The joining instructions for the Defence Services Staff College (DSSC) Course began by welcoming the students to the ‘salubrious’ climate of Wellington. It was the first time I came across this word and did not know its meaning. Being lazy to consult a dictionary (those being pre-cellphone days!), I just took it to mean something good and left it at that. As I write this post, I decided to look up my Webster’s New World College Dictionary which says it means ‘promoting health or welfare, healthful, wholesome, salutary, etc.’ I gladly endorse that Wellington is all that and more.
The final major course we had to undergo during our Sub Lts’ training in 1960 was the War Course. It introduced us to Service Writing and ended with a study of a major naval battle during the World War II followed by a presentation. Our Course was divided into three syndicates led by the brightest in the Course, Premvir Das, Vishnu Bhagwat and Ranjit Rai. I was part of Ranjit’s syndicate. Our syndicate had to study the Battle of Cape Matapan. I hit upon an idea to end our presentation with a skit in which Admirals Cunningham and Iachino of the Royal Navy and the Italian Navy respectively meet at a bar in Naples and reflect on the Battle. At the end, Admiral Iachino shouts for the missing barmaid, “Rosita, ROSITA, ROSEE-TAA, where are you?” From behind the bar rises Rosita, the profusely hairy and bearded Baksheesh Singh, “Si?” This brought the house down and earned me a first division in addition to the three leaders of the syndicates.
I was told that the War Course was a mini-DSSC Course and there would be plenty of such presentations in Wellington. From then on, I was looking forward to DSSC and was really glad when my name was finally included in the 1974 list. Also, as mentioned while writing about my childhood, I had imagined studying in Wellington University; well, if not New Zealand, the Nilgiris would do admirably!
Ours was the 30th Staff College Course and the locker no. allotted to me was 333. As 3, 6 and 9 are supposed to be my lucky numbers, I took my course and locker numbers to be welcome, auspicious signs.
Earlier, I was told that Wellington was short of housing for students and that many, particularly those with small families, would have to share accommodation. This was a cause for worry as Akhila was expecting and sharing accommodation would be undesirable. Providentially, my going late for the Course brought an unexpected benefit as accommodation was provided in accordance with seniority and being the senior most naval officer of our Course, I was allotted perhaps the best residence, Flat no. 73/3 Wellington Hall, which had been recently constructed. These flats were in blocks of four, one each on the ground and first floors with a staircase in between. They had three bedrooms each with a glass passage leading from the staircase to the drawing/dining room. As they were on the edge of a hill, the bedroom and drawing room balconies opened out to a spectacular view looking down the Coonoor valley with its tea gardens and the Ootacamund- Mettupalayam toy train. My first floor neighbour was an American Army Officer, Major Mehle who had three cute daughters aged 7, 5 and 2. On the ground floor were two air force officers, one each from Australia and India.
The Course got underway keeping us busy with tasks which had strict timelines. Soon it was March and we played Holi on Saturday the 9th. We had requested Mummy to come to Wellington to be with us before Akhila’s delivery date and on Sunday 10th we went to Coimbatore to pick her up. On Monday 11th which incidentally is our wedding anniversary, we were given the task of writing an ‘appreciation’, the first of many at the DSSC. For this exercise, one is given a warlike problem which has to be solved taking into account the given friendly and enemy forces. The key is to decide on an aim, consider various possible courses of action and finally arrive at the best course to achieve the aim. With numerous possibilities, this takes a lot of discussion and the task is complex to say the least.
The appreciation was titled ‘The Nuclear Scientist’ and was centred around a character named Dr. Bara Bomb. We had to submit our solutions by 1 p.m. on Wednesday 13th and our wedding anniversary celebrations had to be put off till after that.
By 12th night I had finished most of the task and went to sleep at midnight leaving the Best Course of Action and Outline Plan to be written in the morning. I got up at 6 a.m. to complete my solution. Shortly after, Akhila came to me and said her abdomen was paining. I told her to take a painkiller and go back to sleep. Soon Mummy came and said we had to take Akhila to the hospital. I protested that my solution was not yet complete but Mummy said to hell with it, we needed to go immediately.
