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225: Knowing Nanak

May GURU fill your life with Eternal Joy & Happiness.

 

Guru Nanak ji was born as Nanak on 15 April 1469. He is the founder of Sikhism and is the first of the ten Sikh Gurus. His birth is celebrated worldwide as Guru Nanak.

 

Nanak is said to have travelled far and wide across Asia teaching people the message of ik onkar (ੴ, ‘one God’), who dwells in every one of his creations and constitutes the eternal Truth. With this concept, he set up a unique spiritual, social, and political platform based on equality, fraternal love, goodness, and virtue.

 

Nanak’s words are registered in the form of 974 poetic hymns, or shabda, in the holy text of Sikhism, the Guru Granth Sahib.

 

The significance of his teachings was to trust in your good Karma and one higher power. One of the most essential Guru Nanak dev Ji teachings is his belief in brotherhood and equality.

 

Some of his teachings are as follows:-

  • One supreme reality- Ek Onkar. Ek Onkar, in literal terms, means ‘God is One.’ At a very young age, Guru Nanak Ji challenged societal rules and laws. And when he formed Sikhism, he emphasized One God.

 

  • No discrimination. One of the most essential Guru Nanak dev Ji teachings is his belief in brotherhood and equality. He considered everyone equals irrespective of colour, caste, gender, status, religion, or rank. His two pupils were Bhai Mardana and Bhai Bala, who Guru Nanak addressed as ‘Bhai’ like his true brothers and not by their caste or race.

 

  • Reject five sins ‘Panj Vikar’. Guru Nanak Dev Ji talked about the five evils that resided in the human body and mind. And he taught us to reject these five evils or thieves as they derelict us from our duties and weaken us. The five sins are Kam(lust), Krodh(Anger), Lobh(greed), Moh(attachment), and Ahankar(Ego).

 

  • Kirat Karo- Work Honestly. Kirat Karo means to work honestly, which is one of the most important pillars of Sikhism. Throughout his life, Guru Nanak Ji propagated that all humans need to earn their daily living through honest means and use their talents and skills to live an honest life.

 

  • Vand Shhako- Share and Consume. Guru Nanak Dev Ji believed that those who were capable should take responsibility for the needy. He taught us the significance of sharing and how the world could become a better place if people engage in activities meant for the betterment of society.

 

  • Sewa- Selfless Service. Guru Nanak Dev Ji firmly always believed and practised selfless service. He thought that one could achieve true contentment only through engaging in completely selfless acts.

 

  • Kindness and compassion. Guru Nanak Dev Ji truly believed that only kindness and compassion could positively influence and change the whole world. By his actions, he proved his strong belief in the idea that every person of this world, no matter how evil, deserves kindness from his other fellow creatures and that can change a person for good. 

 

  • Every life has a purpose to fulfil. Guru Nanak Dev Ji believed that God had a clear goal behind world creation. Therefore, all the dilemmas in your life can turn into something productive if you look at the world this way.

 

  • Stand against oppression. Guru Nanak Dev Ji taught all of us a lesson of inner strength. He said one should always raise their voice against the wrong and and that’s when the change begins.

 

  • Respect Women. Guru Nanak Dev Ji has always stood for the rights of women. In one of his earlier verses, he demanded an equal place for women in society by saying, ”why to disrespect the one who gives birth to the majestic kings of the world”. 

 

Bottom Line

Most of his teachings point toward one word

TOLERANCE.

 

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223: Lesser Known Facts: 1971 War

Pic Courtesy: Defence xp

The Indo-Pak war of 1971 was a defining moment in the history of the subcontinent, resulting in Bangladesh becoming independent. This established the progress of the Indian Armed Forces including the Army, Air Force and Navy. The war started on 3 December 1971, when the struggle for independence was going on in East Pakistan. The war ended 13 days later on 16 December with the surrender of the Pakistani Army (93,000 POWs). 

 

Role of Kilo Flight in 1971 War

 

Pic Courtesy: Colours of glory

  • Kilo Flight is the code name for the Mukti Bahini combat aviation formation during the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971.

 

  • It consisted of one DHC-3 Otter plane and one Alouette III helicopter.

 

  • These ac carried rocket pods and machine guns for launching hit-and-run attacks on Pakistani targets, and one DC-3 Dakota for logistical missions.

 

  • 9 Bengali pilots and 58 ex PAF personnel formed the unit under the command of Group Captain A. K. Khandker in September 1971.

 

  • The aircraft were supplied by Indian Authorities and the formation was led by Squadron Leader Sultan Mahmud under the operational control of IAF base Jorhat.

