Perceptions from the Golden Jubilee Reunion at IMA

Am forwarding the following perceptions written by an officer from our course. It is well worth a read.
I've learned that you can keep going long after you can't. Have Wonderful and Happy Days Ahead….
Brig VA Subramanyam (Retd)

Hullo All,
We, the passing-out Course of autumn term 1960, celebrated the Golden Jubilee of our commissioning from the Indian Military Academy, Dehradun on the 14th and 15th of this month. Amidst the back-slapping display of reuniting camaraderie there were three touching events.
First, the solemn wreath laying ceremony at the Academy’s War Memorial where we observed a two minute silence twice – one, for all those who having passed through the portals of the Academy, laid down their lives for the Nation; next, for our course-mates who made the ultimate sacrifice while fighting the enemy.
The second ceremony was the singing of the Academy song in the Auditorium by the Gentlemen Cadets when we all stood to attention charged with patriotic fervour; the song has drawn inspiration from Bankim Chatterjee’s Vande Mataram and is composed in the words of Javed Akhtar with emphasis on the soldier’s commitment to fight for Mother India.
The third was the ceremony during the Course Dinner in which we presented the Commandant with a silver bust of Capt Vikram Batra who was awarded the Param Vir Chakra posthumously for his supreme gallantry in the Kargil war; the Commandant assured us that the bust would be displayed prominently in the Gentleman Cadet’s Mess which has also been named after Capt Vikram Batra.
The Chetwode Hall of the country’s ‘safety and honour first’ fame had on display Gen Niazi’s pistol – symbol of his surrender of all Pakistani troops in erstwhile East Pakistan to Indian Forces. For two days we were transported to a different India untainted by corruption. It is an atmosphere that pervades the Military Academies and the Army’s fighting regiments and battalions where it is an honour and duty to fight for Mother India and give of oneself for her sustenance to the last drop of blood if need be.
Thereafter we are back to the other India where Money, to meet the demands of insatiable greed, is desired beyond one’s needs to keep body and soul happily together. The businessman-bureaucrat-politician-criminal nexus is sucking the Nation dry and has roped in the other elements of Society like the Police, Media and Judiciary and most importantly, the common man. Conversely, one may propose that it is the common man in India, who with his readiness to offer and receive bribes, created and supported this ugly nexus.
It is a time for serious concern, for now, even some in the Military’s top leadership seem to have been infected by the virus of insatiable greed. Officers and men in regiments and battalions offer their unconditional faith and trust to their senior commanders; when that faith and trust are betrayed they shall not fight to the finish. If that happens, India will be doomed. It is time for the common Indian to rise above his greed.
Regards – Suresh