TODAY IS NAVY DAY
Musings
of a Retired Naval Officer
By
VIKRAM KARVE
NAVY DAY
Today
is the 4th of December.
Today
is Navy Day.
However,
it appears that in the midst of all the political and sensational news, the
media has forgotten Navy Day and, also, most citizens of India are not aware of
Navy Day and its significance.
Navy
Day is celebrated on 4 December to commemorate the daring and deadly attack carried
out by missile boats of the Indian Navy on Karachi harbour during the 1971
Indo-Pak War
ARMY DAY and AIR FORCE DAY
By
the way, Army Day is celebrated on 15 January every year in India, in
recognition of Lieutenant General (later Field Marshal) K. M. Cariappa taking
over as the first Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army from Sir Francis
Butcher, the last British Commander, in 1948
Air
Force Day is celebrated on 8 October (the precursor to the Indian Air Force was
officially established on 8 October 1932 as an auxiliary air force of the
British Empire and the prefix “Royal” was added in 1945 in recognition of
its services during World War II)
GENESIS OF NAVY DAY ARMY DAY and AIR FORCE DAY
Army Day is on 15 January, Navy Day on 4 December and Air Force Day on 8 October.
Not only are the “days” different, but we see that even the reasons for which the three
services celebrate their “days” are different:
Navy Day – to commemorate the
first wartime heroic act of the Indian Navy (successful combat action)
Army Day – in recognition
of an Indian taking over as Chief of the Indian Army (personality based)
Air Force Day – to
celebrate the day the Indian Air Force was born (birthday or foundation day)
(By the way, till a
few years ago, the Indian Air Force celebrated Air Force Day on the 1st of
April since its first squadron, No. 1 Squadron, was commissioned on 1 April 1933.
Or was it because it was on the 1st of April 1954 that Air Marshal
Subroto Mukherjee, one of the founding members of the Air Force, took over as
the first Indian Chief of the Air Staff?)
The distinct manner in
which each uniformed service celebrates its “day” aptly illustrates their
contrasting service cultures and it is no wonder that there is not much of
so-called “jointmanship” among the three services.
NAVY DAY and NAVY WEEK
In the Navy, the Navy
Day celebrations actually extend across the entire week in which the Navy Day
falls, and this is called the Navy Week.
You can have a glimpse
at the Navy Week 2013 Celebrations by here (click the link below to open in a new window, but remember to return back to this post):
The
celebrations are held mainly at Mumbai, and on a smaller scale at Visakhaptnam
and Kochi too, and the Navy Week Celebrations culminate with the spectacular
Navy Ball at the end of the week on Saturday.
During the Navy Week
the Navy tries to showcase its capabilities to the civilian public by holding a
series of combat demonstrations, live displays, parade drills and events like
band concerts.
Sometimes, naval families, veterans and prominent citizens are
taken out for a day at sea to observe “shop window” exercises which demonstrate
salient aspects of the navy at sea.
In a nutshell, the aim
of Navy Week is to showcase the Navy to civilian citizens.
Let me end on a
lighter note.
This happened many
years ago.
The sailors on our
ship were practicing very hard and rehearsing day and night for the “continuity
drill” display to be held at the Gateway of India during Navy Week.
A continuity drill is
a most precise and difficult parade drill since the entire parade drill sequence
and movements are to be performed without any words of command.
That is why it requires
rigorous practice and repeated rehearsals before it can be perfected.
The sailors were
practicing without break for over a month, in working hours and off-working
hours, including on Sundays and holidays, in order to perfect the continuity
drill.
The long hours of
painstaking efforts paid off and the event was a great success.
After the event, I came
across one of my newly recruited sailors who had taken part in the continuity
drill.
I congratulated the young
sailor on his performance and asked him, “Do you know why Navy Week is
celebrated?”
“To impress the
civilians,” he said.
At first I was taken
aback by his answer – then I saw that there was wisdom in what the raw young sailor
had said.
The entire Navy, all
of us, were slogging away for weeks, to put up a show for civilians – yes we
were desperately trying to impress the civilians who frankly didn’t give a tinker’s
damn about us, although they seemed to be enjoying the spectacle we
were putting up for them.
I remember a friend of
mine, who was in-charge of organizing Navy Week activities, heave a sigh of
relief once it was all over.
Sometimes I wonder
whether it is worth it putting in so much effort to try and impress civilians
who do not seem to care two hoots about the Navy and Navymen.
I wonder whether
civilians understand the sanctity of such occasions, parades, demonstrations
and displays or whether they treat them as spectacles for entertainment and enjoyment.
Be that as it may, do spare
a thought for our Navy today on the occasion of Navy Day and think of all the
sailors slogging it out on ships and submarines guarding the seas so that you
can sleep in peace
Wish you a Happy Navy Day
and Happy Navy Week.
Click the link below
to watch a video on Training at the Indian Naval Academy
And if you know
someone in the Navy, serving sailor or retired veteran, why don’t you wish them
a Happy Navy Day.
Jai Hind शं नो वरुणः May the Lord of the Oceans be auspicious unto us
VIKRAM KARVE
Copyright © Vikram Karve
Vikram Karve has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.
© vikram karve., all rights reserved.
Disclaimer:
All stories in this blog are a work of fiction. The characters do not exist and are purely imaginary. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
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