Bharat Rakshak - 20th Anniversary

Rakesh · Post by **Rakesh** » 17 Oct 2016 22:16

As we all know BR officially celebrates 20 years next year – 01 July 2017 to be exact.

We should have an event to commemorate the date in 2017 (does not have to be on the exact date), something along the lines of a mega meet. We have all spent considerable time and energy on the site and forum and this post is just my initial thoughts on a date that we should not just let pass by. Now since BRFites are on all continents, it will not be possible to host mega meets in all these places. BRFites are welcome to hold their own meets as & when they feel - just as they have done in the past.

But back on to the mega meet. I was thinking (just my thoughts - fully open to amendment) of the following;

1) Host location should be in India for obvious reasons. This is Bharat Rakshak and I see no better way of hosting an event of this type anywhere else other than in the country we all love. My goodness that sounds so melodramatic!

2) To tie in with the first point, hosting it in India will allow us to invite respected guests to the event like retired military personnel (which has happened in previous BR meets).

3) To tie in with the second point, this meet should not be like other meets where it is a free for all discussion. This should be professionally managed. So what I mean by that is there should be a defined set of speakers (for example like BR's own think tank - Ramanaji - someone of that caliber) to talk on pre-determined topics (all BRFites should vote on what topics would like to be discussed). Free for all discussion can then be held in groups or as a whole after. There should be moderators - just like on the forum - to request invitees to not interrupt the speaker, if that happens.

4) The event should be hosted at a good venue WITH food. Not some roadside dhaba. Yes, that involves money and I will be the first to contribute. Whether you attend the event or not, if you can financially contribute, please do so. There is no minimum. Contribute whatever you can. But more on the logistics of this later. Let's not count chickens before they hatch or whatever that saying is.

5) If you are able to attend the event, please do so. Nothing worse than having a meet of this kind - and if esteemed guests show up and there is no one there. So for that - before esteemed guests are invited - we would need a confirmed head count of people. For that we need a confirmed venue. Too many variables, but just thinking out loud. We need an event planner

, which I am not.

These are just my initials thoughts. But all of you should post in this thread. All of you make Bharat Rakshak. Post away! If you like the idea or don't like the idea. Or you have a better idea. Just post.

Rakesh · Post by **Rakesh** » 17 Oct 2016 22:30

Just some more thoughts.

The moderator(s) are like MCs. They will provide an intro, welcome everyone and set the pace of discussion for the evening (afternoon, morning).

Kakarat · Post by **Kakarat** » 17 Oct 2016 22:45

Fantastic, Hope to attend and will do all I can to support this event

Please consider making commemorative coins to mark this important event, made based on per-order

Marten · Post by **Marten** » 17 Oct 2016 22:53

We should consider Tees, caps, bumper stickers, and other branded apparel as well. Considering Aero India will be coming up in Feb, there will be quite some activity around that time on the forum. Perhaps a rerun of BRF stall? Would be nice to see Jagan saar and the other giants of BRF.
PS: Hon Admirals must first foot the bills for sub sized mithais.

Rakesh · Post by **Rakesh** » 17 Oct 2016 22:59

guys, please ensure that your provide input on the points above. If you don't like something I have said, please say it. Perhaps everything I said above is nonsense or perhaps I have not thought of something and you have a better idea. And add your own points as well. Commemorative coins, tees, caps, bumper stickers are all great ideas. But they involve money. Now you are being like the IAF when it comes to the Tejas

The initial RFP is for venue meet/location and the logistics around it. Mithai will be there, just not 8,000 tons of it!

SwamyG · Post by **SwamyG** » 17 Oct 2016 23:05

A wonderful idea, and good luck !!!

Please aim for the sky, try to get Ajit Doval as a speaker

Maybe we will end up with his son (no disrespect to Shaurya Doval). I know he is the NSA and does not have the time, but I see him still on speaking assignments.

ragupta · Post by **ragupta** » 17 Oct 2016 23:08

Congratulations!
Enjoyed being part of BR for most of these years. Attended some of the get together. Cannot find some of the pics taken 18 years ago.

Bottom line, BR satisfies my need for information on India's Growth story (Military,technical, economical and others)
Grateful to all those who kept it running for all these years and best wishes for future.

Rakesh · Post by **Rakesh** » 17 Oct 2016 23:12

Okay, different course of action.

1) Is this doable? Yes or No?
2) If yes, we need an event planner. Know anyone in hotel management - in India - that you can ask?

