Painful Rapture~thread2~ chp.59 ~ pg 144~3.8.12 - Page 42

they say everything has a price! well for the time being agar dene lene ki baat aa hi gayee hai toh i think i can be persuaded with a complete set of episodes of love story by anurag basu! can't find good quality😡 will not compromise with anything else ! been wanting to watch eversince i heard about it. i stopped after the 1st episode 😭. bees channel ones i tried a lng time back i don't think they are all there. so since u asked😃

Originally posted by: tahera57

they say everything has a price! well for the time being agar dene lene ki baat aa hi gayee hai toh i think i can be persuaded with a complete set of episodes of love story by anurag basu! can't find good quality😡 will not compromise with anything else ! been wanting to watch eversince i heard about it. i stopped after the 1st episode 😭. bees channel ones i tried a lng time back i don't think they are all there. so since u asked😃

tum toh sach mein len den pe aagayi, aur woh bhi a tuf bargain, must chk if its available at al, ur right many of d episodes r missg frm bees, lets see, no promises baby but 😉

aisay maukay baar baartoh nahin aatay na!😉😆😆

@ Hammie ...oh great update is on its way...cant wait for tomorrow...and although you had some work still you managed to write its incredible 👏..we our one lucky readers ... though just one update is skipped but it seems a long time... too addicted to read it every week... and this missing week made me love and miss this ff more and more ...

lo kar lo baat! pehlay sab mujhay whip detey hain crack kernay kay liyay, phir epi dedicate kara dow. aisa mat karna hammie!. major ko wapas laaney main bohat se logon ka haath hai.😃

Mishal Raheja as Major Dutta Patil

Painful Rapture ~ Chapter 46

"Sterner stuff" ..Shakespeare

Before the mirror, Dutta checked the outcome of his uniformed reflection, his dark olive green , bush shirt fitted his well toned muscular chest ,and showed off his taut neck, and broad sinewy bare arms. He fixed his rank pips and colours and peered into the mirror with a raised eye brow to brush his hair into place, and gently combed his notable contoured stubble, hum perfecto! he mused as he patted his cologne on his cheeks and around his neck. He withdrew and clasped his broad black metal buckle around his V-shaped torso. He reached out for his olive green beret with the engraved metal insignia and slanted it into place over his hand. One final look at his well formed broad hind from the side, down to his muscular legs surrounded by dark olive green trousers , held by thick burnished above the ankle laced up boots. He bent down and held his brief case and left his apartment. He held his mouth firm as he headed towards Brig. Parekh's office, hummh.. he was mustered up to embrace this day.. his last teaching session, he thought with an unspoken, feeling for he knew not precisely what he felt, all he knew was obedience to the call of duty, unbroken, unhindered no matter what! so his legs propelled him onwards as he nodded to fully uniformed Outs, headed towards their lessons, he also knew that his final lecture today would be graced by foreign visitors ,apart from the Cores designated officers ,so with almost a wilful expression, that was typical of him in challenge charged situations he arrived at his boss 's office ,jumped through the hoops of security and decorum and entered the large office, and smartly saluted. Parekh tuned to face Dutta and raised his hand towards him, as he spoke to the visitors." Gentleman this then is the lion of the military school! one of my finest officers Major Dutta Patil. Dutta gave a hint of a smile and raised an eye brow slightly under a set on shimmering eyes. "aahh Major Datta Paatell! delighted to meet you, I am Major Bradley from the British Army" ,and he shook Dutta's hand firmly.. and Parekh stepped in and introduced the older gentleman and "this is Brigadier Piggott from the British army the man in charge of Asian affairs", Dutta smiled and shook his hand as well as , Parekh beamed proudly at Dutta and addressed " Dutta these officers are on a visit to the school today , so I was wondering would you be ok with them attending your lecture?"..enquired Parekh ,as he craftily displayed to the British officers, that here tutors were consulted ,before permitting visitors to their lectures.. Dutta in complete control ,held his head up high and clasped his broad arms behind his back, parted his mouth and in a clear guttural voice ,consented with a small bow of the head "of course ,I am honoured that you should be part of the audience, and may be we can have a chat over a cup of tea".. he invited warmly. The officers nodded and looked at Parekh, who with authority proclaimed "so that's sorted then ,and if you follow me gentlemen ,I'll give you a quick walkabout of the classrooms.." he directed. Dutta saluted as the visitors left the room, and made towards his office to sift through his notes. Although he was slightly flustered , at the prospect of having overseas officers in the audience he unmuddled himself immediately ,and thought of it as yet another exercise, he nearly chided himself and questioned himself why was he agitated.. was it that he considered himself any less than them in intelligence ...he squared his shoulders ,he was born ,bred and educated in his homeland ,his motherland ,however he has turned out to be , it's his country that his has shaped and moulded him.. and today as in any challenging situation it's his country that he is representing, how we do things, how and what representation do we project through our image? how we inform and share what we know and learn what we do not!. He stood up on his feet imbibed with renewed vigour and motivation to deliver his last lesson. He collected his briefcase and confidently headed towards the lecture auditorium. As he entered , all the Outs present stood to salute him. He responded and politely looked at the visitors seated on conference chairs perched to the side of the stage.

