1. family and parenting
2. children

July 2013 Issue: 7
SECRETARY’S NOTE
Highlights for the month of June was the Children’s
programme. The Creative Thinking and Decision
Making Workshop for children in the age group of
11 to 20 years was held on 22 June. Swimming
Competition for children in the age group 4 to 19
years was held on 23 June which evinced interest
from children and parents alike. Heartfelt thanks to
Lt Col Ravi S Bangari (Retd), who took the
initiative not only to conduct both the events, but
also sponsored the book purchase vouchers for all
the winners of swimming competition. His spirited
involvement is indeed laudable. Another children's
programme, Bookalore is being held on 20 July 13.
This will be an educative and innovative event for
children. The event is being held under the aegis of
Book Club, Bangalore. Children should not miss
this event which promises lots of fun and action.
The much awaited event, the Monsoon Queen
Pageant will be held on 13 July 2013.
Book Club – Bookalore Event at RSI
Puppet Tales (Ages 3 – 7)
Want to say ‘Hello’ to a baby rhino from Kaziranga?
Fancy meeting a dinosaur with a sense of humour?
Ready to go on an adventure to find the sun? You never
know WHAT will happen when author and storyteller
Vijaylakshmi Nagaraj and her puppets take the stage;
Come and find out!
The Great Star Chase (Ages 8 – 12)
Get puzzle-cracking, riddle-solving and bad-guy-bashing
with the intrepid Taranauts Zarpa, Zvala and Tufan as
they race against the dingdial to beat master villain Shaap
Azur! Join author Roopa Pai in the universe of Mithya at
the launch of the eighth and final book in her popular
fantzy-adventure series Tranauts. Super prizes for
winners!
Don’t miss all the excitement on Saturday July 20th between
11 am and 1 pm at the RSI. Members are requested to register
the names of their children at the reception by 15th July 2013.
Monsoon Queen Pageant
Monsoon Queen Pageant has been scheduled to be conducted
at Cariappa Hall of RSI on 13 July 2013 (Saturday),
commencing at 8 PM. The event will comprise of Beauty
Pageant combined with Cultural and Fashion Show.
Glimpses of Children's Swimming Competition
JOURNEY IN MILITARY SPECIAL TRAIN
A couple of decades ago, when I was a young captain in an
infantry battalion, we were slated to move from a field area to
a peace station, as part of the Infantry relief program. I was the
designated quartermaster and planned everything
meticulously for the movement of our battalion. We were
supposed to travel on a military special train that was
scheduled to arrive at a nearby railway station somewhere in
north-east India.
While we camped near the railway station awaiting the
military special, the atmosphere was a mix of emotions. For
bachelors like me and other young officers it was fun
attending officers mess parties and badakhanas with the
relieving unit, whereas for married officers and jawans with
families, it was happy and expectant feeling as their families
would join them at the peace station.
There was an interesting incident one morning while we
waited at the railway station; there was no dearth of humour in
uniform, ours being a Sikh Light Infantry battalion. Now, we
were on radio link and not on a fixed line. That morning, the
signal platoon Havildar brought a decoded radio message
which read, “YOUR ATTA DRWN TO OUR SIGNAL
NO.------- “The word, ‘ATTN’ (for ‘Attention’) was
erroneously decoded as ‘ATTA’ and the havildar assumed it
to be atta (meaning flour), and brought message to me instead
of the Adjutant, since the quartermaster is responsible for the
provisioning of rations to troops. On seeing the message I
burst into laughter to the predicament of Havildar, and I could
not stop myself from sharing this with other officers.
The train arrived after a wait of nearly a week. The special
train was special in every way; right from missing bulbs
throughout the train to the missing cushions in the first class
seats and even missing window panes on windows. We army
men always manage with whatever is available. We spread
our mattresses out on the berths, lit lantern and established
communications among the officers’ carriages, the
engine-driver and the guard at the rear with our field
telephones, by running our rugged looking telephone cables
outside the carriages. As our special train passed through
railway stations, curious onlookers tried making sense of our
lantern-lit train with onboard communications and than gave
up.
During peace-time, military special train has the least priority,
after express-trains, mails, passenger-trains and goods-trains.
At important railway stations, even stoppages for military
special trains are not at the usual platforms, and instead were
at railway yards. Hence our train took 12 days to reach our
destination whereas an express train would take about 42
hours. Yet, we enjoyed the slow-paced journey from
north-east to a peaceful barrack in western India.
