My Malice and Bias

Well, I am not a frequent traveler to India and this is my first flight to Mumbai. I think it should be called Bombay as the Portuguese named it but the natives wanted to Indianize it ... So we all accept it as Mum-bai. I thought "Bai" or "Mai" was the lady who comes in the afternoon to clean the house and wash dishes. A Bai in Delhi I am a global traveler and take pride in my expertise to check in last minute so I know my baggage will come out first. Mostly, I avoid checking my baggage in as it reduces the probability of airlines losing your bag when you arrive at your destination. But the little Asian lady at San Francisco had some other thoughts.  Carry-on bag As usual, I was late for my check-in but confident that I will make it as I am a global traveler with TSE PreCheck. This helps me prevent an ignorant TSA asking me to scan my turban or do an hand scan. So, I was cruising on the TSE Precheck line to the annoyance of hundreds of passengers in t

I would like to share a speculative tale that had been in circulation in the Indian Army for some time and makes an interesting read as a fictional work on the character of Indira Gandhi , the assassinated Prime Minister of India. Four Generals and a Babe The 1971 Indo-Pak War saw the humiliating defeat and surrender of Pakistani Army at the hands of Indian Army. There was a lot of celebration and claims for credit for this historic victory. Let's now look at some of the key characters of this period with a little humor and malice. The Babe: Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi Indira Gandhi , the Indian Prime Minister was idolized as "The Iron Lady" by her sycophants and took full credit for the military victory in the international media. An impatient Indira Gandhi, backed by her eager-to-please Cabinet, wanted Sam Manekshaw to conduct a swift, surgical strike on East Pakistan and install a government led by Mujibur Rehman , the popular Bengali leader. In fact, she wanted th

The Story of a Rebel General Major General Shabeg Singh AVSM and PVSM (1925-1984), was a distinguished Indian Army officer noted for his service in training of Mukti Bahini volunteers during the Bangladesh Liberation War. Major General Shabeg Singh By nature Gen Shabeg  Singh was a voracious reader, he had read about every military campaign and knew the biography of every military general of consequence. He had a natural flair for history and loved reading. He could fluently speak Punjabi, Persian, Urdu, Bangla, Gorkhali besides English and Hindi. He had a reputation of being fearless officer and one who did not tolerate any nonsense. People either loved him or dreaded him because of his frank and forthright approach. Did that honest and frank attitude got the gallant general in trouble with top brass in Indian Army? Singh was an instructor in the Military Academy at Dehra Dun, and held a number of staff appointments in various ranks. During   the course of his service in the