Parekh stood up formally before the vast sea of smartly dressed Outs and introduced the young Officer as Bradley who stood up smartly in his full army attire, the Outs noted he was young, mid to late twenties, stout, medium height with mouse blonde close cropped hair and slate grey blue eyes, Rao, and Tiwari, rolled their eyes at each other, and nudged Khan, who was innocently lost in thoughts and attention as her eyes parked on her tutor. She forced her eyes to set on the young British officer but her ears only patiently waited for her Tutor's lecture. Parekh introduced the older hefty officer as Piggott, who accepted the salute and smiled briefly, he was middle aged senior officer both in rank and in age, very distinguished with close cropped salt and pepper hair and a large grey well groomed bristle moustache, Parekh marshalled the officers to their seats on the spacious stage and sat beside them ready for Dutta to begin..Dutta confidently almost ambled and came centre stage and spread his wide hands..."Welcome once again to the final session of problem solving, now as my Outs are familiar I may ,at any point in time, ask for a brief synopsis of the former session ,so any one officers? he, challenged with a slight arch of his eyebrows. Bhatnagar, stood up smartly and recapped," Sir! we largely in the previous session delved upon various implications that soldiers face in the process of decision making, we looked at how a problem solver tackles challenges", Bhatanagar reported. With approval Dutta bowed his head, and Parekh made a mental note of how to assess a tutor's teaching is predominantly to check pupil understanding of the lesson imparted. Dutta walked over to the over head projector and held the controls in his broad palm and before he instructed he parted his lips to clarify his style of teaching, "right officers in order to make this lecture interactive I encourage mid way or alongside ,any pressing queries to reiterate the trend of the issues". He pulled his mouth to one side and began, "now officers ,and respected visitors, when looking at judgement, there is a human tendency to make systematic errors in judgment, knowledge, and reasoning... now those of you who have had a smattering of psychology, you will be familiar with the term 'cognitive biases'. Such biases can result from the fact that we use mental shortcuts called 'heuristics'. Kapur raised his hand and enquired ,while others took notes " Sir ,for a soldier what could these errors be?",Dutta replied, "ok they include errors in statistical judgment, attribution, and memory...and so cognitive biases as psychology shows us, are a common outcome of human thought, and often drastically skew the reliability of evidence" he confirmed, Khan queried "Sir, can you please explain, how bias can affect a soldiers decision making process", Dutta, looked across at the speaker and responded, "some biases affect decision-making, where the desirability of options has to be..but then you also have others such as 'illusory correlation' affect..he paused and further clarified, "I mean.. judgment of how likely something is, or of whether one thing is the cause of another!, this is what you need to bear in mind", he instructed as he raised his finger and raised an eye brow keenly at the listeners, Singh, raised his hand and questioned, "Sir! apart from judgement what else is bias likely too effect, Dutta nodded, "a distinctive class of biases affects memory, such as the 'consistency bias'...which is really all about.. remembering one's past attitudes and behaviour as more similar to one's present attitudes..he explained, tilted his head slightly and continued" some biases reflect a subject's motivation; for example, the desire for a positive self-image leading to 'egocentric bias' and the avoidance of unpleasant cognitive dissonance. Other biases are due to the particular way the brain perceives, forms memories and makes judgments".. he explained, to many a note taking audience. Dutta turned his neck to observe his visitors seated on the far left of the stage, and on finding them all ears and deeply engrossed he walked towards the huge white board and scrawled in bold letters as he spoke along side in his raised guttural voice." Officers! these are some of the most common heuristics and biases:..you have the framing approach 'Framing'...so to speak.. by using a too-narrow approach and description of the situation or issue. Next ,we have the hindsight bias, sometimes called the "I-knew-it-all-along" effect, which is the inclination to see past events as being predictable", he reeled around from the board and marker in hand he stood centre stage and continued loudly, "you then have the 'fundamental attribution error'..which, officers is the tendency for people to over emphasize personality-based explanations for behaviours observed in others, while under emphasizing the role and power of situational influences on the same behaviour", he saw Khan's raised up and he prodded his head forward with a "Yes!",for her to ask, "Sir! this fundamental attribution error that you have mentioned how and when does it happen and is it consistent?",Dutta bowed his head and replied for all "let it be noted that the fundamental attribution error can operate in the reverse direction too, when we over emphasize the role and power of situational influences on ourselves and under estimate personality-based explanations!, is that clarified?"he checked, the Outs nodded in agreement and he ,held his arms behind his back and strode a little across a small space centre stage and then ,returned to the board and scrawled and lectured.. "you next have the 'confirmation bias', which is the tendency to search for, or interpret information in a way that confirms one's preconceptions; this is related to the concept of cognitive dissonance". He turned to face the officers and continued, "next comes the "self-serving bias', which is the tendency to claim more responsibility for successes than failures...now officers, it may also manifest itself as a tendency for people to evaluate ambiguous information in a way beneficial to their interests! and finally officers, here you have the 'belief bias', which is when one's evaluation of the logical strength of an argument is biased by one's belief in the truth or falsity of the conclusion!. He moved forward confidently and stood on slightly parted legs and concluded, "gentleman, ladies! these heuristics and biases that we have looked at very briefly have affected and will continue to affect military decision makers, and awareness of how they influence us is essential to anyone who would seek to improve their decision making"... he emphasised and looked around at Parekh who nodded at Dutta and he continued ," I suggest we stop for a 20 minute coffee break...and thank you all.." all officers stood in the rows of the auditorium and Dutta, looked at them briefly and walked towards the visitors as he raised his right hand for them to continue first ,and he followed behind to the coffee bar...

