Vijay Rana

Available on amzn.to/4oPbiW8

It sounds convincingly true depiction of a botched up campaign…

In 2002, I had a vision that we must restore a particular dilapidated Devkali temple in Ayodhya. Devkali is the Kuldevi of Lord Rama. In September of that year, we reconsecrated the temple. Since then there have been no incidents of violence, related to the Ram Mandir conflict. Now, 22 years later we are witnessing the inauguration of the #RamTemple in Ayodhya. The forces of the subtle realm have a great say in what ultimately manifests in the physical world! #RamMandirAyodhya

When you are established in your Self, you are not holding on to concepts. You are loose, free, easy & open; just like a child.

Life inside a B2 Spirit Bomber. Hardest job to fly for 55 hrs!

Led a session of wisdom and meditation for a gathering of enthusiastic @ArtofLiving advanced program graduates at Delhi University.

@PoetryPragyas Bahut sundar👍👏👏

.. मन के दरारों में कोई कहानी छुपी होगी, पहुंच तो गए उम्र के आखिरी पड़ाव तक.. आंखों में अब भी कोई शोख जवानी छुपी होगी...

F-35 Hit Claim: Is Stealth Just a Myth Now? | In Your Interest | News9 youtu.be/pRmW7iJGJQk?si… via @YouTube

Loved to participate in this interesting discussion.. Poor tactics can’t save you the day even with best of the technologies…

@AnchitGupta9 Wonderful @AnchitGupta9. I don’t think even IAF knew about itself more,before you started digging so deep for such great golden historical facts, information and milestones. Thanks for all your efforts.

क्या लिखूँ? अजीब अंतर्द्वंद्व था भाषाओं का युद्ध था जज़्बात एक से थे मगर लहज़े में हल्का फ़र्क था कौन कहता है भला सहेलियां झगड़ती नहीं हिंदी बचपन की संगिनी मेरी उर्दू जवानी की रवानी रहीं  अजीब कशमकश में था दीवाना मैं दोनों का था कभी हिंदी की सरलता थाम लेती उंगली मेरी कभी उर्दू की नज़ाकत खींच लेती अपनी ओर हिंदी ने कहा कविता कहो उर्दू बोली कोई नज़्म हो  किसे नाराज़ करता भला तो दोनों का हाथ थाम लिया हिंदी के कोमल हाथों में उर्दू की नज़ाकत थमा दी हाथ में दोनों का हाथ थामें  मैंने एक कज़्म लिख दी

चलिए कुछ लिखते हैं

18 Mar 1952 is not a date that appears in history. But it stands out the moment you look at the Gazette: 17 officers from different branches and different ranks, all released on the same day. Officers are rarely released mid-month. Something deliberate was happening. The answer lies a decade earlier. Between 1942 and 1944, the IAF was attempting to leap from two to ten squadrons. Flying training could be accelerated. What could not be improvised was the ground structure that keeps an air force running: administration, equipment accounting, and education. The IAF needed officers for these branches immediately, and it did not have them. The service turned to its own airmen and to experienced civilians. The result was a cohort that was distinctly middle-aged by the standards of officer commissioning. Denis Nugent Norton was 48 when he was commissioned into A&SD in Oct 1942. John Rose was 47. Henry Noah was 42. Several others were in their late thirties. These were not young men starting careers. They were experienced men filling gaps. They did so quietly and effectively. Homi Printer ran equipment at Air HQ. P K Govindan served as equipment officer at Nos. 1 and 2 Squadrons in Kohat, managing stores through the post-war drawdown. Sudhangshu Bimal Das adjutanted the Advanced Flying School at Ambala, keeping the training pipeline moving. Noah rose highest, reaching Wing Commander and commanding the Air Force Central Accounts Office before finishing as head of accounts at Air HQ. Melville Pound arrived via an unusual route, transferred from the 18th Garhwal Rifles, commissioned into the Balloon branch from a tethered observation unit in Calcutta, and ended his service as Commanding Officer of the RIAF Depot at Jalahalli. Their commissions had always been emergency ones, valid for five years and extendable to ten. The partition and its aftermath consumed the first extension. By the early 1950s, the IAF's ground training establishment at Coimbatore was producing a steady flow of young officers through a proper commissioning pipeline. The institution no longer needed the stopgap generation. 18 March 1952 was one of the many such handover dates. The men who had kept the IAF's administrative machinery running through expansion, war, and partition, most of them between 45 and 58 years old by the time they left were released together. The IAF changed that day. #IAFHistory @IAF_MCC

