deployment of the PLA Navy ships in the - Information Resource ...

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the Himalayas as the WPS decided to propriate the
Shivaliks for the early commissioning of Shivalik !!! A
trekking expedition was organised to Pindari Glacier
by WOT(MB) under the aegis of WNC from 03 to 14
Apr 09. The Pindari glacier is situated in the Kumaon
ranges in Uttarakhand at an altitude of 3600 m above
sea level. The glacier gives birth to the Pindari river
which ultimately joins the mighty and holy Ganges.
The trek to Pindari was a lifetime experience for all the
team members especially for the ladies and children.
The tough conditions of heavy snowfall close to the
zero point made the expedition even more
adventurous and memorable.
With the fantastic memories of the Pindhari
Glacier refusing to go away, we continued our tryst
with the Himalayas, organizing a trekking expedition
to Gaumukh Glacier from 25 Sep – 04 Oct 09 to
inculcate the spirit of adventure, team spirit and
camaraderie. 22 personnel, including 13 Officers
(including one MNS lady Officer), 06 ladies and 02
children took part in the trekking expedition to
Gaumukh Glacier and Tapovan, which left a deep
sense of accomplishment and achievement in the
hearts and minds of team members of having
attempted and successfully reached almost half the
altitude (4550 meters) of Mount Everest, braving the
sub-zero temperatures and hostile conditions. During
the expedition the participants took part in all the
activities with a high level of josh and energy. The grit,
perseverance, self-confidence, positive attitude, team
spirit, stamina and will power shown by the officers
and families participating in the expedition under the
most testing and extreme conditions was highly
commendable.
On the occasion of the 49th Anniversary of the
unit, a trekking expedition was organized to Kondane
caves at Karjat (100 Kms from Colaba) for WOT (MB)
officers, sailors and civilians alongwith their families on
08 Aug 09 to promote adventurism, team spirit and
developing a sense of concern for the environment.
The Kondane caves are the smallest (but interesting)
Buddhist caves excavated in the western face of a high
hill overlook¬ing the stream of Ulhas River.
The adventure of the year were rounded off by
a two day trek to Sapta Sringi for all personnel and
families of the unit in end December. The bonhomie
observed during the trek was truly an eye opener.
Wars are indeed won on the trekking paths of our
great country.
Note : Very early into the year 2010, we already
had one wet excursion to a water park, with all
families. Plus when the Mumbai Marathon rolled
around in Jan 2010, one would have expected the
overseers to be having a well deserved Sunday
morning sleep. But no !! Four officers volunteered on
their own to get up early in the morning and go
running all over Mumbai, for fun !!! One of them (Cdr
PV George) even ran the Full Marathon, this a week
after joining. Just shows how quickly he got into the
groove of the unit.
One more adventure activity is planned before
the end of the Year, this time in tandem with MDL in
order to improve the teamwork with the Yard’s officers.
Thereafter, let’s see what the rest of the year has in store
for us in terms of adventure, considering our Golden
Jubilee is approaching. Que Sera Sera. Whatever will
be, will be.
Conclusion
The overseeing activities were not willing to take
a backseat to the extra-curricular activities. Basin trials,
CSTs, drydocking and FMT of Yard 617 continued
relentlessly, with Cdr Pradeep Kumar (now
Capt.)piloting the whole show, with assistance from
Cdrs J Prakash, Ashish Saxena, A Vinith, S Ganeshan
and PD Giri The launching of Yard 702 (Kochi) was
flawless due to the professionalism of Cdr PR Kulkarni
(now Capt.) and his team of LCdrs Nagendra and
Hariharan. Work progressed on all six warships being
built at MDL, with no quarter being asked for by the
Overseers, and no quarter given by the WPS. The
delivery of two (of the five) water barges being built at
Surat took place, one with a Nil defect D448. Along
the way, by sheer grit and perseverance of the
Weapons team, we created history of sorts by
progressing Part IV trials of Yard 617 (Shivalik) to such
an extent that they threatened to get over before Part
III trials !!! That would have definitely been a first, and
only one of the many firsts achieved in the past year.
All these overseeing activities jostled for attention
with treks, technical papers, book reviews, workshops
and monsoon lectures. But no work suffered. All
reports and returns, letters and faxes, inspections and
visits were still made on time i.e. as of ‘yesterday’ in line
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