The coffee and tea area lay riddled with tutors and Outs , the British visitors attracted some attention due to their uniforms and obvious appearance, from the public at the visitors ,by which Dutta somewhat flared his nostrils. He made way to the queue and briefly mused as he stood ,that the first port of a person's appearance has to be the colour of the skin, eyes, hair ,certainly so if it was out of the usual. He stepped aside and turned a tad to address Bradley, "so I trust being an English man ,I suspect you'll settle for a cup of tea ,rather than a coffee Major? Dutta smiled, Bradley, nodded "for sure Major accompanied by some digestive biscuits", he responded. While Dutta looked for his obvious place, table for two, which this time appeared occupied, thus instead had to settle for a five seater round table. Bradley, whilst he made way towards the table and sat opposite Dutta, who stirred his tea, noticed that majority of the female officers casually yet visually feasted on this tall young officer. Bradley, looked around at some of the female officers and his eyes settled on Khan sitting with Tiwari and Rao..Tiwari nudged and the three officers, left their table and carried their teas over to their tutor and the visitor. Dutta looked up and was somewhat surprised to see his female officers at his table , but being chivalrous and courteous he stood up ,and Bradley stood up as well, and invited the ladies to be seated. Khan sat beside Dutta and looked up at his profile as he sipped tea from his cup. He moved his elbowed arm a little closer to himself as the nightmare of him strangling her in a spasmodic fit gravitated him towards emotions of low esteem once again,but he remembered his woman's pep talk and loosened his mouth and rotated his head completely the other way blanking her out.. "Sir we thought we might come over to greet and meet our visitor", she defended herself. Dutta sipped his tea and placed his cup of tea on the saucer, and piqued his lips raised an eyebrow and introduced, "Major Bradley, these officers are 1^st.Lieutanents, Khan, Tiwari and Rao, and if I may add they belong to my Infantry department" Dutta acted like an officer and a tutor . Bradley smiled at the officers but his eye rested on the attractive young oriental eyes high cheek boned Khan, and, he decided to be friendly, "ah officer so which area of India are you from officer?",Khan, almost taken by surprised looked up at Dutta on her side ,and he with lowered eyes stared sharply at his empty cup and nodded without looking at her ,and she replied, "me, Sir! well I am from the northern areas of the country", Bradley ,nodded and continued would that be the Kaasshmare, area,?, Khan, shook her head "no Sir, Himaachaal Pardesh" she said briefly, "very interesting officer.. and women are allowed to join the army"?he asked politely, Khan, squared her shoulders, "yes they are Sir, I am an example ,of course I understand you are going by popular bias that most of the women, are deterred from acquiring a decent education ,and pursuing a career, to some extent it may be true Sir, but things are gradually undergoing a change and women's contributions to society, other than managing homes and rearing children is coming into place, yes I do come from a conservative back ground, but have been supported by my family in going into this career path" she explained .Dutta raised an eyebrow and only just moved his head to look at her with a sense of more so pride than anything else at her simple but clear answer. Tiwari, who seemed quite impressed by Bradley ,asked, "so tell us Sir, how do you like our country so far? have you seen much in terms of sightseeing?"Bradley smiled, "well officer I haven't seen much as this is an official visit ,but of what I have seen ,it's quite different from the film Slumdog Millionaire, I mean, the images projected in the film, in my opinion were predominantly that of an underdeveloped third world state, but of the little that I have seen, I see an interesting progression by this country towards becoming ,or being a world power, of course there are issues surrounding the rich and the poor, free medical care ,free education ,and the coming to place of a social welfare system, still I note also an interesting shift towards western values, yet at the same time a hanging onto your own age old rich socio/religious / cultural values..."commented Bradley. Dutta nodded, and remarked, "I suspect, like the British, we Indians too like to hold on to our roots and our conservatism, however the trick of course Major is not to be to bogged down by it and apply adaptations, tolerance whenever necessary to maintain a balance between the rich religious and cultural diversities that make our state a secular nation," Dutta up held. Tiwari smiled and continued,!"on a lighter note do you see any similarity amongst the British and our nation Sir?", Bradley ,smiled broadly and replied, "most definitely it has to be the passion for cricket!",they all nodded and Dutta, said dryly, "well our passion in cricket stems from the legacy left by the British, and then after a pause added, "ummh ,Bradley, courtesy of the British we also have now ,polo, snooker, boxing, golf, tennis, squash, football and rugby..as part of sports enjoyed in India". The ladies sat surprised, and Bradley in slight embarrassment looked at Dutta and, enquired "so Major is cricket then India's national sport?" Dutta shook his head his eyes shifted towards Bradley and the others, "well a variety of sports is played throughout the country, like the ones handed down from you chaps , but we also have , kabbadi, phelwani which is like heavy or lightweight wrestling..but our national sport is field hockey" concluded Dutta. Dutta glanced at his watch and with a jut of his chin he bent and held his tall frame as he grabbed his brief case, "well officers best be on my way, time for 2^nd part of my lecture" he said politely, and the others watched his well turned out back as he walked away. Shortly the others too raised themselves to their feet and Bradley once again made an effort to draw Khan's attention to himself as he charmingly offered to carry her cup to the counter, Khan with demure confidence, responded, "why that's very gallant of you Sir, but it would be embarrass me to no end if my senior officer would hold my used cup" ,she smiled with slanted mysterious eyes. Bradley clearly enamoured by her beauty hovered around her, but to his dismay , she hurriedly scooted away as she glanced at her watch. Bradley stood near the tea counter, with his mouth hanging down, till he felt a firm hand on his shoulder, "you alright young chap?", it was his senior officer Brig. Piggott, his eyes peered into Bradley's almost caught in the act look, "yes Sir, ummh was just making polite conversation and showering some British chivalry!", he defended himself. Piggott, nodded his head as his eyes scaled his junior officer with a chiding expression from underneath his bushy eye brows, "well officer as long as this act of chivalry doesn't turn into a duel between that fiery officer Dutta, for I could swear she has the hot's for him, besides officer a word of warning as your senior officer, about getting too chummy with the girls.. , if I was you Major I'd go easy and lay off the ladies! wouldn't want to offend, that us foreigners chat up their women.. "reiterated Piggott to a rather put out and buffed young Bradley!

