ISBN:9781649517050

                                                 

THE STORY IS BORN

The urge to see beyond the horizon lies within and triggers the impulse to go still deeper within.

 

The Oxford dictionary defines mad as insane, frenzied, wildly foolish, wildly excited or infatuated, angry, wildly light hearted, with great energy or enthusiasm.

Crazy too is defined as insane or mad, foolish, extremely enthusiastic, made up of irregular pieces.

And then it struck me, almost forty plus years later of happily leading my way of life of the mad breed of men.

You have to be crazy living atop a pile of kerosene filled jerry cans, placed above ammunition stacks, at heights above 20,000 feet...

You have to be mad driving a 40 tons tracked monster, in the dead of a pitched dark night, with all headlights off...

You have to be mad to take off with all available aircrafts on base, immediately after an air crash, without discerning cause of air crash...

You have to be crazy, living in cramped quarters in an armoured submersible for weeks and months at a stretch, hundreds of feet below the surface...

You have to be crazier still to put on the block your savings in a venture you know nothing about and succeed like mad beyond your wildest dreams...

All of this and more was going through my mind as I stepped into the forest for my morning walk duly accompanied by my escort team of Zora & Sasha, the German Shepherds. Early childhood memory, embedded deep in the subconscious mind, of listening to the Puranic tale of a Karma Yogi from my grandmother, suddenly flashed in my consciousness. It got me thinking as to how many of us Karma Yogi Mad Vets have been able to successfully transfer their madness into the new life. That’s how this book begins.

It is about ten Karma Yogi Mad Veterans (Mad Vets) of the Indian Armed Forces randomly chosen, who have rousingly explored the uncharted terrain in the entrepreneurial world. The only loose criteria being that their venture be a startup with no prior expertise in the chosen field. Is there a method in their madness, the methodology they adopted, availability of a support structure, a common formula for success achieved or just that sixth sense of a lifetime Karma Yogi Mad Vet which they earlier trusted their life with and were now willing to bet on it commercially.

There is a source of madness deep within every human being which, if developed, leads to a highly evolved sixth sense of a Karma Yogi and an unquenchable thirst to accept risk and go beyond the conventional wisdom in searching new horizons, ideas, innovations and activities. It is this evolved sixth sense and unquenchable thirst which identifies the true blue Karma Yogi Mad Vet.

The book explores all of this and more. 

IS            


I





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Image
WHIMSICAL VETERANS’ TRAVELOGUE TREK RAJPUR (DEHRA DUN) - BENOG SANCTUARY (MUSSOORIE) & BACK 7 th of April 2024 (Shahanshahi Ashram – Barloweganj – Library – Clouds End – Benog Top and back) ( Trek ascent from 2,300’ to 7,300’ and round distance of 53 kms in 15 hrs )   “ There is something in the air of the Doon Valley that makes it ideal for the veterans to laze around under the sun or in shade depending on the season of the year, imbibe heady spirits, and undertake quirky adventures from time to time, all in like-minded company. In other words, just being whimsical. ” – Col RS Sidhu “ They (veterans) have more ‘to strive, to seek, to find and not to yield’ as they pad up to go one more time in their second inning. How dull it would be to rust! What thrill awaits those who seek newer horizons in travels across the unknown worlds... ” – Ganesh Saili, noted author, in his foreword to ‘Laddakh Through The Eyes Of Whimsicals’.   The Whimsical Outlook I have inh
Read more
Image
  US DILEMMA OVER UKRAINE CRISIS & GLOBAL GEOPOLITICAL POWER SHIFT   “On the global stage, words of dominant geopolitical powers may or may not reflect their true resolve and capabilities. But their actions during crucial geopolitical power plays are strongly indicative of their intent and capabilities, or lack of them.” – Veteran Col RS Sidhu   Backdrop To understand Ukraine one should grasp the two truisms of US polity. First, US is a nation constantly in search of an enemy. Second, is the presence of influential policy lobbyists who are the main operators of the levers driving its foreign policy. In the eight decades since the 1940s, US has engaged in near continuous ideological conflict and warfare world-wide, well beyond its sovereign borders, to safeguard its perceived geopolitical interests. Its conflict with communist ideology led it to two major military interventions. The Korean war from 1950 – 53, and the Vietnam war from 1955 – 1975. The collapse of the Soviet Union in
Read more
Image
  ‘ FOG OF WAR ’ & BOOBY TRAPS IN THE KILLING OF ISMAEL HANIYEH   “A General with ‘ winning ways ’ is one who is as proficient in the science and art of covering the battlefield with the ‘ fog of war ’ as also in piercing through this veil, while employing it as a key strategy to strike at the ‘ OODA (Observe, Orient, Decide, Action) Loop’ of the adversary.” – Col RS Sidhu   Backdrop “… An enemy should be destroyed without a trace .” - Chanakya Obfuscating the battlefield is a strategy as old as Mahabharat, where the Pandavas employed grey zone propaganda to spread the half-truth of ‘Ashwathama is dead’, to neutralise Guru Dronacharya, the leading general of the Kauravas army, and Krishan orchestrated a fake sunset to set the stage for Arjun to kill Jayadrath.    During World War II, the detailed planning and execution of Operation ‘ Overlord ’ to invade Nazi Germany occupied Europe, was matched by an equally meticulous deception plan codenamed Operation ‘ Bodyguar
Read more