Award attributed to Sqn Ldr Devayya of JTW/ 1 Sqn, (on whosever posted strength he was in on that day). Crash attributed to 32 Sqn, on whose strength the aircraft was on that day. If the unit citation was to be written for 32 Sqn, it would reflect unit’s participation in that operation and award received. If unit citation was to be written for JTW/1 Sqn, it would reflect the unit personnel rewarded and include S/L Devayya’s name.

देर से ही सही लेकिन समय मिला एक बेहद खूबसूरत काव्य यात्रा का। आभार @KavitaTwoFifty इतने भावपूर्ण काव्य संग्रह के लिए 🙏 @Gypsy_rns जी द्वारा रचित यह कविता संग्रह जीवन के तमाम अच्छे बुरे अहसासों को समेटते हुए आत्मा तक सीधे पहुँच गया जबकि कुछ पन्ने पढ़े हैं अभी,बेहतरीन भाव संकलन 👏

@Gypsy_rns Makes sense sir. A slight twist for your consideration

I would like to make this tougher - Sqn Ldr Devayya was on posted strength of Jet Training Wing, attached to 1 Sqn for the duration of the War, flying a 32 Sqn aircraft. He was awarded MVC and he died in the crash. The question 1. Award attributed to which unit? 2. Crash attributed to which unit? 😁

A small trivia point, but a fascinating one for Indian Air Force history. Sqn Ldr AB Devayya, awarded the Maha Vir Chakra posthumously for the 1965 Sargodha raid, was with No. 1 Sqn. But the Mystere he flew, I recently learnt, was from No. 32 Sqn. That opens up an interesting (old) question. When a gallantry award, accident, or major combat episode involves a pilot from one unit flying an aircraft held on the charge of another, which squadron should get the historical attribution? My own instinct is to follow the aircraft. The aircraft is on the charge of a particular unit, and unless it had been transferred or loaned, the incident should ordinarily sit with that unit for historical purposes. So in this case, if the aircraft remained on the books of No. 32 Sqn, there is an argument that the episode, in unit terms, belongs there, even though Devayya himself was from No. 1 Sqn. If it had been formally loaned to No. 1 Sqn, then the case changes. This is not a simple black-and-white issue. There are valid arguments both ways, and many more complex edge cases. One may well ask whether this matters at all. But for anyone trying to record squadron history properly, it does, because the same award or incident can end up, and often have been, being claimed by two units. #IAFHistory

Whenever the citation is written, there is a clear distinction between the unit one is posted to and the unit he/she is attached to. The award in individual capacity goes to the individual while as unit it is to be counted against the unit where he/she is attached to. The contribution of unit from where the mission has been launched is significant and is mentioned in the citation. Like there could be more than one individuals in that mission getting the award. All that would count to the unit. Also, when the unit citation is written all such operations/actions on the part of the unit are mentioned. Similarly all the individuals posted to the unit who received the award are also mentioned. So each unit while writing its history or citations mentions the award it received and award its personnel received while on attachment to other units. So it gets reflected both ways in squadron history.

So wonderful to find many new names amongst the participants as well as winners in all categories. That shows the growth of #Kavita250 .Heartiest congratulations @AbidZaidi1 bhai for your relentless efforts😊👍🙏👏👏👏👏👏