The leisurely journey had an anticlimax when our Khalsa
boys, who had spread a tarpaulin sheet over the tracks for
unloading and transferring the stores to the new location,
forgot to remove it, derailing the train!
Monsoon Queen Pageant
Monsoon Queen Pageant will be held at Cariappa Hall of
RSI on 13 July 2013 (Saturday) commencing at 8 PM. The
event will comprise of Beauty Pageant combined with
Cultural and Fashion Show. The event culminates in
crowning of the Queen and Princess of the event. Young
ladies are encouraged to give their names for the contest,
(Contestants for May Queen & May Princess 2013 already
registered will also be considered) which is open to all lady
members between 20 to 35 years of age and unmarried
daughters of members from 13 to 20 years as on 13 Jul 2013.
Fabulous prizes are in store for the winners. There are other
prizes and hampers for various segment winners.
Participants can download application form from the RSI
Website or seek the same from RSI Reception. Preliminary
round and Grooming Session will be held at RSI Cariappa
Hall on 07 July 2013 (Sunday) at 5 PM and participants are
required to be present by 4.30 PM.
Monsoon Queen Pageant Sale of Tickets
& Food / Bar Coupons
The sale of entry tickets, food / bar coupons for the Monsoon
Queen commences from 10 am onwards on 01 Jul 13.
Tickets will be available at RSI Reception. Members are
requested to purchase entry tickets food / bar coupons well in
advance to avoid last minute rush / disappointment.
By Lt Col DK Havanoor (Retd)
Rates of Entry tickets will be as under :-
Members / Spouse &
Dependent Children above 15 Yrs
Temp / Reciprocal Members
Guests & Children above 15 Yrs
(Max 4 guests for Primary members)
Dependent Children 10 to 15 Yrs
Guest Children 10 to 15 Yrs
- Rs.100/-each
- Rs. 200/-each
- Rs 250/-each
- Rs.50/-each
- Rs 100/-each
Breakfast
Service and Order - 8 am
Last Breakfast Order - 10.30 am
Food and Beverages
Indian Kitchen & Buffet
Lunch
Chinese & Tandoor
Lunch
Services and take away order from 12.30 pm.
Last Lunch order and take away Order 2.30 pm.
Dinner
Services and take away order from 7.30 pm.
Last Dinner order and take away order 10.30 pm.
Services and take away order from 1 pm.
Last lunch order for A-la Carte 2.30 pm.
Last lunch order for Buffet 2.45 pm.
Dinner
Services and take away orders from 8 pm.
Last Dinner Order and take away order 10.30 pm.
Weekly Buffet Programme
♦ Monday - Regular/Regional Buffet ♦ Wednesday - Chinese Buffet
♦ Thursday - Continental Buffet ♦ Friday - Regular Buffet
♦ Saturday - Regular Buffet / Ala-Carte ♦ Sunday - Biryani Food Festival
Food Festivals - 2013
♦ Rice Paradise Buffet - 08 July (Mon) ♦ Coorg Food Festival - 14 July (Sun)
Revision of RSI Menu Rates
Due to hike in prices of commodities in the market, specially
LPG, RSI is constrained to revise the rates of food items on the
Menu. Revised rates are put on the notice board as well as on the
website. The revision is effective from 01 June 2013.
Vehicle without RSI Sticker
Vehicles without the RSI Parking Sticker will not be allowed to
enter the RSI Premises.
Library Snippets
‘March of a Foot Soldier’, a collection of anecdotes on
experiences by Lt Col DK Havanoor, filled with abundance of
humour and awe is available at RSI reception or could be obtained
by post from RSI. The author may be contacted at
[email protected]
Obituary
It is with deep regret that we convey the sad demise of the
following members of RSI
(a) Col MD Naidu,VrC (Retd) on 02 Jun 2013.
(b) Capt (IN) R George (Retd) on 30 Apr 2013.
May God grant peace to the departed souls and give courage to
the bereaved members of the family to bear the irreparable loss.
Medical Information
ECHS HELPLINE : TOLL FREE : 1800 – 114 -115
All the queries pertaining to ECHS like M/Ship, Status of ECHS
application, Procedure for availing treatment through ECHS,
Emergency treatment procedure, Contractual employment,
Address and contact of various polyclinics empanneled facilities
etc. can be obtained from above mentioned toll free help line
number. The facility is available 24 x 7 from any mobile/landline
number.