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Dutta, stood once again poised to deliver the final part of his lecture, his lion like eyes made contact with the listeners, as he parted his lips to continue, "right officers! now in every problem solving situation ,looms the issue of the problem space, in other words...the sifting through and weighing up evidence, assessing evidence at hand...hummh, now as soldiers we need to guide our thinking, there will be a variety of situations where we are faced with incomplete and ambiguous information – be it a series of feeds on the ground on Ops, or a collection of soldiers giving different versions of what happened on Saturday night in the local town". Dutta paused for a moment and raised his hand ,"now this does not mean that we will be model provided a hard and fast way of telling truth from falsehood, but officers, it does offer a means of assessing credibility that will help the decision maker arrive at a judgment. At the very least, it foregrounds what we could term 'thinking about thinking' and thus provides us with an audit trail! he instructed, but noticed lots of glazed faces in the audience ,he raised his eye brow and continued.. "ok let me clarify, and I suggest you note these points..right! he turned his tall body to scrawl... "let's first consider. Reputation...meaning that you think about the credibility of a source's claim... that which is clearly strengthened or weakened by knowledge of past performance or character...of the source that makes the claim of providing evidence, he cautioned as he raised his forefinger "however, exercise caution; although past behaviour, officers! is the best predictor of future behaviour it cannot be relied on entirely! He stopped to take questions, Kapur, raised his hand, "Sir, over the weeks here and also during our initial cadet training we are taught the importance of observation for a soldier, would you comment more about that.." Dutta impressed at Kapur's question, folded his chin and resumed his talk. "good question Kapur, so officers! let us then look at the soldiers ability to observe...but in problem solving..we need to consider when collecting evidence... did the source really see the event? for officers beware, that sources often imply to others or even believe themselves that they actually saw an event, but when questioned in depth it transpires that they did not". He walked across the stage to break the monotony before he folded his arms and raised his voice to continue, "officers, be alert! that eye witnesses provide evidence based on first-hand experience, hence be very suspicious, though, if all the eyewitness accounts are the same, since everyone sees different parts of an event, however ,officers, too much similarity in the accounts suggests collusion, intentional or unintentional" Dutta reasoned. He walked over to the board and scrawled... Vested Interests.. "now officers we need to consider what are the interests of the source in this situation? these interests can be difficult to determine and it is easy to ignore them or to jump to a cynical, and perhaps false, conclusion about them; "nevertheless, officers, he bowed his head whilst keeping an open mind,"this question does require an answer...so consider this now vested interest to lie – having a motive to lie out of self-interest; this might be for self-gain or to avoid losing something, such as a job or friend...then officers! you have vested interest to tell the truth – having a motive to tell the truth; for example, because lying might endanger the source's professional reputation or religious or moral scruples"..Dutta shifted his head and eyes slowly, and lifted his arm up to take, Subramanium's query, "Sir would a soldiers own experience and intelligence be considered useful when thinking about thinking as you put it", Dutta shifted his head in a slant, and narrowed his eyes, "it most certainly does Subramanium, expertise and experience, may I remind you is all is about having skills, experience or training that help interpret the situation correctly...such as you are having now, for officers the evidence of a relevant expert has more credibility than that of non-experts...you will all agree.. However officers it is my duty also to bring home the fact, that experts can get things wrong! so their evidence must be subject to close scrutiny by other experts and by lay people too, and I clarify that rarely should expertise be accepted uncritically and relied on without other supporting evidence", he concluded on this point. Dutta ,accepted another question from Chauhan, "Sir as soldiers would you say the issue of considering the source as a neutral part come in when weighing information," Dutta nodded, "positively we have to consider how neutral is the evidence source?, a fully neutral source ,officers has no involvement with the issue; another thing we consider is how biased is the source? Could the source be protecting a friend or blaming someone the person doesn't like for subconscious reasons? and also officers be aware that the source may be unaware of its own biases "Dutta explained, and continued "officers I would also like you to consider the last issue that of corroboration as opposed to conflict...now that is..to elucidate, would be where more than one source of evidence supports the same conclusion, or where two sources conflict with each other". With a slight downwards pull of the mouth, he stopped briefly for his officers to take in the overflow of information that was being churned out at them, and with a minor clear of his throat continued, "ok officers I am quite happy to take some more questions so feel free"!. Dutta, noticed that Khan , and a few of his outs sitting round her ,Bhatnagar ,Singh ,wore questionable expressions and he raised his eyes and voice, "yes one of you can ask