The passing away of the only Indian to be appointed Field Marshal when in active service has been remarkable for the warmth of the ordinary men and women, who queued up to say meebeenamet to the adorable dikra  who put his life on the line for them.
 It has also been remarkable for the complete lack of grace and gratitude, civility and courtesy, decency and decorum on the part of the bold-faced names rapaciously grazing the lawns of power in Delhi and elsewhere, for the brain behind India 's only decisive military victory.
 Sam, the Bahadur, had been unwell for a while now. From about 1000 hours on June 26, reports of his being 'critically ill' had appeared in the media. Yet, when the 'expected tocsin' sounded at 0030 hours till the guns were fired in salute around 1500 hours on June 27, 'civil society' chose to show its incivility.
 •        Pratibha Patil , the commander-in- chief of the armed forces with all the time in the world:

Absent
 •        Hamid Ansari: Vice-president releasing books and writing reviews of books by fellow-travellers: Absent
 •        Manmohan Singh , the prime minister who could do with a bit of the field marshal's charisma and heroism: Absent
 •        Sonia Gandhi : daughter-in- law of the woman the field marshal called 'sweetie': Absent
 •        L K Advani: prime minister in waiting of the party which would like to do to Pakistan what Manekshaw did: Absent
 •        M Karunanidhi

and Surjit Singh Barnala: chief minister and governor of the state which Manekshaw had made his home for 35 years: Absent
 Politicians may have their reasons. They always do. Maybe, there are issues like protocol. Maybe, this is one way in which 'civil India ' shows the armed forces its place. Maybe, this is why we are not as militaristic as Pakistan . Maybe, the knees are just too old to climb the hills.
 But what about the armed forces itself?
 
•        A K Antony : the defence minister 'now behaving like the chairman of the confederation of the armed forces' trade unions: absent 'due to prior political engagements'.
 •         The chief of army staff: absent (away in Russia )
 •        The chief of navy staff: absent
 

•        The chief of air staff: absent
 The fact that the defence minister was represented by his deputy Pallam Raju, the fact that the navy and air staff sent two-star general rank officers, shows that however high or mighty, however rich or powerful, civilian or military, if you should die as you must, you should do so somewhere in the vicinity of New Delhi -- or Bombay.
 Or else, they must have some use for you.Or else, too bad.
 As he rightly surmised once: 'I wonder whether those of our political masters who have been put in charge of the defence of the country can distinguish a mortar from a motor; a gun from a howitzer; a guerrilla from a gorilla -- although a great many of them in the past have resembled the latter.'
 The contrast couldn't be starker:
 •         When Amitabh Bachchan  was ill after being socked in the stomach during the shooting of Coolie, Indira Gandhi  flew down to Bombay to show her concern.
 

•         When Dhirubhai Ambani died, L K Advani cut short his Gujarat tour to pay his respects to an 'embodiment of initiative, enterprise and determination'.
 •         When Pramod Mahajan was shot dead by his brother, Vice President Bhairon Singh Shekawat had the time to attend the funeral.
Our VIPs and VVIPs have time for dead and dying celebrities, charlatans, fixers. Not for a field marshal?
 In his biography, K M Cariappa, the only other field marshal India has had (and who too died at age 94), writes of his father's cremation in May 1993:
 'Honouring him in death as they did in life were Field Marshal Manekshaw, the three service chiefs all of whom belonged to the same course and at whose passing out parade from the joint services wing father had presided, the gracious chief minister M  Veerappa Moily and C K Jaffer Sharief, Minister for Railways representing the President as the supreme commanded of the armed forces.'
 Somebody should have told the geniuses in Delhi that Sam, the Bahadur, passed away in Wellington , Ooty, not Wellington , New Zealand . The nearest civil airport is Coimbatore , just 80 km away.
 

If this is how we say goodbye to Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw, any wonder why Rang de Basanti  could successfully tap into the angst of an entire generation?

A woman came out of her house and saw 3 old men with long white beards sitting in her front yard. She did not recognize them. She said "I don't think I know you, but you must be hungry. Please come in and have something to eat."

"Is the man of the house home?", they asked.

"No", she replied. "He's out." 

"Then we cannot come in", they replied.

In the evening when her husband came home, she told him what had happened.



"Go tell them I am home and invite them in!"

The woman went out and invited the men in"

"We do not go into a House together," they replied. 

"Why is that?" she asked. 
One of the old men explained: "His name is Wealth," he said pointing to one of his friends, and said pointing to another one, "He is Success, and I am Love." Then he added, "Now go in and discuss with your husband which one of us you want in your home."

The woman went in and told her husband what was said. Her husband was overjoyed. "How nice!!", he said. "Since that is the case, let us invite Wealth. Let him come and fill our home with wealth!"

His wife disagreed. "My dear, why don't we invite Success?"

Their daughter was listening from the other corner of the house. She jumped in with her own suggestion: "Would it not be better to invite Love? Our home will then be filled with love!"

"Let us heed our daughter's advice," said the husband to his wife.

"Go out and invite Love to be our guest."

The woman went out and asked the 3 old men, "Which one of you is Love? Please come in and be our guest."

Love got up and started walking toward the house. The other 2 also got up and followed him. Surprised, the lady asked Wealth and Success: "I only invited Love, Why are you coming in?"

The old men replied together: "If you had invited Wealth or Success, the other two of us would've stayed out, but since you invited Love, wherever He goes, we go with him. Wherever there is Love, there is also Wealth and Success!!!!!!"

Hello Friends, Good Morning to all of you. I am still enjoying my holidays at my son's place at Bengalore. To he has not taken his laptop with him, I thought of making use of it and wish each one of you a very Good Morning, I am sure you all in good health and high sprits. Here is a small story -

An Old Story:

Hello Friends, I am going for long holidays and will return by 15th July. I will miss