THE ARMY IS IN SAFE HANDS.

It’s nice to be witnessing regiment level games again after all these years. As a Commanding Officer of a MP unit, after years of staff postings, I got a chance to witness the Inter Unit Kabaddi Championships.

Nothing has changed. The flags still flutter from afar pinpointing the distant arena. Smart regiment RPs indicate the way with a smash of their heels and a twist of the elbows. The SM receives you with pride to his unit. The red matting adorned with banners winds its way towards the grand stand. The same familiar glitz awaits you as everyone gets up to greet you.

There is a buzz around the ground when the teams line up to be broken by the trumpet announcing the arrival of the Commander. An announcer educates us that Kabaddi is the national game of Bangladesh and that the word itself is derived from a Tamil word meaning "holding of hands”.  The referee in starch whites asks permission to commence proceedings as we all sit to attention. With a ‘ let the games begin’ followed by a whistle a huge roar erupts. Match on.

I hear the old familiar battle cries. I belong to neither team, but I am hooked. The involvement of each and every member in the audience is so passionate. As each competitor is knocked to the ground one side goes crazy as the other groans. This is what we joined the army for. The camaraderie. The loyalty to unit. It wasn’t just seven members of the team in there but 800 of the unit. With each raider there were 800 bits of advice. The officers behind me were going hoarse screaming instructions and amazingly there were feminine voices too.

After the initial prodding one team was slowly gaining an ascendancy over the other. As their side was getting more vociferous as the other was waiting for a chance to cheer. By interval time it was getting pretty one sided and it seemed that the losing side was pretty shaken up. We were well into the second half when suddenly a lady officer, barely five feet tall ( what’s the minimum height for them?) ran out and asked the referee for a time out for the losing team.

 It was quite contrary. These huge, muddied hulks kind of peering down on this tiny thing as she coached them in dead earnest. Then they huddled, she said something and trotted back to her seat in complete confidence, mission accomplished. In the next few minutes we watched in utmost amazement as the tables turned. Now it was this units turn to get delirious as their team recovered  lost ground. Men were dancing down the sides and so were the officers. The commanding officer sat stoically, trying to remain impervious to the excitement building up, till he lost it when his team won with the final whistle. He rushed onto the ground and hugged each and every sweaty team member.

 The table drill, the prize distribution, all went off with military precision. I watched it  with pride and nostalgia. After the customary ‘jai kara’ we walked out to a sumptuous tea. Standing aside with my cup  I surveyed this next generation of officers. Quite by chance, I spotted that tiny lady officer who had performed that motivational miracle. She was dwarfed by her group of youngsters, as I went up to her. With a brief introduction I asked the question that was intriguing me all along.

 “What exactly did you tell them to change the game around so definitely”, I queried.

“oh that sir” she replied  confidently “I just told them that  if they lost any more points I was  entering the ground to fight for my unit”

That was it. Keep it simple silly. I watched in amazement at this lady officer who meant every word she said. It was time to pass on the baton. The army is in safe hands.  

Human rights are basic rights and freedoms that all people are entitled to regardless of nationality, sex, national or ethnic origin, race, religion, language, or other status. Here a place for sharing actions from all organizations supporting HR. UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations, to the end that every individual and every organ of society, keeping this Declaration constantly in mind, shall strive by teaching and education to promote respect for these rights and freedoms and by progressive measures, national and international, to secure their universal and effective recognition and observance, both among the peoples of Member States themselves and among the peoples of territories under their jurisdiction. 1.All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood. 2.Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty. 3.Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person. 4.No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms. 5.No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. 6.Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law. 7.All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of the Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination. 8.Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the competent national tribunals for acts violating the fundamental rights granted him by the constitution or by law. 9.No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile. 10.Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him. 11. 1.Everyone charged with a penal offense has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defense. 2.No one shall be held guilty of any penal offense on account of any act or omission which did not constitute a penal offense, under national or international law, at the time it was committed. Nor shall a heavier penalty be imposed than the one that was applicable at the time the penal offense was committed. 12.No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honor and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks. 13. 1.Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state. 2.Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country. 14. 1.Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution. 2.This right may not be invoked in the case of prosecutions genuinely arising from non-political crimes or from acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations. 15. 1.Everyone has the right to a nationality. 2.No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality. 16. 1.Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution. 2.Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses. 3.The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State. 17. 1.Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others. 2.No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property. 18.Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance. 19.Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression: this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers. 20. 1.Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association. 2.No one may be compelled to belong to an association. 21. 1.Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives. 2.Everyone has the right of equal access to public service in his country. 3.The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures. 22.Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security and is entitled to realization, through national effort and international co- operation and in accordance with the organization and resources of each State, of the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity and the free development of his personality. 23. 1.Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favorable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment. 2.Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work. 3.Everyone who works has the right to just and favorable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection. 4.Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests. 24.Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay. 25. 1.Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control. 2.Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection. 26. 1.Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit. 2.Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace. 3.Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children. 27. 1.Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits. 2.Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author. 28.Everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration can be fully realized. 29. 1.Everyone has duties to the community in which alone the free and full development of his personality is possible. 2.In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society. 3.These rights and freedoms may in no case be exercised contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations. 30.Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State, group or person any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth herein.