The rest will only fall in place if an event planner gets back to us with a venue and the costs associated with it. We have to take it from there. Just my thoughts.

My location choice is Bangalore for obvious reasons (loads of BRFites, India's silicon valley for our aviation industry, lots of retired military personnel). Bangalore is also easily accessible by every imaginable form of transport for anyone in India (or abroad) who would like to attend.

Kakarat · Post by **Kakarat** » 17 Oct 2016 23:29

I think yes, Its doable

Even for me the first choice would be Bangalore though I don't live there

Will check if I know any event planner, in the meantime I would suggest you start a poll to find out how many will attend with 'Will attend', 'Maybe' & 'will not attend' as options.

Rakesh · Post by **Rakesh** » 17 Oct 2016 23:31

Fantastic idea Kakarat. How do I start a poll?

Can you do it? the poll should have yes or no on the idea itself and a tentative time period. Feb 2017 (Aero India for example) or July 2017 or Oct 2017 or whatever.

Shivji, your input on this is very important. Give me the blunt talk please.

Rakesh · Post by **Rakesh** » 17 Oct 2016 23:36

my vote on time period is during Aero India 2017 (http://www.aeroindia.in). It is being held on 14 - 18 February 2017. Does not have to be in that week itself. Perhaps a week earlier or after.

skaranam · Post by **skaranam** » 17 Oct 2016 23:42

Let us conduct in a place which can contribute to the development of the place. Just like Modi holding Police conferences in different parts of the country other than delhi..

Rakesh · Post by **Rakesh** » 17 Oct 2016 23:48

Our Prime Minister can afford to do that. He is the Prime Minister. I don't see how we could do it a rural area (I am assuming that is what you mean) in India with high attendance. Accessible transportation is the key to this being a success in terms of head count.

Atmavik · Post by **Atmavik** » 17 Oct 2016 23:48

its a great opportunity for people like me to pay some Gurudakshina.

may i suggest Think Tank style Presentations with Q/A sessions. and please upload the Videos to Youtube.

Kakarat · Post by **Kakarat** » 18 Oct 2016 00:00

It would be better to have the poll in thread itself, which I will not be able to ( Mods can help). I don't think any BR Fite would be against this event

Either it has to be held along with Aero India or in July and I think on the date BR started 20 years ago will be best. If held during Aero India it should be a day before or after and not a week, since it would be difficult for people coming from outside (arranging stay, leave, travel etc.) as many might plane for Aero India

@skaranam

I think we don't have anything to contribute to the development of the place. These type of events are best held at places which are easily accessible for our members as its not a public event.

Gus · Post by **Gus** » 18 Oct 2016 00:37

Great idea. Marten's idea of merchandise can help offset some costs. Even if not, the awareness increase in gen public will be worth it.

G.D.Bakshi can be a speaker. Get a media person too, to get some free coverage.

ranjan.rao · Post by **ranjan.rao** » 18 Oct 2016 01:06

I didnt know BRF is 20 years old....
A very good idea,
1. We may also invite people from our indigenous programs, while having big shots like Dr Kota Harinarayana, Avinash Chander etc. will be great but we may also invite other people who are not that famous.
2. As for merchandise, again indigenous products e.g. Tejas, Arihant, Akash, Arjun etc.

Again my 2 kaudi...

Gyan · Post by **Gyan** » 18 Oct 2016 01:58

Time really flies fast. I am on this forum for now 18 years.

Rakesh · Post by **Rakesh** » 18 Oct 2016 04:40

Can one of the admin please make this a poll?

nirav · Post by **nirav** » 18 Oct 2016 04:53

I was going to suggest Mumbai as a venue, but I guess I'd be outnumbered by bengaluru-eans

Rss got chaddis, BRFatas must have jingo topis or something

Rakesh · Post by **Rakesh** » 18 Oct 2016 06:14

I mis-understood what Marten and Kakarat said wrt to mementos and apparel. My apologies to you both.

Admins...how do you make this a poll? Come on yaar...help a fellow SDRE

krisna · Post by **krisna** » 18 Oct 2016 08:15

Great . have learnt so much from BRF that I named my son after India's first nuc submarine with SHQ surprisingly and graciously accepting the name

I am due to visit Bengaluru kerala in july with family.
If held anyother time may not be able to make it.

Anyway paisa from my side is guaranteed.

Rupesh · Post by **Rupesh** » 18 Oct 2016 09:23

I'm in if the meeting will be held near Mumbai.We need land, Air and Sea connectivity.

