NOEL ELLIS' GOOGLE BLOG

  SUCCESSFUL EXPERIMENT   LT COL NOEL ELLIS   29/IV/2022   Being a lover of the Hibiscus, one was never satisfied with just one colour. Different colours, textures, shades and sizes kept joining our family. There was no place in India from where we did not pick them up. Even the online portals were explored.   Passing by a nursery always made me jam the brakes, just to have a ‘Dekho’. My better half kept telling me to stop being a glutton. How could one resist the temptation if one saw a new variety? Imagine how plants would talk to each other asking, Are you from Pune? No, I am from Bangalore. Bombay wala would bum in, ‘me Mumbaikar, kasa kaye’.   Would the other hibiscus plants feel jay if one grew a cutting? I am not sure. I used to feel happy raising them as my very own. It was more than daily care and looking after. From the soil mix to manure, from watering to sunlight and shade, from placement, to the pot selection all done to the best of our ability.   I

  LIMBU WALE KAKA   LT COL NOEL ELLIS   25/IV/2022   Aur Kya chal raha hai? Yahan to Nimbu chal raha hai. Rather nimbu nahi chal raha hai. I wish these were the good old days where ‘Netas’ and ‘Netis’ would sit on the roads wearing malas of Nimbu to topple the government. Ms FM ji please do some ‘avantan’ of a few thousand crores for this dear sour friend of ours. Grapes ain’t sour anymore but Limbu has crossed all levels of sourness.   The desi method of finding out the degree of sourness is the wink which automatically gets initiated with the nostrils expanding, eyes half closed, the tongue hitting the back of the teeth, making a typical sound “chuck” with a shake to the head. The sentence which comes out tells you the ‘Khataas’.   You go to a vegetable vendor. His way of judging your ‘aukaat’ is very obvious. Moment, you lift one ‘yellow diamond’ as now it falls in that category, he shouts back, aap rahne do bhenji, bahut mehnga hai. It is a sure ‘chop-chop’ of t

  MANOJ TO MANOJ   LT COL NOEL ELLIS   20/IV/2022   The long speculation as to who would be the next Army Chief has finally been laid to rest when the government declared Lt Gen Manoj Pande as the next Chief designate. Congratulations Sir.   Gen Pandey is from ‘Engineers’. I am convinced that the Engineer Regiment builds and maintains. It could be bridges, structures, roads etc. These are the guys who can move anything on earth. If required they can also demolish what the enemy can build. They are trained to work and rescue in a Nuclear Biological and Chemical Warfare environment. They are multifaceted and multitasking people. Could there be a better choice than ‘this Engineer’ leading an Army which needs to be nurtured and built up to face adversaries who are encroaching on our land?   One of the news channels must be reprimanded for calling the Chief designate from the MES (Military Engineering Service). My due apologies to personnel who have served in it, as this

  LIVING IN HARMONY   LT COL NOEL ELLIS   19/IV/2022   Summers have set in Jodhpur and the heat is terrible to bear. Most of my army life one has spent in the deserts but after fifteen years next to the coast, returning and getting roasted is a little pinching. Along the coast one used to ‘melt’ due to the high humidity. Soon we shall finish our “Climate” , basically getting used to the weather here.   During the evening inspection of pots, one found ‘Mr TikTok’ the ‘Chameleon’ merrily occupying one of them. One is used to chameleons in the garden. Today, he wasn’t hugging a branch. Generally, one would find them well camouflaged, barely visible to the eye and scooting, but today my friend was not afraid at all. He gave me a glance, shuffled a bit but then settled down in his original stance.   Why wasn’t he scared or dashed away when one approached close to it? The closest one could get was about a meter before it darted. Today it looked composed and in no mood to

  CANDLE & THE WIND   LT COL NOEL ELLIS   17/IV/2022   It is Easter Sunday; we wish each one of you a very happy and a blessed Easter.   It was after ages that we were going to attend the ‘Sunrise service’. A nice feeling crept in; it was a new day with a new hope that was about to begin. Though all these days one has been an early riser but after retirement one just doesn’t feel like getting up so early. No office, no work keeps yours truly quite busy otherwise. It was different today.   Cool desert breeze was blowing as we moved to our church. It is getting quite hot in this part of the country, forcing us to stay indoors mostly, before one caught the “Loo”.   We had carried our candles for a ‘candle light march’ before the sun would rise over the horizon. The first candle was lit by the pastor and then the flame was passed on to all who had gathered together. In a matter of seconds, the courtyard where we were standing lit up. All the faces which were not

    BREAKING THE CHAKRAVYUH   LT COL NOEL ELLIS   16/IV/2022   These days we get a concentrated dose of ‘acid’ poured right in one’s skull the moment you flick channels to watch the news. It reminds me of a combination of acids which was called ‘aqua-regia’. Once our Chemistry teacher taught us how to make it, we would pour it on everything metallic in the Chemistry lab. That is how toxic the mind can become if one continues watching these news channels. Many of you would suggest to stop watching them, but then how could one miss out on the ‘Mahabharat’ or ‘Maha-Ukraine-Yudh’ that they churn up nonstop.   ‘Air raid sirens’ start blowing as they speak. For God’s sake Miss, you got to run and take cover, but then she doles out that never ending commentary as to Why Putin doesn’t listen to anyone & why Ukraine is in a mess etc. Please understand that Putin is a bachelor and Zelensky is married and has too many cooks who spoiled his broth.   Newsreaders catch hold o

HANGING IN THIN AIR LT COL NOEL ELLIS 12/IV/2022 It was in 1985-86 while undergoing the ‘Commando Course’, that we used to laugh at the ‘mock helicopters’ jutting out their butt from trees. A hessian cloth cover with a few round windows painted in ‘Geru’, with rotors made of wooden planks would depict a hovering helicopter. How one hated going up the tree over and over again just to slither down. Slithering looked like a cake walk. Wear your mittens and come down the rope. Simple. The final moment dawned when we heard the chopper blades of a MI 17 with its bums sliced off approaching our training area. They would land and we would jump in. It was scary to be in a helicopter with its backside blown off. The instructors anchored themselves, while we prepared to jump out. The discussion during tea break would hover around which Ustad to tip off from the chopper to teach him a lesson, so that he never troubles commandos again. Well, that fleeting thought ‘came and went’ because of the cons

  WHAT IF????   LT COL NOEL ELLIS   09/IV/2021   As one watches the war in Ukraine unfold, it brings shivers down the spine, without getting into the destruction of buildings, loss of life of civilians & the men and women in uniform. I shall also not discuss who is right or who is wrong. Further, there is no point discussing who is responsible to start it and who can stop it. What worries me most as a Mech Officer, is the destruction of ‘military equipment’ that one sees mangled and strewn lying across Ukrainian streets.   It is also not about to whom this equipment belongs to. It is all about the final outcome after that equipment has been hit with some projectile. Let us assume that the maximum equipment is Russian the way they appear to be lined up. The scenes are gory and unpleasant.   Why I say this is because most of the equipment one sees blown up to smithereens is also used by India. The T-72s, BRDMs, BMPs, self-propelled Artillery guns and  MBRLs (Multi Barrel Rocket Launc