Reminiscences of my life in the IA

 So, was Commanding somewhere in North Kashmir, and one fine day felt urge to have fish. The one fish that has always fascinated me since the time I went to Kokernag and Verinag as part of a school trip was Trout. The fisheries dept had a Trout breeding farm in one of those places.  So, asked my Quartermaster  to arrange for 'Pink Trout from Kokernag" Now, the poor 2 star General being from the Southernmost tip of India only nodded and said "yes sir, yes sir will do it sir" Just as a prelude to this, we used to get Pizzas from Pizza Hut almost every week from Srinagar vis the Sumo drivers that went everyday. So, a couple of days later, the same officer walks into my office and says," Sir, we need to send someone on temporary duty (TD which actually requires permission from higher HQ) to Assam  I was shell shocked and asked him WHY? Because  to send some on So, his reply "Sir, you want to eat Grout from Kokrajhar, so someone has to go and get it".  Fina...

 So, at 21 got commissioned in SF. Nothing, just wanted to. Didn't complete the probation and was sent back to my parent unit which was in in the erstwhile state of J&K. NPV, Non Para Volunteer. One phase of life got over within a month. Was sent to command a coy after all the usual what we used to call staying with the boys  now called'Line attachment ' anyway same wine in different bottles. So, during the month that I stayed with the boys, we were on a post called 'Forward'.  Other stories apart, the CO and 2ic decided that I was good enough to take charge of an independent company.  They didnt have any other options. The unit was moving out and the advance party had left. So, reached one of the biggest hotspots in the erstwhile state of J&K. An area in which it was rumoured that what Kashmir is to India, that area was to Kashmir, both in terms of Apples and beauty( both natural, the mountains and otherwise). Reached there with the COs warning ringing in m...

 No, this post is not about encounters with terrorists. It is about encounters with wildlife in the erstwhile state of J&K.  So, one of the first encounters I had was with a flying squirrel. One fine day, was walking along a track near the LC, and something actually flew across my eyeline from one tree to another. The first instinct ofcourse was to hit the ground and then look up where I see this little guy seemingly laughing at us because seeing me go down, my whole team also went down. Am sure that guy must have had a good laugh at us. Next time it was a call at about 3am from a post saying that the sentry heard some suspicious movement close to the post, opened fire and nothing more was heard. This was the time when trans LC firing was at its peak as also trans LC raids were the norm. So, after alerting the nearby posts, tried to get some sleep when at first light I get a report from the same post that there was a dead porcupine in the area from where the sound was hear...