Blandings Halwara
If Tezpur
was good fun, Halwara was a fiefdom.
The Overlord was Gp Capt NC Chatrath, VRC. He would drive
in in truly majestic fashion, reaching his office at 0900 hrs on the dot. He
would pack up at 1000 hrs on the dot. The station ran beautifully. He actually
believed in de-centralisation and not just
lip-service, much in vogue today. He was a passionate Bridge player, with his wife Pam
as his partner. His instructions on the subject were explicit . Two more offrs were required to
form the quorum; these two were Flt Lt Driver and myself. A Fg Offr Shome was
on standby. Our COs had been ordered to ensure
that we flew two sorties by 1000 hrs. 1100 hrs onwards was Bridge time. For
those who have read PG Wodehouse, he was Lord Emsworth personified. I won’t
disclose the name of “The EMPRESS of
Blandings.”
The Sqn Adjt, one Flt Lt Guni Sehgal was
quite a bum, despised by all. He was subjected to a blanket parade one evening,
as he came out of the swimming pool. He went from bad to worse thereafter,
pushing junior offrs around. At that point in time, we were unaware of the ‘goings
on’. A Court of inquiry was in progress, presided over by a Sqn Ldr, the Terms
of Reference of which required identification of Offrs who had consorted with a
promiscuous 16 yr old servant’s daughter. Revelations showed that many Sqn Ldrs
were involved, requiring a change of
Presiding Officer. One Wg Cdr was implicated and the Inquiry was finally
conducted by old Pop Wadhawan, who
himself had 10 children, 8 of whom were adopted. He was very simple and popular
and somehow extricated the entire lot of sinners, who contributed 200 bucks
each to the welfare of the servant concerned.
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