Indian Air Force

Bimla Goulatia got her doctor’s degree (MBBS) from Government Medical College, Amritsar, and then joined the Indian government's Employees' State Insurance Corporation, India (ESIC). She rose to the rank of Director in their Headquarter at Delhi when She took voluntary retirement from this organisation.

Editor's note: Mr. M. P. V. Shenoi has facilitated the writing and publication of this story.

Like many Hindus who were living in West Punjab at the time of partition of India in 1947, my parents had crossed over to truncated East Punjab, losing most our assets. My father had been rehabilitated as a professor in the Government College, Hoshiarpur. With the help of some friends in Pakistan, he had been able to bring back some family assets. Ed. note: her story of the family's move is available here and her brother's story is available here.

Tapas Sen was born in Kolkata (1934), and brought up in what now constitutes Bangladesh. He migrated to India in 1948, and joined the National Defence Academy in January 1950. He was commissioned as a fighter pilot into the Indian Air Force on 1 April 1953, from where he retired in 1986 in the rank of an Air Commodore. He now leads an active life, travelling widely and writing occasionally.

Editor's note: This is a slightly modified version of article that originally appeared on Air Commodore Sen's blog TKS' Tales. It is reproduced here with the author's permission.

Passing the written test

In 1949, my first concern was getting selected for the Inter Services Wing of the Armed Forces Academy (ISW/AFA)

The syllabus for the examination, conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) for entry into the ISW/AFA was limited\; a total of three papers, one each on English, Mathematics and General Knowledge / Current Affairs.

Tapas Sen was born in Kolkata (1934), and brought up in what now constitutes Bangladesh. He migrated to India in 1948, and joined the National Defence Academy in January 1950. He was commissioned as a fighter pilot into the Indian Air Force on 1 April 1953, from where he retired in 1986 in the rank of an Air Commodore. He now leads an active life, travelling widely and writing occasionally.

Editor's note: This is an edited version of a set of articles that originally appeared on Air Commodore Sen's blog TKS' Tales. It is reproduced here with the author's permission.

Reaching Halwara Air Force Station: 02 December 1971

In October 1971, I was an Indian Air Force Wing Commander, Directing Staff at the Defence Services Staff College (DSSC), Wellington.

Tapas Sen was born in Kolkata (1934), and brought up in what now constitutes Bangladesh. He migrated to India in 1948, and joined the National Defence Academy in January 1950. He was commissioned as a fighter pilot into the Indian Air Force on 1 April 1953, from where he retired in 1986 in the rank of an Air Commodore. He now leads an active life, travelling widely and writing occasionally.

Editor's note: This is Part 2 of an edited version of a set of articles that originally appeared on Air Commodore Sen's blog TKS' Tales. It is reproduced here with the author's permission. Part 1 is available here.

03-04 December 1971

Unknown to us, at that moment, the balloon had gone up. At 1740 hrs on the evening of Friday 03 December 1971, Pakistan Air Force mounted a raid on Srinagar airfield. Attacks on other airfields followed. The war of 1971 had started.

Salil Dutt, born 11^th August 1949, lives in Jaipur with his wife Suman. Their son Ashish is a financial analyst and their daughter Anuradha, a Clinical Psychologist. Salil's father, Wing Commander Mayukha Kanti Dutt (1915-1998) was born at Sreepur, Kharandip, Chittagong. Salil's mother, Biva Dutt (1924-2003) was born and brought up in Rangoon. She too hailed from Sadarghat, Chittagong.  Salil has four siblings. He graduated from St John's College Agra, and retired in 2009 as Vice President, Tata's Indian Hotels Co. Ltd. His interests are sports\; music, particularly Jazz, Classical and fusion\; reading, writing on travel &amp\; hospitality. He is a food buff.

Sitting under the winter morning sun in our terrace at Jaipur, overlooking the not too distant low-lying hills of the Aravalli range, I indulge myself in one of the most de-stressing activities that I had not done in a long time - shelling green peas. It is quite meditative, and I dare add, therapeutic. It effortlessly empties the accumulated clutter in the mind. During my childhood in Gurgaon in the 1950's and "Dilli" later, it was a favourite winter afternoon activity. Green peas were one of my favourite vegetables, tasty to the core. It made for some of the most popular Indian dishes anywhere - aloo mutter (peas and small potatoes), gobi mutter (cauliflower and green peas), and paneer mutter (cottage cheese cubes and peas), to name a few..