Armed forces lose a passionate soul, media a friend in need

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(Photos: Basani Satheesh KUmar a.k.a. Skyman)

Chennai\Bengaluru, April 22: Ministry of Defence (MoD) lost one of the most vibrant Public Relation Officers (PRO) following the demise of Natesan Andavan, who handled the operations in Chennai. 

Andavan was admitted to the intensive care unit of Sundaram Medical Foundation in Chennai after he was first hit by an auto rickshaw and later run over by a two-wheeler on Monday evening. 

The incident happened while he was crossing the Poonamallee High Road in Purasawalkam after a routine medical check-up on Monday. He was on a life support system for the last two days. 

Natesan (52) is survived by his wife Joy Andavan, News Editor with All India Radio, son Benjoy (MBA student) and daughter Catherine (engineering student). The funeral is scheduled on Tuesday morning at his native Perumuchi village, near Arakkonam, in Tamil Nadu. 

Caught the attention of the media at very short time 

Andavan joined MoD’s Department of Public Relations (DPR) in 2009 and won the hearts of the media within no time. 

“I knew him very closely for the last five years. He always helped us to get insight into many defence stories. He also went the extra mile to educate the media on defence matters. He was always available to us and never gave any excuses,” says Dennis S Jesudasan, Special Correspondent, The Hindu, Chennai. 

“At the end of the day, Andavan knew the deadline pressures of the media,” says Dennis, who has Space and Defence beats under his belt. 

Echoing the same sentiments of Dennis was S Anandan, Special Correspondent (Defence) with The Hindu, Kochi. 

“He was very fine human being and very helpful. He was with me during the naval Exercise MILAN in the Andamans a couple of years back. He was the polite face of MoD’s PR set up, yet effective. He exactly knew the needs of the media and had a very gentle way of executing his work,” says Anandan. 

According to S Anil, Chief of Bureau, The New Indian Express, Thiruvananthapuram, Andavan was a matured soul. 

“His interest in Journalism was immense and he did a Defence Correspondents’ Course (DCC) with us in 2009. I saw a very simple soul in him and he was very enthusiastic in learning new areas of interest. His sudden demise is a huge loss to the media fraternity,” says Anil. 

He made an impact, says Manohar Parrikar 

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar was among the early birds to mourn the death of Andavan on Monday. 

Expressing shock and grief at the untimely demise Andavan, Parrikar said Andavan was a professional communicator who excelled in every aspect of journalism and public relations. 

“He made a definite impact among the media fraternity. My heart goes out to the bereaved family at this critical moment in their lives,” Parikkar said. 

MoD Spokesperson Sitanshu Kar said Andavan was a amiable personality with an abiding interest in defence related issues. 

“He was a great colleague who was very quiet and profound as well. He was extremely meticulous in his job. He turned around the Chennai zone into one of the most active PR hubs for MoD. We had some concerns with the Chennai office before he took over in 2009. But Andvan restored the image of DPR within short time,” Kar told OneIndia over the phone from Delhi. 

According to Group Capt T K Singha, Chief PRO (Defence), Kolkata, Andavan was a very endearing person, unassuming but very keen to learn defence matters. 

“He was a great team mate. Even journalists from Kolkata who met him at Port Blair for Exercise MILAN are shocked to hear of his sad passing away. MoD will surely miss his services,” says Singha, former Spokesperson of Indian Air Force and a prolific writer. 

“In Andvan’s demise, the Armed Forces lost a very passionate soul,” adds Singha. 

MoD sharpshooter ‘Skyman Satish’ is orphaned now 

Basani Satish Kumar a.k.a Skyman, a senior photo officer with MoD, said that he is orphaned with the demise of Andavan. 

Satish, one of the most-sought-after photographers of MoD, had been working with Andavan for the last five years. 

“He always did his homework before dealing with the media. He always wanted to be abreast of the happenings in Indian armed forces. He was a great football fan as well and life will be different for all us from now on,” says Satish. 

