One more IAF plane crashed in last 10 days. It was a training aircraft.Both the trainer and the trainee died in the crash. IAF has gone down from one of the best to one below average. The training time had to be reduced because of the lack of a super sonic trainer. The one we have is a very old class. Graduating from which, the young recruit has to fly the flying coffin aka MiG 21. Air Force around the world mean the latest in technology and military hardware. They have the most cutting edge technology in the world. But IAF, na... they still fly the MiG 21 which is already in the museum of a lot of Air Forces. These are the same planes with which we fought the Indo-pak war of 1971, which means that they are at-least 38 years old. Reminds me of Fiat padmini, we laugh at people who still drive it and are amaze at the fact how they can drive a 20 year old car and here we have 38 year old aircrafts to defend us. What has the Govt Of India been doing?

The MiG crashes now and then have made people un-confident about our air force. Sadly no one among the public is asking why? MiG 21s are not the only ones, after that we have the aging fleet or MiG 27s and jaguars. MiG 29 are also getting old. Add to that, we are already short of aircraft. Instead iof sanctioned 39.5 squadrons, we have only 34. God forbids but if tomorrow we are pushed into battle, things won't be too good for us.

But this year things have been improving. And Congress seems to be taking bold steps under the leadership of Dr Manmohan Singh.The same man who saved India in 90's when India's economy was in shambles. Now lets check out the the good side. The Il-78 (Ilyushin -78, Russian) refuelers are here, which mean that IAF can send fighters any where in the world. That is how we got to participate in USAF's advanced training course - Red Flag. That's not the only good news, we are also getting AWACS (Advanced Warning And Control System). AWACS are special aircraft with a huge RADAR on top of them (check the pic on the left). This allows forces to see far deeper and in event of war will give India the edge. The AWACS we have is an Il-76 aircraft with Phalcon RADAR (Israeli). India already operates the Ilyushin 76 heavy lift cargo aircraft and using the same means we already have a service base in India. In addition to this IAF will also procure C-130 medium lift cargo aircraft from US (Manufacturer: Lockheed Martin, USA).

This is not it. IAF had few years back signed a deal for 140 Su-30MKI (Sukhoi 30, M:Improved, K:export version, I:India) air dominance fighters, the number of which have been increased to 230 now. Its a unique aircraft because IAF bought the best airframe which was Su-30MK, got it improved to a Su 35 level, got best avionics from Israel and Europe and got them integrated.

Another good news is that IAF has inducted the hawk super sonic aircraft too (check the pic on the right). Though, currently in process, this latest induction would mean that IAF can go back to the grueling training that IAF pilots used to get. With low risks, the new pilots would be trained better.

And now finally MMRCA(Meduim Multi Role Combat Airraft) deal for 126 aircrafts is coming into reality. And the contenders are one of the best. Here is a glance:

• F-16 IN: The most advanced F-16, if ever built would be for the IAF.
• F-18 F: The highly advanced F-18 used by US Navy.
• Rafael: IAF wanted the Mirage but French Dassault came out with the best they had, the all new Rafael.
• Euro-Fighter: This is the best the Europe has (excluding Rafael) to offer.
• JAS 39 Grippen: This one from Sweden is not the best but certainly cost effective.
• MiG 35: The son of MiG29, this new age avatar is the most agile aircraft in the world.

For more on MMRCA deal you can check out this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_MRCA_competition (opens in new window)

Had enough good news? No.. then here is the dessert - after the failure of Kaveri engine for LCA, the indigenous aircraft will be fitted with a foreign engine. IAF had long been unimpressed and was afraid that Govt might force it to use ingeniously built engine. The new proven engine will make sure that this delayed aircraft is combat worthy and if hopefully approved by the IAF, it would be the first indigenous combat aircraft.

While all this coming too late for India, but thankfully, its coming. Threat from China is no more being ignored by Indian government. We still are completely depended on foreign suppliers for our defense procurement and its high time that we start building good products in India. They need not be world class but they should not be a flop show. I hope the future governments do take this up-gradation of our armed forces ahead because in this new age of nuclear war, if a war erupts, we should have our men in uniform equipped with best we can give them to take the fight to the enemy and come back winning.

 Yamaha came back to India with a bang. The bang which is now know as the R15 (R one five). 150CC, 17PS and R1 DNA, that describes R15 in a nutshell. But frankly, is the bike worth the price? I would say so. If you are looking for a sports bike, with race primarily in your mind then this is the bike for you. And quite frankly there are not much racing bikes in India anyways. The close second to this would be the Apache RTR. R15 delivers what it promises, a circuit racing bike. The tires, the posture, the engine all suited for only one purpose – racing. That is exactly why the bike has an 150 CC engine. In order to produce high RPMs essential for a racing bike, they had to make a small engine which could deliver so. To increase the efficiency of the engine they also provided with fuel injection. The delta box frame from R1 has been used in this bike too, giving great balance and bringing strength to the chassis. Don’t let the thin tires of the bike elude you. These soft compound tires might not look good but they are great on circuit.

