Skip to main content

USING THE FAN IN WINTERS


 

LT COL NOEL ELLIS

 

11/XII/2024

 

It has just snowed in Himachal and the rippling effect can be felt here in the Blue City. Mornings are like Shimla, afternoons are hot but evenings are comfortable. The minimum temperature dips to 6  and falling.

 

I recall my days serving in the ‘desert sector’. A crust of ice used to get formed on our ‘canvas’ water buckets if left in the open. Mornings used to be calm but the wind used to pick up speed as the sun came up. The sand would hit your face like tiny needles pricking you.

 

The only comfy place used to be inside your BMP. Sometimes, while out of the cupola & looking for directions, a blast from its ‘exhaust’ would hit you in the face. Believe you me, there could be no better, comforting and warm feeling than that.

 

At the end of the day, you could be smelling of diesel. Your dress would get pock marked with black droplets which shot out of the exhaust. Don’t ask me how we did it in the summer. It was like being baked in an oven.

 

Be that it may. Have you guys ever used your fans in winters? I know, you would call me crazy if I say I did. But can you guess who uses it? It may be a cold and foggy morning but the fan would be switched on. I have got you guys thinking and many of you would have guessed it too.

 

Imagine you have just had your breakfast. With a hot cup of tea in your hand, you walked out to bask in the sun. A sweater and a jacket worn for warmth. The body is now warmed up to your liking. You move in but move out as fast as you came in because the fan switched on. It is December, mind you.

 

I remember while serving near ‘Pangong Tso’, Ladakh. Temperatures used to be well below zero. Add to it the ‘wind chill’ factor. Imagine the condition. Even with three layers of clothing, bones used to freeze.

 

Going for ‘number one’ was such a herculean task. Not the process, but finding ‘Nimo’ through the felt pants, woollen under pants and warm underwear, besides the ‘Coat Parka’ which had to be taken care of. Try it!

 

That is the feeling one gets, if you are in bed, getting out of the Rajai, ready to take a sneak peak of the outside world and someone by mistake or on purpose, instead of switching on the light switch, switches on the fan. Grrrrrr, band karo…. is the only thing you can say. Choices are, that you pull the quilt over you or rush out of the bedroom, because the fan will not be switched off.

 

This is another hint, who switched on the fan. Any guesses now?

 

Sometimes, it makes me question what ceiling fans are meant for. In summers, it is understandable, but of all the seasons in winters, that too at number 5, which is the fastest speed. You do a smart act and turn the knob to number one, but then this person will twist it to five first and then put it on.

 

You cannot say anything to this person except murmuring under your breath. A little frown and some disgust which this person knows is all that you can do, disregards it, and carries on. After all, why did you install the fan in the first place?

 

We did a smart thing by installing fans with a remote. This person is smart and has found a way to directly switch on the fans from the switch board itself without the remote. Amazing!

 

Well, this person is none other than our ‘Maid’. Pocha has to be completed with the fan on full blast giving you a feeling of taking a dip in the River Indus in winters. Your personal feelings don’t matter.

 

You ask her, why can’t Pocha be done without the fan. Her simple answer is ‘jaldi sookhta hai’, it dries up faster. Before you make footprints of the yeti over her Pocha with your chappals leaving an imprint, she wants the thing to dry up. Logic, I must say.

 

She switches on one more thing the moment she enters the kitchen.  What is it? You wonder!!!!!!

 

JAI HIND 

ŠŽNOEL ELLIS

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

FINGER ON YOUR LIPS

  LT COL NOEL ELLIS   29/IV/2025   What has happened to Pakistan? While India is doing Fauji Exercises, Pakistan has mobilised for what! I agree that the people of India want revenge. But, from whom? Our PM has only said that “we will not leave the terrorists and their supporters till the end of the Earth”. He has never said he will sort out Pakistan, or has he?   It has been hilarious watching discussions on Paki social media channels. They seem to have already given up. Our RM meets the PM and Pakistan starts shitting bricks. They talk about jazba and gazwa, and start telling us about their nuclear arsenal. 160 I suppose. By the way we will send across one equivalent to your 160 if need be.   There is a saying, ‘Chor ki Dari main tinka” literal meaning is, a straw in a thief’s beard. However, the deep meaning is that a guilty person reveals his guilt through his behaviour, even unintentionally. Clearly, “a guilty conscious needs no accuser”...

SCENE AT ELLIS’ RESTAURANT

    LT COL NOEL ELLIS   04/XI/2024   Every morning the scene in the Ellis’ restaurant is so refreshing. The notes birds sing sounds like ‘reveille’ being sounded by the buglers. The ‘scenario’ keeps varying with arrival of different birds at different timings.   It is like being a restaurant owner, working solo with minimum help. Yours truly is the waiter, housekeeper, cook, receptionist, barman, purchase manager, accountant, and storekeeper of this shack. Imagine!   Foremost thing in the morning is housekeeping of the garden area, followed by watering the pots. This gives the plants a nice bath, like kids being readied for school.   The first set of ‘clients’ called the ‘Tailor Birds’ appear. They love to hunt for insects which get disturbed by the watering ritual. They sing and dance, hop and skip and carry on chasing moths and worms, without bothering about my presence.   By then the Bulbuls and the Sparrows start lini...

IF THERE IS A WAR…...

    LT COL NOEL ELLIS   28/IV/2025   I remember the 1971 war as a small child. We were in Kapurthala Punjab, very close to the Pakistan border. It was an evening in December, I do not remember the exact date. While returning from a friends house, the declaration of war was done as I skipped along the ‘Thandi Sarak’ of Kapurthala.   The gist was that a vehicle with loud speakers was telling people to head home as an "emergency" had been declared and war had started. I ran as fast as I could, shivering with fear and my heart beating unusually fast. Though I was a lap baby when the 1965 war had taken place, it appeared serious business now.   Overnight, Dad and other Uncles started digging trenches infront of our homes. Carbon paper was no dearth in a teachers house, so mom got into an overdrive to stick them to the glass windows. Though the glass had been painted during the 1965 war, some broken panes had been replaced. Mom told ...