The Regional PRO Office of MOD in Chennai is situated inside the Secretariat Complex. 

Madhu Nair, an active official with the Regional PRO Office in Bengaluru said that Andavan always took the media into confidence while handling sensitive issues. “It was a great learning curve for all of us whenever we had opportunity to work with him,” says Madhu. 

FDAJB mourns the demise of a helping soul 

The Forum of Defence and Aerospace Journalists, Bengaluru (FDAJB), an active network of media personnel, condoled the sudden demise of Andavan. 

“It will be difficult for MoD to replace Andavan. His passion levels, keenness to help journalists and down-to-earth nature made him different from other PROs. His short tenure in Bengaluru (holding additional charge) gave an opportunity to the forum members to see his working style from close quarters. He will be missed,” FDAJB said in a statement. 

Andavan played a key role during the visit of some of FDAJB members to the Tri-Service Command in Andamans in 2010. 

“He was a very upright officer and very accommodating person. He was not the typical uptight defence PRO. His interactions were always with the aim of keeping the relationship alive rather than for the sake of a story,” says Chethan Kumar, Principal Correspondent, The Times of India, Bengaluru. 

You will be missed Natesan Andavan! 

Your work will definitely inspire many Defence PROs of tomorrow. 

R.I.P.

(This obit first appeared on OneIndia)

Naval musicians orchestrate musical odyssey

By Gp Capt Tarun Kumar Singha, CPRO (Defence)

Kolkata: Marking the end of Navy Day celebrations this year, a 50 sailor-musician band of the Indian Navy’s Eastern Naval Command (ENC) – the single largest symphonic band in the country – played out at the National Library Auditorium in Kolkata on Thursday (December 8), an ensemble of music whose range was as diverse as the countries, continents and cultures they bridge as ambassadors of goodwill during their sojourns across oceans.

From military tunes to classical ballet, waltz to overtures, hymns, fusion, tributes to the ‘King of Pop’ Michael Jackson and the venerable ‘Joker’ Raju made famous by Raj Kapoor in his classic film ‘Mera Naam Joker’ to a medley of the official marches of the Army, Navy and Air Force - the band’s repertoire regaled with their superb renditions of varied musical scores.

Conducting the concert to an audience comprising among others the Chief Justice of Kolkata High Court, Justice Jainarayan Patel as the chief guest, ENC Chief of Staff, Vice Admiral Sunil Lanba and other dignitaries from the armed forces and the civilian gentry was Principal Conductor, Lieutenant Commander Vijay D’Cruz whose grandfather, late Ernest Saldanha, an excellent violinist and percussionist of his times, had citizenry of Kolkata also swing to his band – Swing Timers – regularly in the 1960s.

“Fanfare” incorporating Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay’s “Vande Mataram” played out by trumpets, bass instruments and accompanied by percussion heralded the start of the hour-long performance separated with only a brief interlude in the middle.

Next, quick-march music “Blue Field” with a strong regular rhythm, capable of casting a hypnotic spell on marching soldiers, widely used in the 16^th and 17^th century wars to lead soldiers in closed ranks then filled the auditorium air setting the tempo for the band playing bass and woodwind instruments, considered integral accompaniments of military bands.

Fleeting easily into the graceful rhythm of waltz and history, celebrating the symbolic ‘toast of friendship’ by the Austrian Emperor Franz Josef during his historic visit to the German Emperor Kaiser Wilhelm II, the band performed Conway Brown’s arrangement of “The Emperor Waltz” composed by Johann Strauss in 1889.

It is said that when “Il Barbiere di Siviglia” also famously known as “The Barber of Seville”, an overture (instrumental introduction ahead of an opera performance) by Giochino Rossini was first played out in 1816, it proved to be a disaster with several on-stage accidents. But on Thursday evening, more than 200-years later, the sailor-musicians rendered the classical piece with aplomb eliciting thunderous applause from the audience.