the question" he ordered and much to Bradley's delight the officer Khan spoke up," Sir, in terms of thinking ,reasoning ,and problem solving would you say as soldiers we have the levy to bring in creative thinking..".Dutta was proud of her as his pupil for her width of thought process ,and his eyes almost gleamed across to her, but he shifted them gradually and folded his chin ,as he continued, "ah yes! an intelligent question officer, now..coming to creative thinking, that which is commonly thought of as something that 'creative' people do and we associate it with artists and the like... but the fact is that any problem solver needs to be able to use and draw upon creative thinking skills. This is for two reasons officers..firstly the situations you will encounter (both professionally and personally) will be unique to your experience; 'Off the shelf', 'template' solutions will often not produce the most appropriate or most effective answers. You will need to devise solutions and courses of action to suit the circumstances!... in other words, to generate novel solutions to novel situations! and that officers, requires creative thinking "he paused and then continued," and secondly, as an Army Officer there will be circumstances in which innovation and creativity will be especially relevant, particularly where you are seeking to gain an advantage over an adversary. The obvious course of action will be obvious to the adversary too". Dutta explained, Tiwari, raised her hand and asked, "Sir! is there a quick fit method we could as soldiers apply to gain creative thinking in our given situations at the front line?, Dutta responded by moving towards the large board and raised his voice ,cranked his neck and continued instruction," yes officers there are a number of techniques that can encourage us to think creatively such as, random input; problem reversal; lateral thinking; forced relationships/analogy; metaphorical thinking; unconscious problem solving; fuzzy thinking...now these officers ,I hate to tell all of you, that you need to research and use for your final assignment and submit to your own tutors, as the techniques apply to all problem solving", he threw in with a devilish smile as he heard a general groan from the Outs but ,ignored and continued his lecture, "however officers, if any of these techniques are to work, we have to understand and overcome some of the barriers to creativity and innovation...,so we need to look at factors like risk aversion, which if I may explain, that it is perfectly understandable and reasonable that aspects of military decision making exhibit an aversion to risk. With the stakes so potentially high, decisions have to be thought through carefully and the risks weighted up judiciously. In practice officers!, this can mean defaulting to the 'safe' tried and tested option. In many cases this will, indeed, be the correct course of action. However, there will be other situations where innovation and creativity should be given a chance...ok let's say once the problem-solver has analysed the evidence and is now generating a range of possible solutions. Once generated, all options are then rigorously assessed against the criteria that any solution must meet. By adopting such strategies, we can encourage and draw upon creative thinking skills while staying completely focussed on what is practical and effective" he continued. Dutta paused and scrawled and carried on in his raised voice.."another factor that needs to be considered in the application of creative thinking is ,Group Pressure..officers we all been through this in some point of our lives , it is easy to fall prey to forces of conformity and to refrain from making suggestions or developing ideas that you fear the group might disapprove of or not take seriously. The fact is that groups where conformity suppresses the generation of ideas have a tendency to produce, at best, barely adequate solutions and at worst, poor and predictable solutions...now if you consider..that 'Brainstorming' or mind mapping is commonly thought in business and other arenas to promote effective creativity. The evidence shows otherwise. The best method is for each member of the group to spend a significant time alone working on the problem and for the group to assemble to discuss the ideas that these individuals have developed", Dutta impressed, paused and came centre stage and raised his right hand, and continued, "and officers! the final factor in this segment of creative thinking is one's own Personal Disposition ! it is important to see creative thinking as something we all do, all the time, as we react to unique circumstances of our lives, and not just the preserve of 'creative people'. However, like all skills, some people are more skilled than others, so we need to work on it if we want to be the best we can be...so officers Creative thinking skills go hand in hand with other thinking skills such as 'rational thinking' skills, the sort of close critical analysis we engage in when we interrogate evidence! and 'reflective thinking' skills when we take our experience to a problem or situation and use that to predict what might happen if we make a particular decision or choose a particular course of action!. Firstly I cannot emphasize more that developing those skills should be part of your ongoing personal and professional development"...summed up Dutta, and a spontaneous unexpected sound of clapping filled the auditorium,much to Dutta's embarrassment, and he raised his palm in half approval and half protest as he continued, "ummh officers thank you for your gusto , but just to remind you that I haven't really finished yet , so I am afraid you will have to bear with me till then.." he remarked with a slight flushed face.He glanced at his outs and they rolled their eyes at each other ,for they full knew his cut