One gun, 100 paint balls and 5 enemies -  my friends but thy shall have NO Mercy.

Back at Chandigarh with friends, we decided to play paint ball. It was me, Saahil, bandhu, Narinder, Kalia, Sanket, Enu and two others. Saahil took us off PGI route to the place. The arena was decent size with simple set up. There were trenches, sand bags, tires and wooden planks in different design placed startegically.

Me, Saahil, Bandhu and Narinder. The start was fantastic, the owner pointed the gun at a sand bag and fired 2 shots. The bag burst open. It was good enuf to scare enu. Sanket was the daring one, he asked the owner to fire one directly at him and he didnt budge a bit. That was gud enuf to give me confidence.

Narinder’s trial shot

My team was all set in khake dangris, Sanket was talking to us when Narinder pointed the gun at Sanket and bam – one shot straight at the helmet, more of a face covering than head. A long slime saliva dropped from his helmet. The ball had hit just in front of mouth and and some parts had enter his mouth when he was talking to us. His mouth, lips were swollen but he was back in the arena in 2 mins after rinsing his mouth, guts man!

Game on

Me and narinder made a team and Saahil , bandhu other. Their task was to cover us. Just like in the movies i started firing like a commando. Bandhu was out in no time. They were 5 and were moving towards and we were pinned down. Nari made a hit, but that guy refused to accept that. I made only one kill. All that hero thing didnt work.

I got number of hits and so did Narinder, but it was one fun event.

Ever since I shifted and started to stay alone, life has been a teacher for me. All alone, I have all the time to think about me and what I want to do with my life. And if one listens and looks around closely, there are a lot things one can learn from. And one of the things I am learning from is  other’s failures. I never judged people, I still don’t much; but now I have started to look into their way of thinking and start to analyze why are they where they are.

Fortunately people or incidents in my life have been teaching me lots of things. Few of them I would like to share:

1. Those who are not successful are so because they don’t know what they want. Thats why those who dream big tend to be more successful.

2. Hard work is not the mantra, smart work is. My boss asked me to write a logic in one day’s time, though it was not a one day thing. Then later on that same thing he asked to me write some other code in one day time, again it was a way too optimistic thought. Then again couple of such pieces of code. I worked hard but I knew it was not going to solve the problem. After weeks when the design team rejected the code, the work came back to me. This time fortunately my boss said – ok! just do it and finish it once and for all. One day planning and two days coding.

The code is now bug free.

3. People who are good managers tend to do better. There are no super men, but there are super managers. Every successful man is either a successful manager or has one working for him. You can’t fight the simple fact that there are 24 hrs in a day and that you do need a good 7to 8 hrs sleep every day. You have to manage your work, life, family etc in these 24 hrs only. If you do it, you are a winner.

4. Money is source of happiness. I must have mentioned it on the blog that I was never after money. I am still not but what I have realised is that money is important. I should not do wrong to get it, but if I can get it through right means, then its a great thing to have. And as my uncle says: “Those who say money doesn’t buy happiness don’t know the shop to buy it from”.

5. No point betting on a pony. No matter how much you want the pony cannot beat the horse in a race (under normal conditions). The pony is going to be a pony and horse a horse. We cannot change them and we shouldn’t expect much too.  I have to say this but my company is like the same, they are a pony and they would always be one until they change their DNA (style of working). I have spent years in that company but they still don’t realise my efforts. And there is no point continuing if they continue to do so…

6. Compromises don’t work: Thy shall not compromise. Compromises don’t work and thats a fact. And I don’t want to compromise any more. I know I can’t escape it but for most part of my life, I will not. I am where I am today because I compromised on something or the other. People might call me rude now but thats the fact. There are things I will compromise for but those would be for friends and family.

7. Give time to friends: I have not given a good time to friends, no thanks to my hectic office schedule. But I need to break this jinx. I need to go out and spend quality time with friends. What is life without friends and family?

8. Early retirement. I never thought about it but there is something like this too. If you have worked good and earned lots, its time to retire and enjoy life. But this would only happen if I earn a lot. So One should plan early and get it done.

9. Nothing beats a good plan: A good, thought out plan is hard to beat. The more planned it is, the more likely it is to survive. If you think and think through, you can work on a path for which you have done some research and this always help. Instead of waisting time on what to do when you reach a problem, spend time to choose path without a problem.

10. Successful generals are those who have a great back up plan. This I read somewhere and still have to think about. But what it states as you might conclude is an alternate plan if things start to go wrong or don’t fall at right places. If you have a back up plan, you can always switch to that. The back up plan might be different but the objective must be the same