Reluctantly, I got up, gathered my incomplete work and the three of us proceeded to the Army Hospital. Akhila was taken in for medical examination while I got back to my Outline Plan in the Waiting Room. After a while, the doctor came and said the delivery could take place in a day or two but it was preferable to admit Akhila right away. Mummy and I headed back home where I completed my exercise and just managed to submit it in the nick of time. I was very tired and Mummy was fond of her siesta, so we decided to have an afternoon nap.
At 5 p.m. we went to the Hospital and after parking my car, we started walking to the Ward. An Army colleague met us on the way and offered his heartiest congratulations. I asked him what for and he said, “Don’t you know, your wife has delivered a baby boy”. Mummy and I ran to the Ward where they had just brought Akhila and the newly born infant out of the delivery room. The delivery had taken place at 5.17 p.m.!
We were full of joy, the natural delivery had been easy and without pain and thanks to God, all was well. As decided by Mummy and Akhila earlier, the boy was named Ruchir although many of my coursemates continued to call him Bara Bomb for a long time!
Comments of my Directing Staff, Cdr PK Gupta (later Cmde), on my appreciation stated that it was logically discussed and well argued but the Plan seemed to have been written in a hurry!
A lot of people visited us to see little Ruchir but the most precious gift was brought by the sweet little Mehle girls, Ruchir’s first toy, a rubber cowboy, which continues to adorn the top shelf of his wardrobe till today.
After a party to celebrate Ruchir’s arrival, it was back to work and the Course proceeded smoothly. Of note was the assignment of Public Speaking where each student had to give a talk of 10 minutes on a subject of his choosing. I decided to speak on the ‘Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam’. The talk went off very well and at the end of it the Chief Instructor (Navy), Cmde JG ‘Podgy’ Nadkarni, (later Admiral and Chief of the Naval Staff) said that although it was not the norm but he would make an exception and asked the audience to show their appreciation by clapping.
In spare time, there was golf to play on the scenic Wellington course. No other naval student played golf but I was invited By Cdrs Gupta and Claude Almeida to join them which I readily did. At times Cmde Nadkarni, who had just started playing, made the fourth. He used to jokingly (?) complain that when a General played, his partners would look the other way and allow him to transgress all rules and applaud but the naval guys were not so considerate and would permit no liberties to be taken on account of seniority!
We were into the horse racing season and on weekends there were Wellington Gymkhana races with DSSC officers taking part. This was followed by Ooty races and as Akhila was very fond of betting, we went up whenever we could. On the first of these, as we were walking to the track, a friend met us and advised us to put our money on a horse called Gigi. We put 10 bucks on her at 7 to 1. Gigi won a thriller and we earned Rs.70 which was blown up immediately in the Ooty bazaar. This encouraged Akhila to pursue her love of betting and I reckon she lost a lot of money. However, she assures me that on balance she was not too much in the red!
In June we got a short mid-term break and drove down to Bangalore where Akhila’s elder brother, Lieut Subhash Mehrish affectionately called Bhaiyya, was ADC to the Governor. Here too the racing season was on and we attended quite a few races.
Back to DSSC and the pace of work picked up. With Akhila busy looking after Ruchir, time just flew by and we hurtled towards the end of the Course. We were visited by the Director of Personnel from NHQ who gave me the good news of my earning the coveted ‘brass hat’ with promotion to the rank of Commander and my appointment to NHQ as Deputy Director Naval Signals.
I am not aware of the present practice but in my time at the DSSC, students were graded at the end but the gradings were not disclosed. The CI(Navy) held individual interviews to tell each student how he had performed. His summing up to me went something like this, “I am amazed that you were not being selected for the Course. You have not only topped the Course but were on top in each tutorial. God knows how NHQ functions. I am glad I have never been posted there.”
Well, to make up for that deficiency, ‘Podgy’ Nadkarni served at the NHQ as Chief of Personnel, Vice Chief of Naval Staff and Chief of Naval Staff. I wonder though whether he brought about any worthwhile changes or was content with the status quo to go with the flow!