Tambola
Wednesday 7 pm onwards
Saturday 7 pm onwards
Sunday 11 am to 1.30 pm
Do You Know
1. IIMA, IIMB & IIMC denotes what? When was it founded and
where are they located?
2. AANO BHADRA KRTVO YANTU VISHWTAH is an
excerpt from VEDA. Which veda and what does it mean?
Answers to last month queries:
1. ‘PBG’ is the oldest Armoured Regiment in the Indian Army.
2. ‘NAG’ is the 3rd generation Anti Tank Missile indigenously
developed, planned to be inducted in the Indian Army.
3. ‘VIJAYANT’ is the nick name of Vickers Main Battle Tank
operated by the Indian Army in 1970’s & 1980’s
Winner : None
Entertainment Programme
06 Jul Musical Programme by Shyam & Divyanshu
13 Jul Monsoon Queen Pageant
20 Jul Live Band Performance by S&M Associates
27 Jul Recorded Music at Band Stand
28 Jul RSI Spring Festival ; Flower Show Competition
11 am onwards
03 Aug Live Band Performance by ASC Centre & College
Jazz Band
10 Aug Recorded Music at Band Stand
14 Aug Independence Day Eve Ball
26 Aug Goanese Band
Fun Corner
04 Jul Nautanki Saala *ing Ayushmann Khurrana
11 Jul Murder 3 *ing Radeep Hooda
18 Jul Asshiqui 2 - *ing Aditya Roy Kapur
25 Jul Ek Thi Daayan *ing Imran Hashmi
01 Aug Life of Pi - Award Winning Film
08 Aug ABCD *ing Prabhu Deva
Note: Pictures are subject to change, depending upon their
availiability and quality of print.
RSI CSD Timings/Holidays/STB
Thur, Fri & Sun 9.30 am to 12.30 pm - 2 pm to 4.30 pm
Wed & Sat
10 am to 1 pm - 2.30 pm to 6.30 pm
Song of Jamaica
Pleomele Reflexa
Song of India which was
featured in last month’s column
has long narrow leaves that are green in the center and have
creamy yellow edges. Song of Jamaica (Pleomele Reflexa) is
very similar except it is more deeply green. This shrub grows
usually 1½ to 2 feet tall but can grow as tall as four feet.
The plants which are slow growing, look very full because the
leaves are set very close together and all come from a center
stalk. As the plant gets larger the stalk may bend from the weight
of the leaves.
Song of Jamaica likes moderate to bright light or indirect bright
sunlight. It likes the soil to be barely moist at times but thrives in
humidity. Bangalore and the settings of the RSI are ideal for this
shrub to thrive.
If you wish to grow this plant inside your home in Bangalore you
can set your “Song of Jamaica” plant on pebbles placed in a tray
of water, making
sure that the pot is not sitting in the water.
This will increase the humidity which
is necessary for Song of Jamaica
to thrive.
Cmde Ray D’souza (Retd)
(Entry Closes at 12.45 pm & 6.15 pm respectively)
Lunch Break
Monday
Stock Taking
Tuesday
1.30 pm to 2.30 pm
9.30 am to 12.30 pm
Acknowledgement from RSI Bridge Batch 2013
25 & 26 Jul 2013
Weekly Off
RSI Petrol Bunk Timings
Members and Dependents: 9.30 am to 7.30pm
Lunch Break
12.30 pm to 2 pm
Tuesday
Weekly Off
RSI Contact details
Contact: 25320557 Mobile: 9900232500 Military Tele: 6920
Library: 25323064 RSI CSD: 25559894 Pit Stop: 8970010333
[email protected] website- www.rsibangalore.in
Publishing of Articles
Members interested to contribute articles, (Not exceeding
beyond 200 words) for publication in the ‘Tidings’ may
forward it to Secretary RSI.
Conceived and Designed by Eddyingbay  9880048609
The Bridge workshop which began in Dec'12 formally
concluded on 21st June'13 . We,The Budding Batch express our
huge gratitude to Col. Sharma and Mr. Manoj for ringing in new
skills, new spirit, new friends, new purpose and new passion in
our lives. A huge thanks to RSI Secretary and staff for their good
support.