humour ,which certainly kept them in line as it is with him, as far as propriety was concerned. Kadam, who was Dutta's pupil from his home territory Maharahasthra ,a quiet and timid officer asked the final question,"Sir! will you tell us in a nut shell about the strategies used in decision making", Dutta, smiled across over the rows of officers at Kadam, "and, I have to say officer , you spoke and you asked wisely too, ok then to summarize ,and I suggest you jot down these pointers and mull over them for your final assessment for the course" he ordered firmly and then carried on,"ok officers! let us finally ponder over the Decision Making Tools..you see , it can be extremely useful to see decision making as a discrete and separate phase in the problem solving process", he pressed henceforth, officers! rather than leap to the solution immediately and then 'backward engineer' evidence to support your decision, you might generate a number of options and then choose the best one. Now there are a number of different tools you can use, such as decision making trees, and various kinds of assessment tools, such as SWOT analysis i.e, where we identify each option's strengths and weaknesses, the opportunities it offers and the threats it might be prey to. There are, too, decision making matrices that can be employed. These can be very useful in that for they can; firstly, set out the process and thus create an auditable trail which can allow the decision maker to explain their decision at a later date; secondly, codify and quantify the inescapable subjectivity that will play a part in any deliberations; thirdly, bind a group of individuals in the line of duty, into a single process to which they all contribute; and lastly officers, perhaps most importantly, offer a system in which each element is paired with another and each pair is assessed using a single criterion at a time – for officers, the human mind can only make a series of single decisions. So, for example, if you were asked to choose between taking Soldier A, Soldier B or Soldier C on a mission you would be better advised to first indentify the key criteria – say marksmanship and endurance – and then consider each pair (A and B, A and C, B and C) separately against each single criterion, rather than try to assess all three on both dimensions simultaneously...clarified Dutta. He paused briefly as he walked across the stage and reversed and walked back centre stage ,raised his head and in a projected commanding voice continued, "so officers! the question is, is the 'best' option the 'right' one? of course before we ask ourselves this ,there is a final issue to consider here and in many ways it is the most important: the ethical dimension of decision making. This may I remind you is complex territory that raises as many questions as it answers. How might ethics and values be incorporated into a model of problem solving and decision making?, officers you might muse, is there a set of moral principles that we take to every situation or do we derive the most ethical solution from weighing up the rights and wrongs of specific issues at hand?...now, philosophers often set ethical dilemmas to test these questions...I would like you to consider these famous examples: a. You are travelling in a remote part of the world alone and unarmed. You stumble into a small village to find a firing squad about to execute ten children aged between 7 and 8 years. You express your horror and the commander of the firing squad offers to spare 9 children as long as you choose the one that should be executed. Do take up the offer? and if you do, how do you choose?, Dutta stopped as his eyes and head shift across the auditorium..."scenario b. A runaway train is travelling down a disused rail line. It will run into and kill 10 people who are picnicking on the line. You can prevent this by changing the course of the train to a side line. However, there are two workers on the side line who will be killed if the train is diverted. What do you do?..Dutta noticed pin drop silence as his words invoked thought patterns amongst the officers.. He finally stood tall and smart and uttered his final words, "so officers during these two sessions with me I hope they have teased more questions than answers, for surely the lessons in your individual cores, and elsewhere in the military school will, we hope, help to develop your problem solving and decision making, as Outs but, here may I remind you officers, there is much that you will need to resolve personally and wider issues that the Army needs to address collectively...issues that I leave you with.. how do we balance a use of effortful problem solving strategies with intuitive strategies?... How do we prepare men and women to cope with environmental factors – such as stress ?or the need for quick decisions? – and how will these affect their problem solving?... How do we incorporate ethics and values into problem solving and decision making?... How does personality affect an individual's problem solving style?..and finally, officers what effect do personal and organisational attitudes towards risk have on the decisions that individuals make? ..and so I end this session with food for thought that you take away...ladies and gentleman thank you for listening ..that'll be all ..session closed" Dutta said amidst a clatter of clapping and standing applause from officers . He bowed his head and Parekh and the rest of the officers walked across the stage to shake his hand and the four officers finally stood to attention centre stage. The Outs stood to attention and a resounding click of heels was heard across the auditorium and salutes exchanged between the officers .The outs stood to attention as they watched the officers gradually march towards the side steps of the stage and finally take an exit from the Auditorium.

