REUNIONS--GENERATIONS, GAPS AND BRIDGES
The custom of holding reunions goes back several centuries. Reunions are held by educational institutions, religious sects, social organizations etc., but nowhere is it as popular as in the military. Like other regiments, the Corps of Signals also follows this tradition and celebrated 100 years of their glorious journey on 15 Feb 2011 at Jabalpur.
Reunions are the occasions to recall, rejoice, revise and rededicate. And, if it happens to be a centenary year ‘reunion’, the occasion becomes that much significant and, sacred to a great extent. That is why I compare these reunions of serving soldiers and the veterans to Mahakumbhs -- so sacrosanct in our mythology, held at the Sangam (Prayag) where Ganga meets Yamuna – symbolizing the confluence of the two streams of soldiers. We in the Signals, have the privilege of having Civilian Switch Board Operators (CSBOs) on our rolls right up to the field formations. They could all make the invisible Saraswati flow into the Sangam giving it the Triveni signature.
Change is inevitable. Every generation will have changes in attitudes, aspirations and perceptions. The generation gap, in literal sense, happens between a father and his son, which may have a span of say 25 years. While for the traditional fighting arms like Infantry, Armoured Corps and the Artillery, this generational gap could be comparable to this, the revolution in the telecommunication and information technologies has tremendously reduced this gap for us in Signals. Here, before a new technology is introduced in one country, the advanced ones would have already discarded that and their production lines closed. During my tenure with the MGO’s Branch in the late eighties, for every imported electronic system, we had to order spares for 60 months initially, along with the main equipment. After that it was the Life Time Buy (LTB) which meant that after 5 years, you may or may not get the spares because in these intervening five years their technology would change and get obsolescent, specially, in the defence production sector. That was some twenty years ago. Today, the gaps would occur even at shorter intervals.
If there are gaps between the successive technologies, there would be differences in their application as well and so would the approach be. Therefore, the successive generations of the users and managers of this technology need to bridge the gaps to ensure continuity, coherence and comfort. There is thus a need to bring together the different generations at a point to appreciate each other’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Our predecessors had operated under different environments and our children would have different scenario to work in. But then the baton needs to be passed on smoothly from one generation to the next. This is how the traditions, customs, values and ethos are established and reinforced.
A country is what its people are, and in a similar vein we can say that a Corps is as good as its personnel are. Science may have generation gaps happening faster with changing technologies but the art (humanities) has its own long and lasting effects. Therefore men need to manage these changes in the machinery and bridge the gaps for seamless operations and usage. In other words, an equipment system may have a shelf life but the man behind this machine has a soul, which is overwhelming. So are the value systems. Modernity must carry the traditions along and only then advance. A living city like Singapore should serve as a model of development. After it became independent, they started demolishing everything that was old to make space for the new. Half way through they realized that if they had everything modern, they would become a country and not a nation. Today, Singapore has an ideal mix of heritage and the ultra modern infrastructure. They respect their elders and till date have joint families and eat all meals together around a ten-seat dining table (which is round in shape). The public space may be very modern in outlook but the private place is strictly traditional and value based.
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A young, enterprising and high-heeled son may not necessarily accept the views of his father in his professional enterprise but when he comes home in the evening and asks the old man if he ate well, as to how he did or how his day passed, it is good enough a call from a son to his dad making good the latter’s day. The old man only expects a few words of care, affection and respect. Nothing more. In fact the younger generation needs to appreciate that old parents are their most valuable assets and not the liability in any which way. They are low on maintenance yet high on returns and reliability. They are also the cheap and best support systems for the household and childcare. What the grandparents can give no paid counsellor, tutor or a housekeeper can ever substitute. Elders may not have achieved what the youngsters have but then the ‘profile’ alone does not become the determinant and we do things which we ought to do – for the sake of family values, traditions and social posturing. One must therefore view and appreciate things from the other side (of the table) ...kyonki, bahu bhi kal saas banegi.
In our context these reunions and get-togethers bring different generations on one platform enabling them to interact, exchange and inspire. We should therefore make good use of these occasions and opportunities to understand each other and benefit from the experience of the elders and pass it down to every man in the ladder and, right up to the lowest rung. These occasions also enable one to accost and accept the change. The change agents must be engaged for uninterrupted communications.
The Information Warriors should, therefore, never cease to be a Corps of Signals. The means and methods of signalling may have changed and we may even see the future warfare as network-centric, but the fact remains that the man would always be at the centre of every activity. This glorious journey of 100 years was the journey of valour of our predecessors, their values, commitment, camaraderie and the celebrated Signalmanship, whom we salute in great reverence and gratitude on this momentous occasion, The Centenary.
- Lt Col (Retd ) H S Bhandari