“Western classical pieces are very demanding,” says Lt Cdr D’Cruz. “They also demand high amount of precision and synchronization,” he adds. But for the motley mix of musicians, some of whom who have embraced the demanding western classical pieces after joining the navy, the transition to the classical western mould is a result of the discipline and dedication imbibed as uniformed personnel, D’Cruz says, and it showed in their performance.

“It’s an amazing experience,” remarked Mrs Bev Perreira, an accomplished western classical musician herself from Kolkata and a radio and television host, who compeered the musical evening. Bev’s explanations of the classical renditions before each performance proved immensely helpful in grasping the nuances of the classics of Bach, Beethoven and Brahms as the cast played out scores such as Johannes Brahms’ classic “Hungarian Dance No.5.”

For many others like Anil Mukherjee, Chief Executive of a popular city club at Tollygunge, the Naval Symphonic concert is a ‘must-attend’ event in their annual calendar. An avid western classical listener, the Mukherjee couple enjoys attending such concerts, which according to Lt Cdr D’Cruz are only performed by the symphonic orchestra bands of the Army, Navy and Air Force today in India.

But it was not all western classic as the talented musicians showed their innate skills in a rarely seen Indian classical percussion instrument, lesser heard still, the ‘Jal tarang’ creating musical notes out of ‘waves of water’ from porcelain cups. Mahatma Gandhiji’s favourite hymn “Vaishnava Janato” by 15^th century Gujarati poet Narsinh Mehta wafted into the air as musician Amit Kumar Gautam deftly hit the cups with a pair of wooden sticks on their edges. The score was conducted by Chief Petty Officer Musician Johnson Vincent.

Other lilting scores played out included a fusion musical piece “Dashing Desh” with variations in tempo and rhythm. Unfolding a variation and introducing it for the first-time ever at any armed forces concert, Chief Petty Officer Musician Vijayraj conducted the famous Raj Kapoor song “Jeena yahan marna yahan” with Amit Gautam on the accordion making a showman-style entry into the auditorium.

Yet another movie-theme “Lara’s Theme”, perhaps one of the most recognizable movie themes ever written by Composer Maurice Jarre for the film “Doctor Zhivago” to which lyrics was later added by singer Connie Francis to create the popular song “Somewhere my love” was crooned by Leading Musician Bidya Sagar.

More variation unfolded as a musical-medley tribute was also played out by the military band to the ‘King of Pop’ Michael Joseph Jackson, recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the most successful entertainer of all times.

Aptly the performance ended with popular military number “John Brown’s Body” and a tri-service medley of the songs of the three services. While the former is a marching song popular during the American civil war arising out of the folk hymn traditions of the camp meeting movement of the 19^th century the latter infuses and inspires Indian soldiers in contemporary times.

The concert is held every year in the month of December during the navy week celebrations. For those who missed out this year, symphonic orchestras of the armed forces often play out in the city on other occasions. But just in case they don’t come around soon enough, the next Navy Day is just a year away.

It may be also mentioned that the Indian Naval Band was first commissioned in 1945 with strength of 50 musicians. Today, the number of musicians has increased to approximately 450 who are spread over 14 bands across the country.

The Naval Symphonic band has performed in ensemble with reputed bands at prestigious international events while on goodwill visits abroad. The sailor-musicians have played at concerts in Australia, Russia, Cuba, USA, UK, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and China.

Don't Say Goodbye! IAF PRO's son composes a soulful song as a tribute to Tsunami victims in Japan

Sankalp Singha

Video Courtesy: www.agraththeband.com
The above video 'Don't Say Goodbye' is a tribute to the victims of Tsunami, that hit Japan this year. The song is composed by Sankalp Singha, a budding music composer and son of Gp Capt T.K. Singha, IAF PRO, New Delhi. You can also listen to Sankalp's other compositions at www.agraththeband.com. 

(Posted by GSK on behalf of Tarmak007. Limited updates on the blog.)