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The four officers assembled in Parekh's office, semi informal as they sat in four Chesterfield arm chairs, the English gentleman in particular held on to their cups of tea in selected bone china tea cups. Dutta sat with his brawny legs slightly apart ,bemused as he reached out to unscrew his spring water bottle and took a sip with finesse , his fingers closed around the neck of the bottle as if he held his lady love's wrist.Both Bradley and Piggott checked Dutta with immense admiration, both for his well turned out appearance and his recent lecture. Parekh sat behind his desk as he too showered tremendous affection towards his finest officer. Piggott leaned to place his cup gingerly over the dainty saucer, and looked across to Dutta, "Major Dutta may I say that both Bradley and myself are bowled over by your flawless oratory, your subject content and most important the specific interactive style of teaching methods ,which had your pupils fully engaged throughout the rather extensive session", Dutta smiled with a twinkle in his eye and admitted," why thank you Sir , but have to say it may have been an exhaustive session also, still I gave it my best shot", "well your best shot Major was bloody good! in fact, Parekh I have no hesitation in putting forward a formal recommendation ,that is, if your high command sanction's it ,that Dutta you be allowed leave to travel on sabbatical to deliver a series of Infantry lectures in UK military schools , from the perspective of the Indian Army..seeing as India is in the Commonwealth..."Piggott, proposed. Dutta's immediate reaction, although inconspicuously, was a shift in his seat, he swallowed what the air waves conveyed to his auditory senses and his cognitive waves decoded..the proposition jarred against two words AS..Naku... he sat in complete silence and the two senior officers explained "of course the sabbatical would be based on a formalized exchange, and terms and conditions between the high commands of the two countries on military duties. "clarified Parekh. Pigott, joined in," Dutta it'll be an honour for UK, officers ,and cadets to have an insight and learn from your defined insight, of course both Parekh and myself would like you to mull the proposition over in your mind, which as we see it should come into place once your tutoring here comes to a close, what I envisage is a series of lectures perhaps in the beginning of British Summer period, June.."Piggott concluded. Dutta , regained his composure, smiled broadly, "thank you Sir! forgive me if I appear speechless, you took me off guard, yes ,I most certainly will consider your offer, as part of my own ongoing professional development, and hope that I would be able to attend some lectures myself to transfer some of your expertise back to my country.." he said warmly as he stood up like the rest of them ready to leave Parekh's office, just as he turned to leave Parekh sounded off loudly," actually officers the young man looks hard done by this new responsibility as his marriage is on the cards" Parekh jested , and Dutta lowered his eyes his stubble cheeks turned red, Bradley, walked over to Dutta and nudged his arm, "now this is interesting news 'ole boy! who's the lucky girl?, he quizzed as the two Majors saluted the two Brigadiers and left the room together... "comm'on Dutta let's garb some tea and biscuits and you can tell me about this girl of yours , Dutta pulled back his neck a tad ,as he mused inside.. tell this chap about Naku, he looked sideways at Bradley and thought..I don't think so , but he might as well join him for tea as he was a visitor to his country...they both sipped tea and..Bradley, although, British by nationality, and reserved in outlook, knew full well that he would have to initiate this bum chum conversation as he could tell by looking at the stubble clad older man , he had a certain rampart erected around him, for Dutta may appear, courteous but his narrow lion like eyes, the fix of his mouth and the slant hold of his broad head was as far removed from affability as chalk from cheese!.. "ok then Major and may I call you Dutta seeing that we are of equal rank, tell me then 'ole guy ,what's this your boss was referring too ,marriage? tell you what ? want to know is your what they call an arranged marriage? or do I dare to say that your are an ole' devil and that it is a love marriage ,come now out with it, want to know if there is a ticker behind that Sternum of yours or do you function only by the power of reason?! interrogated Bradley. Dutta, looked across with frigid eyes at this British officer, and a raw nerve throbbed in his neck and with discretion he twitched his jaw as he laid his broad bare muscular arms across the table and leaned his back against his chair and crossed his brawny uniformed legs, his eyes shifted on Bradley's face as he mused silently..kal ka baacha, PW ka sher ko lalqaar raha hai!..and he parted his lips and replied, "firstly, young man , I object to being referred to as ole' man , for I feel, I am mature , mellow and ripe ready to be picked, devoid from the taste of bitter sourness.. you can say Bradley...Iam a man for all seasons! Dutta said with a tiny good humoured wink!, and slanted his head to one side as he peered into Bradley's eyes, "now as far as my marriage is concerned yes it's arranged, meaning with family consent ,and yes it is love as well, from both sides ,so reciprocated love..he said briefly. Bradley ,smiled, "so tell me Dutta did you fall in love with her first? did you have a live in relationship ship with her? I mean tried and tested to see if it works and then considered marriage ..like I did"..he admitted. Dutta pulled his lower lip in ,lowered his eyes at the prospect of a live in and that too with Naku...how unthinkable, and next to impossible he thought ,and put the thought on the back boiler, and heard himself replying, "none of that! Bradley, I mean live in relationship, yes I fancied her, but resisted, but eventually heard the callings of my heart ,mind and soul, if a wife I have to have ! than she is the one, and live in no both of us would never consider that ,for it goes without saying that for us the sanctity of oneness that comes with the bond of marriage is lost by live ins!.Bradley looked at Dutta admiringly, and couldn't resist telling this own tale.. "well Dutta, coming from a permissive society, my marriage is within the usual norms.. met my misses in school at 16, love at first sight, live in relationship at 17, church wedding at 18, when she was expecting our first child, ..had a tough time brining food to the table, she couldn't work due to the baby..finally joined the territorial Army and worked my way up..and ohh now at the age of 25, I am a proud daddy of 6year old lad, and a three year old bonnie lass!, confided Bradley as he pulled out his wallet and showed the picture of his family..Dutta held Bradley's open wallet in his slender fingers and his eyes rested on the pictures of Bradley's children..and something within him whined.. and in haste he returned Bradley's wallet. Both officers looked at their watches and collected their belongings from the table and stood up, Dutta , smiled at Bradley ,"well Bradley, have to admit I enjoyed our little exchange of our varied lifestyles , marriage and what have you!..chuckled Dutta, Bradley held Dutta's arm and persuaded "take up the offer of the sabbatical Dutta ,come to UK! I'll give you a good time and he almost cackled, like that nautanki ..and Dutta looked at his face thinking woh salla Baji pata nehi kya kar raha ho ga .. haan UK..matalaab Baji ke bagher hummh... he cranked his neck and came out of his reverie and replied, "yep Bradley will give it a thought" ... and both left the tea rooms...

