THIS IS THE STORY OF Cdr MAHMOOD UR RAHMAN As a young officer, soon after commissioning one has to undergo various professional and academic courses to sharpen their skills. It is a common criterion for all the three forces i.e.Army, Navy and the Air Force. Attending class room instructions is an integral part of the curricular, for any course even in the very senior ranks....... One such course that I underwent during the dawn of my career, was an IT course (Instructional Technique) while I was on board a submarine chaser....... we had a class of some 12 different officers of variable seniority, coming from various ships and establishments, all with different backgrounds and specializations. We also had our old time instructor from the Naval Academy, then a Lieutenant (sir Ali Masoom Kayani, a handsome officer who resembled the Indian superstar Dharminder of Bollywood so closely, a gentleman of refined manners, a good body builder, a kind soul, a loving personality and an outstanding buddy) while others were all sub-Lieutenants (N R Afzal, Iqbal shah to name a few)...... The in-charge of the school was a very senior, superseded Lieutenant commander of education branch officer, while our course officer was a Lieutenant (we assume his name as Silly Baadshah i.e. SB) of the education branch, and a very unlikable character.......Though he was also junior to sir Kayani, but would treat him roughly in the class, since we were all students, while he was the instructor as well as our destiny holder (he thought so)..........Actually he was a teacher in Cadet College Petaro and then joined Navy directly as a sub-Lieutenant where so many of our class fellows were his students there.....he was not a popular person in Petaro as well and was teased there by his pupils......this guy, later on turned out to be our instructor also in the Naval Academy along with Kayani sahib, to our bad luck.......he would then punish very severely those from Petaro, but since we were also in that batch so I also got harsh treatment along with our Petarian friends.........Never liked him thereafter The IT school used to be in PNS HIMALAYA those days which is on the Manora Island, a place with rich mangrove forests. The IT school was located near the washer-mens washing area called a dhobi ghat.......The course was of three weeks but we got fed up of SB very soon, and with each passing day his behaviour got worse with all the course participants especially sir Kayani........ One day we were having a classroom session, and SB was teasing all of us, with a notebook in his hand and in his usual silly style rebuking and making fun of us......All of a sudden, there was a very loud braying of a donkey from the dhobi ghat (the dhobis used to commute on a donkey cart, from one place to another and also carrying washed clothes to the living quarters, and bringing back the dirty linen to the dhobi-ghat).....SB also raised his voice but probably the washer-man had put his donkey to the stick, so the donkey raised his braying level from 82 to 112 DBs (mind you, a raise of 3 Dbs sound means, the noise level is doubled).......to this, I couldnt hold my mischievous self, and I said loudly.Excuse me sir, One at a time, please........ Simultaneously the braying stopped....and there was a thunder of laughter in the class, so loud and huge that the school in-charge came running in.......what happened he asked........SB said that sir I want to talk to you about Mahmood, his behaviour is very bad........they took me to the In-charges office, where I was made to stand and they started browbeating me....we will fail you in this important course, we will write to NHQ and throw you out of navy, we will court martial you, we will do this we will do that we will... we will (the education branch is as strong and powerful in the Navy as is Mamnoon hussain is, in todays power politics scenario of Pakistan)..........(I knew they cant do a damn to me.....but I pretended to be so scared)....... Now tell me what did you say to him, the in-charge asked me......sir sir sir, I will tell you later SB jumped in quickly, not wanting me to disclose as to what happened.........I could visualize his condition and understood his embarrassment as well......to this, I said very sheepishly sir, I may tell you......shut up, SB again snubbed me, and said,get Lost, go in the class....I came out, and I dont know how SB satisfied his boss..... But later on, if SB said something harsh in the class, I would always say, sir, I am going to the In-charge.....and he would simply change the topic, grinding his teeth, and saying so many bad things to me in his heart....who cared then???? But thereafter we had an excellent time
Posted on: Fri, 08 Aug 2014 07:57:45 +0000
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