Its not acceptable for The Admiral saar to hold such a meeting away from the sea

shiv · Post by **shiv** » 18 Oct 2016 09:52

Rakesh wrote:my vote on time period is during Aero India 2017 (http://www.aeroindia.in). It is being held on 14 - 18 February 2017. Does not have to be in that week itself. Perhaps a week earlier or after.

Rakesh if you want I will locate an old video of you being interviewed on BRs 5th or 10th anniversary. I think you must be having grandchidren by now - you can show it to them

Kakarat · Post by **Kakarat** » 18 Oct 2016 15:10

Rakesh wrote:I mis-understood what Marten and Kakarat said wrt to mementos and apparel. My apologies to you both.

Admins...how do you make this a poll? Come on yaar...help a fellow SDRE

Sir, No apologies needed

shiv · Post by **shiv** » 18 Oct 2016 17:08

Rakesh wrote:Fantastic idea Kakarat. How do I start a poll? Can you do it? the poll should have yes or no on the idea itself and a tentative time period. Feb 2017 (Aero India for example) or July 2017 or Oct 2017 or whatever.

Shivji, your input on this is very important. Give me the blunt talk please.

OK just saw this. I would be happy to help with a meet in Bengaluru before during or after Aero India. During the show has some obvious advantages and some disadvantages (see below). Also many young BRFites come only for the public days (usually Saturday and Sunday) and

Let me just state some issues that have come up in previous meets

1. Most senior/retired people whom we may want to meet tend to be very busy during aero India meet and not all of them can actually come, so before or after sounds good. Inviting them is best done by people who know them. I have managed to collect a fair group in the past but people like Kapil (Kaps), Jagan and Sanjay Simha have been crucial in picking up people and bringing them

2. In general I have begun to prefer my own place as a venue. Cheapest and easiest to to arrange a meet. Space is there

3. We originally started with traditional "evening meets" with drinks and all. There are three issues here.

a.Cost: Non drinkers end up paying a lot more and young students who may have travelled all the way to Bengaluru may be stressed unnecessarily
b. Timing: Bengaluru is no longer what it used to be and although I live close to the center people who come for a meet may have to travel a long distance - taking over an hour to get to the venue and getting back is a pain for some especially if we start and end late
c. We have had some meets as late afternoon/evening meets + light snacks which have turned out pretty successful. Those who want alcohol can bring something for themselves and to share a bit.

A meet on Friday/Saturday/Sunday - later afternoon/evening may be the best compromise.

Just stating from earlier experiences..

Rakesh · Post by **Rakesh** » 18 Oct 2016 20:48

Shiv i will reply to your post in a bit. Thanks for posting!

I am waiting for the admins to make this into a poll.

KJo · Post by **KJo** » 18 Oct 2016 21:40

I think once the location is decided, the next step is to identify a kore kommittee who resides in that location. Looks like BLR has been selected so the folks have to be there. There can be a secondary group from outside BLR. Unless this group is identified and they meet regularly virtual or in person, this will not move forward.

Can someone post some pictures of the BR stall from Aero India?

GShankar · Post by **GShankar** » 18 Oct 2016 21:46

OT: Can there be a synchronized meet-up in unkil-bhoomi as well?

shiv · Post by **shiv** » 18 Oct 2016 21:47

~~U Rekha~~ er I mean Eureka! I found that Year 2000 TV (Channel V) interview of Adm Rakesh on the 3rd anniversary of BR. Looks like I should re-release it on the 20th anniversary!

Nowadays video rendering is so easy that no one knows the backward somersaults that were needed back then. Video was recorded on Videotape and I played it through a card that would grab a small 2x3 inch window of video. Converting 1 minute of video into a format like mpg or avi used to take 30. minutes. For videos longer than 2-3 minutes I used to leave the computer on overnight on my new Multimedia machine - Intel Pentium I, 100 MHz processor with 4 MB RAM and 100 MB hard disk.

ranjan.rao · Post by **ranjan.rao** » 19 Oct 2016 00:44

GShankar wrote:OT: Can there be a synchronized meet-up in unkil-bhoomi as well?

Perhaps skype or hangouts to have video chat for aam abduls...

Rakesh · Post by **Rakesh** » 19 Oct 2016 06:51

How do you contact a forum moderator from here? Cause no one is responding to change this into a poll.

shiv · Post by **shiv** » 19 Oct 2016 07:05

Rakesh wrote:How do you contact a forum moderator from here? Cause no one is responding to change this into a poll.

