A BRIEF SPELL AT ARMY HEADQUARTERS

On arrival in Delhi mid-March 1980, we were put up in a Mess in Delhi Cantt. The next day I proudly put on my new pair of Captain's stripes and reported to Brigadier Arjun Verma, Director Signals Intelligence (DSI) in Army HQ. This was the fifth time I was joining an inter-service organisation, at least one in each rank. As a Lieutenant, I had served in the National Defence Academy followed by the National Defence College, as a Lt Cdr attended the Staff College at the DSSC Wellington and then joined the staff there later as a Cdr, and now, as a Captain,  I was in the SI Directorate manned by personnel from the Army, the Navy and the Air Force. The work was interesting with daily afternoon briefings with uptodate inputs from units of the three services. Brig Verma was a fine person to serve under and for colleagues, I was glad to have Lt Col Satyendra Sain, my coursemate and good friend back from the NDA days when we were together as cadets.

On the home front, although the Cantt Mess was good accommodation, it was far off and lonely and soon we shifted to one of the outhouses in Kotah House. I was on the lookout for something better and heard that the government was considering allotting flats in a newly developed colony called Pragati Vihar, just off Lodi Road, to the Defence Services. The Pragati Vihar complex was constructed for a UNDP conference and the fully furnished accommodation consisted of a bedroom with attached bathroom, a living-cum dining room, a kitchen and a balcony. To top it all, the complex was readied only after the conference was over and so the first allottees would walk into a maiden apartment with brand new furniture!

I was hooked on to the idea of moving in there and traced the file in the Ministry of Works and Housing. To expedite matters, I personally took the file from official to official until the final approval and handed it over to the Central Administrative Officer who was responsible for allotting the apartments. Thus I became the first defence services officer to be allotted and move to an apartment in Pragati Vihar.

It was worth the effort and we spent a very comfortable and happy ten months there before we were allotted our proper entitled accommodation. My favourite spot was the balcony from where we watched the coming up of the Nehru Stadium being built for the 1982 Asiad Games. In those pre-TV days, the balcony provided a sound place to listen to the radio and I remember sitting late into the night following the epic Wimbledon '80 final between Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe which the former won after a 5-set see-saw battle..

Ruchir was able to get admission in the nearby Delhi Public School, Mathura Road, and Shumita in the Naval Public School, Chanakyapuri, both close to Pragati Vihar, and life settled into a comfortable routine. 

One aspect of my appointment was the satisfaction of 'the happy wanderer' spirit in me by extensive touring of North India. But for that, this salty seadog would never have been able to see exotic places like Dalhousie, Kud, Patnitop and Dharamshala, home to the Dalai Lama.

I was in fact looking forward to see a lot more of India when my plans were aborted by an early and unexpected end to my tenure as DDSI in less than a year. I received transfer orders to move as Director Naval Signals (DNS), Naval HQ. Cmde L Ramdas, then DNS, was being promoted to Rear Admiral and a replacement was needed. DNS was a senior appointment generally for Commodores and there were many senior Communicators who could be considered whereas I was just a junior acting Captain. In due course of time, I learnt the background story behind my appointment. The Personnel Directorate put up the name of a Commodore which was not acceptable to the CNS, Admiral Ronnie Pereira. Hoping to get their man accepted, the Chief of Personnel told the CNS that no suitable person was available and if they had to nominate someone else, they would have to dig deep down to Ravi Sharma. Ronnie P, who knew me well as I had been his Fleet Communication Officer when he commanded the Eastern Fleet, said fine, go get him! And so I moved to become the juniormost Director in the NHQ.