO !

Rang De Basanti may me a beautiful film which portrays the corruption in our society and the need for a growing sense of spirit of nationalism in out youth. But aren’t we just killing this entire spirit by the end of the show? Think about it!

]]> http://www.fudge.co.in/2006/04/01/how-rang-de-basanti-is-anti-national/feed/ 13 Whats up with the public?? http://www.fudge.co.in/2006/03/18/whats-up-with-the-public/ http://www.fudge.co.in/2006/03/18/whats-up-with-the-public/#comments Sat, 18 Mar 2006 14:39:59 +0000 Aman Yajurvedi http://www.fudge.co.in/?p=14 Last week there were two aircraft crashes. One was a Surya Kiran Mark II in Bidar (near Karnataka) and the other was a Mig-21 in Uttarlai (near Rajisthan).

I was browsing throught the news on CNN IBN (http://www.ibnlive.com) and came across some comments.

Anonymous siad…

‘Rang de Basanti’ is really misleading

    posted on 18-Mar-06 at 20:34 hours IST, from India

Vipul said…

jus a collision, manual fault, not to do with the aircraft traffic control as it was an aerobatics team, neither to do with outdated aircrafts

    posted on 18-Mar-06 at 15:55 hours IST, from United Kingdom

Carlito said…

MIG’s are “FLYING GRAVES”. That’s all i can say

    posted on 18-Mar-06 at 14:21 hours IST, from India,

Yudhajit said…

This is really sad. Although more details are needed in this matter but it seems that pilots might not be the best trained.

    posted on 18-Mar-06 at 14:18 hours IST, from India

Kalyan said…

As per the article it appears as if it is not a technical snag.Govt should investigate where the problem has happened whether it is due to some technical faults or due to other mistakes.It should also find why the pilots couldnt eject themselves out of the cockpits when the tail of the planes got hit? These are to be answered by the IAF and the Govt. Instead of carrying away with the movie concepts but some effective process is to be established and the media should be also be part of it.
A better process of investigation is to be established becoz lifes of skillfull young pilots are being lost in this.

    posted on 18-Mar-06 at 13:58 hours IST, from India,

PRASHANTH ANAND said…

Surya Kiran is an old aircraft with thrust is not as powerful its an outdated aircraft/

    posted on 18-Mar-06 at 13:12 hours IST, from India

Tojoeblr said…

Taking risk and adventure is one thing committing suicide is another.. High time the Airforce recognized this differnce and stop sending the pilots death traps.. Just modernize the fleet.. All know somebody will make money out of the deal.. at least secure the young pilots life’s..

    posted on 18-Mar-06 at 12:30 hours IST, from 0,

Aman said…

After reading all the above responses one realises how little the public at large is informed.People ought to know that formation aerobatics is recognised as one of the riskiest exerscise in the world over.The most morder Air Forces having the top of the line aircrafts , spares and technology have had accidents during practices as well as air shows.I cant understand why cannot people accept that IAF looks after its traninng and aircraft as well as any other mordern Air Force.Its a pity that Indians cannot see it that way (bacause of missinformed movied like Rang De Basanti) while the mordern Air Forces have aldready recognised the work of IAF and its pilots and even the aircrafts.So beware of populist beliefs and missinformation.
IAF has always touched the sky with glory and will continue to do so despite the skeptics and the cynics.
by an ardent admirer of the IAF and its pilots.

    posted on 18-Mar-06 at 16:56 hours IST, from India

I have posted a comment back as you can see. All i can say is I am proud of the IAF and will continue to be so.Some people will say what they have to.Evry job has risks and you need to face upto them.
Jai Hind!

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