 

  • The unit started training in October 1971 at Dimapur in Nagaland, and this unit was the first to launch airstrikes on Pakistani targets in East Pakistan on December 4, 1971, by attacking oil depots at Narayanganj and Chittagong.

 

  • In total the unit flew 90 sorties and 40 combat missions between December 4 and 16, 1971. After the war it formed the core of the nascent Bangladesh Air Force.

 

Breakdown of POWs of 1971 War

 

Pic Courtesy: Bharat Rakshak

India took approximately 93,000 prisoners of war that included Pakistani soldiers as well as some of their East Pakistani collaborators.

 

  • 79,676 of these prisoners were uniformed personnel.
  • 55,692 were Army.
  • 16,354 Paramilitary.
  • 5,296 Police.
  • 1000 Navy.
  • 800 Pakistan Air Force.
  • Remaining 13,324 prisoners were civilians – either family members of the military personnel or Bihari Razarkars.

 

Tibetan Heroes of the 1971 War

 

The highly trained Special Frontier Force (SFF), played an important role along with the Mukti Bahini, in the 1971 War.

SFF was founded in November 1962. It was also known as ‘Establishment 22’ or simply ‘Two-twos’.

In 1971, the Tibetan force was selected to conduct guerrilla warfare. The terrain was a paradise for guerilla warfare. Forests and hills, rivers, streams and lakes made many areas inaccessible. Yet there was fish and fowl in abundance to keep a guerilla force functioning independently.

In February 1971, the SFF had already started infiltrating Bangladesh along with the Mukti Bahini. It was probably for reconnaissance only initialy.

The Mukti Bahini was very good at making guerrilla plans and at guerrilla tactics. SFF were responsible to support the Mukti Bahini and provide reinforcement to them as and when required.

The SFF played a crucial role in the war.

Incidentally, the force had only one helicopter. The pilot, Sqn Ldr Parvez Rustomji Jamasji, had to carry out all the duties, para-dropping over the battle sites, rations and ammunition dropping, rescue operations, etc — a feat in itself for which the young pilot was awarded Vir Chakra.

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References

https://www.bharat-rakshak.com/IAF/history/1971war/1403-arun-karandikar.html#gsc.tab=0

https://www.thedailystar.net/news/bangladesh/news/operation-kilo-flight-story-valour-2158326

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prisoners_of_war_during_the_Indo-Pakistani_War_of_1971

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222: Hypersonic Long Range Weapons

Pic Courtesy: France 24

Emerging class of missile technologies include manoeuvrable vehicles that carry warheads through the atmosphere at more than five times the speed of sound. Hypersonic glide vehicles (HGVs), like all weapons delivered by medium and longer range rocket boosters, can travel at speeds of at least Mach 5, or about 1 mile per second. The key difference between missiles armed with HGVs and missiles armed with ballistic re-entry vehicles (i.e., those that travel on a ballistic trajectory throughout their flight) is not their speed, but their ability to manoeuvre and change course after they are released from their rocket boosters. Hypersonic weapons can be classified into two distinct categories:

  • Hypersonic cruise missiles. These operate much like typical sub-sonic and supersonic cruise missiles (using air-breathing engines to power themselves through the atmosphere) but fly at higher speeds. They cannot match the speeds or ranges achievable by boost-glide vehicles.

Pic Courtesy: PTs IAS Academy

  • Hypersonic boost-glide Vehicles. They are accelerated to extremely high velocities on rocket boosters similar to those used to launch ballistic missiles. They then proceed to glide, unpowered, through the upper atmosphere until reaching their target.

 

Pic Courtesy: Union of Concerned scientists

The flight of hypersonic boost-glide vehicle is divided into six stages: boost, ballistic, re-entry, pull-up, glide, and terminal phases. In the boost phase, a rocket booster accelerates the missile carrying the hypersonic vehicle until the booster exhausts its fuel, at which point it detaches from the glide vehicle and falls back to Earth. In the ballistic phase, the vehicle travels above the atmosphere on a ballistic trajectory under only the influence of gravity. Both of these phases are comparable to a ballistic missile launch. Hypersonic trajectories diverge from those of ballistic missiles in the re-entry and pull-up phases. Here, the vehicle pierces the upper atmosphere, then slows its descent to enter a stable glide trajectory. In the glide phase, the vehicle generates aerodynamic lift to sustain near-level flight. Finally, in the terminal phase, the glider dives toward its target.

 

These weapons outperform existing missiles in terms of delivery time and evasion of early warning systems. Their flight characteristics are distinct from those of typical ballistic missiles, which spend most of flight above the atmosphere and are capable of only limited manoeuvrability, and from those of subsonic or supersonic cruise missiles, which travel through the atmosphere but fly more slowly.

 

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