Durga Puja in Nashik

Durga Puja is a festival of Bengalis and, wherever they have settled, they have joined together to have their own pujas. Every Bengali longs to be in his home town to celebrate but, the employment and education of their children does not allow them such liberties – the only practical solution is to shift the venue. Therefore, we find them in Delhi, in Mumbai and also in Nashik. And, the celebrations can, at times, be on a grander scale than those back home in Kolkata because while in Delhi, the Bengalis are mostly linked to central government agencies, in Mumbai it is all about the stars of the silver screen.

The situation in Nashik was a bit different. Bengalis had arrived in Nashik along with some prestigious central government institutions like the Government of India Press, the Currency Note Press and the India Security Press. The venues were quite near each other and the employees stayed in quarters. It was but natural that they one day decided to have their own Durga Puja.
Later, another major engineering unit came up in Nashik – it was the aircraft manufacturing factory located nearly 20-Km away from the city. Here also there were Bengalis who had come from vastly different backgrounds. Some came from Indian Air Force, others from the Indian Navy and also from other divisions of HAL. And, there were fresh engineering graduates who joined as Management Trainees. In the initial stages, these Bengalis tried to adjust with the existing lot but that was not a practical solution. Hence, another Durga Puja began.
And, with the passage of time and with more induction of Bengalis in organizations like MICO, VIP, Mahindra & Mahindra, and Victor Gaskets etcetera the celebrations began to fan out. Each new group had their own justifiable reasons and today the numbers of pujas can be seen when the idols come for immersion in the Godavari.
The message is ‘live and let live’. (to be continued …) (Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)
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Health woes of retired persons

Health is always a matter of worry for the retired persons because, as long as he is in service, he gets various types of free treatment that accrue to him as a matter of right. Everything is hunky-dory as long as he is in service – once he retires, he becomes a non-entity. What then?
In the UK and the USA, healthcare is a responsibility of the government till death but not so in India. Here, it is every man for himself and individual organizations like the railways, the steel plants, and large manufacturing units have their own medical services.
Large private enterprises also have their own medical services and, in cases where the organization does not have any hospital of its own, it links up with other hospitals to extend the necessary facilities.
But, everywhere these are available till he retires – once retired, he has to go in for some of medical insurance that is offered by a host of agencies.

However, in HAL, the authorities had taken a decision to continue to offer its medical services to retired employees – only, it was not totally free but the retirees had to pay some nominal charges for medicines and, also, hospitalization. That was a big relief.
Moreover, it was a pleasant experience as well because when I went for the monthly medical checkup, I would meet old acquaintances and exchange pleasantries. At times, we would sigh at the news of the passing away of someone known to us.
However, in the background, work was going on at the management level to introduce a sort on medical group insurance cover for all employees. And, it has been introduced.
Now, there is no need to go to our hospital. I can get treatment from any registered doctor and submit the claim for reimbursement. There is a fixed amount allocated for regular medicines and also for hospitalization and, in case, the amount exceeds it, the claim is not honored.
It is not a bad scheme – only, due to its introduction, we retired persons have become more isolated because the regular meetings in the hospitals no longer happen. (to be continued...)

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Playing duplicate bridge in Nashik at the state level

Obtaining sponsorship of HAL meant we got two days off to participate and free transport to and from the venue which was in Nashik City.
Once we arrived and got our names registered, we met the players who had come from different corners of Maharashtra. They played bridge regularly and belonged to various clubs. Some of them had played in international tournaments while others played for national teams and were champions within the country.

There were men and women in their 70s and 80s alongside young men and women who were the junior levels of renowned teams of Mumbai and Pune. A couple of the old-timers had remarkable memory and, that was important for bridge players – they had to remember the bids, and proceed with the game based on what they had learned from the bidding.
They had to, also, keep count of how many cards of each suit had been played and which cards still remained. In short, contract bridge was in their blood and they did a lot of study and research on the subject.
The event was an annual one in order to select the best from the state who would represent at the national level and, from there, go to the international level. It was just like any other game and, in the open room, there would be fans hovering around them. Since many of them attended the event every year, they were acquainted with the local authorities as well as the local press.
Our team of HAL appeared to be in an unknown territory – and, in the initial stages of the games, we had the opportunity to sit at the same table and play with well-known names of the Indian bridge world.
However, as the games progressed, there was an automatic filtration because, the teams with high IMPs moved towards the elite end of the open room while the teams with low IMPs remained at the other extreme. (to be continued …)

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Computerization is fun - to get any data anywhere

My first adventure into the world of computers encouraged me to venture further. As expected, my boss was happy with the computerized outputs of the monthly statements to Corporate Office, Bangalore. It may be noted that Mig-21 fighter aircraft were the lifeline of the IAF and there were hundreds of them operating in various bases. Some of these bases were near the sea, others near deserts and, others in mountainous terrains where the temperatures plummeted to below zero degrees Celsius.

Obviously, the wear and tear on each of the aircraft was different.
Therefore, whenever information was received about any accident or incident to any MiG-aircraft, the General Manager would want to know the history of the aircraft. Such information gets transmitted very fast to senior formations of both the IAF as well as HAL who are the manufacturers or who have carried out the overhaul and the GM wants to be ready with all possible answers.
Until the aircraft data had been computerized, this information would have to be retrieved by going through the respective aircraft file and then the data would be typewritten on a sheet of paper and sent to the office of the GM.
With the computerization of the data, it was possible for the General Manager to see the data of the aircraft on his own computer screen. But, then, new questions arose. If an accident had taken place, was it a first-off or were there previous similar accidents? Has any improvement has been thought of? Does it involve any special kits? Has IAF placed orders for these kits? Has HAL supplied any kits?
The questions were many and, there was a need to extend computerization to other related areas and make the data more comprehensive. (to be continued …)


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