The article that never got published in DSSC, Wellington

FOOD FOR THOUGHT!

Knowledge is being aware that tomato is a fruit

Wisdom is not using it in a fruit salad. – Anonymous

It all started when my husband was flying the French beauty (read Chetak) from Belgaum to Nasik. His copilot got a message that my husband had made it to the DSSC. The copilot took over the controls and gave him some time off to absorb the news. He sent me a text from the chopper itself, going against the rules of flying; after all he had the senior’s permission.

Back home in the unit in Nasik, people started congratulating me! I wanted to tell them that I hardly had any hand at this, except for may be giving him coffee late at nights. Neighbours started dropping in and showered me (?) with congratulations and bouquets. It felt good and weird and for a moment took me away from the fact!

Some ladies started telling me how people, especially ladies change, once their husbands make it to the Staff College. One of my good friends told me that I should be careful enough not to get habituated with talking like ex DSSC pass out’s wife…

That got me thinking. Wives do play a major role in an Army officer’s life. However, we should be sentient of the discretion that we need to uphold. First of all, one must remember that it is our husband who is doing the course, and not us. We are here to complement them, not in the course directly, but morally and emotionally. The events that are organized are means of keeping us occupied and not to score brownie points for our husbands. I don’t mean any offence to anyone who is doing something for the pure love for it or to keep themselves busy. There is a very thin line between saying “When we were doing Staff College” and “When my husband was doing Staff College”. It is indeed good to feel a part of the College, but at the same time we should remember that it is our husbands who are attending the course, and they solely are responsible for how they perform here.

Army officers definitely deserve all the respect that they get; at times they deserve much more. But as an Army officer’s wife, we have to be wary about certain things. May be I’m too small a fish to comment on such things, but I would like to express my views on certain things that have happened in the previous unit my husband was posted to and as a normal human being, I knew they weren’t acceptable.

A Jawan is a soldier first and we must give them their due. They are not meant to do our household chores. Soldiers are attached to officers ostensibly for the upkeep of their service weapons and uniforms. In reality, however, they end up as domestic orderlies. Since husbands are mostly out, it is our responsibility to treat them well giving them their due for all the hardship and training that they have undergone.

Seniority among the ladies should be based on experience (age and number of years in the Army) rather than their husbands’ ranks. By and large, they as it is go hand in hand. Indian culture as it is tells us to respect a person who is older to us. It need not be drilled into us here. The rest, if not forced, I’m sure would follow on their own. Besides, nowadays, imposing may lead to consequences that are uncalled-for.

It is therefore, important for us ladies, to maintain the decorum and modesty while dealing with anyone, be it a lady, an officer or the troops and most importantly with ourselves. The wisdom lies within us. Let us not indulge in a fruit salad with tomatoes in it and spoil the way it ideally should taste!