Rakesh - just start a new thread with a poll. We can cross post other posts there.

rohitvats · Post by **rohitvats** » 19 Oct 2016 10:15

Great idea. And good head start.

I'll be willing to work-out the logistics for NCR Meet. We can have a couple of guys based in NCR coordinate the whole stuff. There are many NCR based senior ex-Servicemen. Lt. General Katoch and Hasnain come to mind.

We need to have serious topics of discussion/presentation for inviting senior people.

partha · Post by **partha** » 19 Oct 2016 12:10

Posted on the wrong thread -

How about inviting a prominent person to be a guest poster for a few hours answering questions of members? Like an AMA but on topics relevant to the forum.

What I meant was inviting the person to the forum online.

Sachin · Post by **Sachin** » 19 Oct 2016 14:06

Totally agree with this idea. And can chip in what ever way possible. Agree with shiv on the logistics night mare we have at Bangalore these days. If the function is to be held during Aero India time, would it be better idea to scout for a place near Yelahanka? I mean some where folks can come after viewing the event, attend the BR meet and then go back to the city?

Lilo · Post by **Lilo** » 19 Oct 2016 14:10

partha wrote:Posted on the wrong thread -

How about inviting a prominent person to be a guest poster for a few hours answering questions of members? Like an AMA but on topics relevant to the forum.
What I meant was inviting the person to the forum online.

^
Great idea Partha ji,
Yes,someone long retired - a strategic eggspurt in the mold of BRAWman sir and one who is most likely to speak freely & frankly.

Admins can curate a collection of questions from BRF members & the guest can answer them in the most frank manner if he is in the know regarding that matter.

My couple of questions
1)Who transferred nukes to Pak, whats their status - the extent of involvement of Massa in this transfer & its culpability as per suspicions of Indian establishment ?
2)What happened during emergency ? answer in context of power play b/w the two superpowers in India's constitutional institutions - around a small para's worth or more.

Another way to do this is to get a bunch of experts answering the questions they want to answer -pick and choose - so two or three different answers for the same question can come up - the eggspurts can even be anonymous as per their wish - just revealing their past held position vaguely .
Only thing we expect from them is total frankness .

jamwal · Post by **jamwal** » 19 Oct 2016 16:11

rohitvats wrote:Great idea. And good head start.

I'll be willing to work-out the logistics for NCR Meet. We can have a couple of guys based in NCR coordinate the whole stuff. There are many NCR based senior ex-Servicemen. Lt. General Katoch and Hasnain come to mind.

We need to have serious topics of discussion/presentation for inviting senior people.

Excellent idea. It will be impossible for me to visit Bangalore in Feb. Some place close will be great.

SajeevJino · Post by **SajeevJino** » 19 Oct 2016 21:19

Great to hear that event, hope soon we will fix a date for the meet, love to meet all BRF peoples

Rakesh wrote: 1) Host location should be in India for obvious reasons. This is Bharat Rakshak and I see no better way of hosting an event of this type anywhere else other than in the country we all love. My goodness that sounds so melodramatic!

I love to be there somewhere in Kashmir or Tawang, Hope we will arrange this meet in either one of the Place, Others also can suggest any good location

VishalJ · Post by **VishalJ** » 20 Oct 2016 14:07

shiv wrote:Let me just state some issues that have come up in previous meets

2. In general I have begun to prefer my own place as a venue. Cheapest and easiest to to arrange a meet. Space is there

a. Cost: Non drinkers end up paying a lot more and may be stressed unnecessarily
c. Those who want alcohol can bring something for themselves and to share a bit.

Shiv, great suggestions. Sorry I couldn't make it for the last one at your place.

So, Aero India dates are:

18th February is Saturday, so a good attending majority can stay back hopefully for the weekend.

We can have the jashn either on:

Feb 13th
Feb 18th evening or
Feb 19th afternoon onwards.

Pls try planning around these dates as arguably the highest number of us mujahideens are expected to be around for the Aero Jirga.

If its not possible in Feb then Mumbai please

One word of advice/caution for some of the folks wanting to visit Aero India (for the first time) - DO NOT bother to attend the show on the last 2 public days. Its nothing short of mayhem. Its hell basically & best avoided. The ones wanting to walk around without being jostled rather pay a little and choose the biz visitor days. However, if all you want to do is see & shoot the aerial displays then any spot, any day is good.