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Dutta entered his apartment, and walked over to his bedside and placed his leather brief case, he stood for a moment and stroked his stubble as he pulled his mouth down and blinked his narrow eyes a couple of times , he folded his arms and bent his fingers to unbutton his camouflaged dark olive green uniform bush shirt and slowed pulled out his long, pumped up muscular arms out of the bush shirt and threw it on the foot of the bed . He stood before the mirror his broad swollen hairy chest full view and he folded his arm and his hand encircled the middle of his chest briefly as he thought of his woman ..and the phone rang and he raised an eye brow to note the caller.. he smiled and acknowledged, her voice sang in gentle notes ..."tum ko paa hi liya maine...yoon , jaise main hoon ehsaas tera... tum ko paa hi liya.. paa hi liya maine...",he moved his head to one side and smiled at her singing ..but couldn't resist, "hummm, paa he liya tune.. ab bol kiya doon thujhe ya tu de ge mujhe ek palang thoor kiss! he said as he chuckled at her protests and his flat belly flexed, "Saab, kya ho ap? ,kya ker rahe ho ap is waqat? she demanded, he moved his lips ,"main us waqat kapre badal raha hoon ,upar se bikul nanga hoon , aur bas do second mein main n..., he replied, "bas bas! ,mujhe nehe janani is se agga ke kahani"!she giggled, and he carried on devilishly, "kyon nehi janana thujhe? ye kiya baat hoi , thujhe sab kuch pata hona chaiya mera mutalaq"..he inisisted, "nehi! she screamed, nehi mujhe sharam aati hai", Dutta cocked his head and tweaked his mouth as he heard her objections," kya Naku ek tu duniya kahan se kahan phoonche gayea hai , aur tu hai ke sharam ke chakkar mein he phunse hoi hai, bloody useless you are!" he griped, "tu le aao,koi dosri jo be sharaam ho Saab!," she back chatted, he grit his teeth and fired "haan! shortly tera Saab jar aha hai London koi besharram dhoondne... me really! really! looking forward to it , very exciting! PW ka sher, wideshi sherni ka shikar kere ga! haahahh arghhh", "Saab! Saab! kya hogayea hai ap ko? ,ap theekh tu ho?"she panicked, "nahi Naku kuch bhi theekh nehi! tera Saab saach mein bawara ho gayea hai! bas ab tu main chaala Naku !tera duniya se hoka mujaboor ,..haan par sun ..tu bas apni sharam ke purdah mein mera intazaar kerna ,meri Naku ,meri apne , mera sapnaaa"!,he lamented. Naku held her heart ..ohhh Bappa! what is the matter with him? is he drunk or what? he certainly sounds of the rails.. Dutta stood in his boxers before the dresser mirror smiling and stroking his chest waiting for her to react , and finally , she spoke," Saab, batao mujhe ap kahan ja rahe hoon , pata hai aagar maine ne AS ko batya ke ap jaise main ne sun hai ke London ja rahe hain, tu woh ap ko kabhi bhi !suna hai ap ne Kabhi bhi ap ko ekele jana dein ge! is liya main bhi apna suitcase pack karoon ge", she threatened, "hain? jahel aurat tu kadher ko chaal parthe hai sher ke pooch bun ke. Ja ja , aram se mere kurta ko gale laga ke sau ja..jaaa, sharmilee tim tim"..he teased, and she fought back, "main jaye ge ap ke saath , ap ke pooch ,nehi ap ke sherni bun ke..and she snivelled and cried and moaned and blew her nose..giving him all the signs of wanting to be loved...he softened as he climbed in bed, and pulled her chunni and lay it upon his body as he spoke to her ,"oye..baaaby kyon rooti hai my beautiful shahzadi ,here aah ja jus lie across my chest and let me see my beautiful Naku's face , hummmh love your lips baaby.. here let me kiss them ,and your moist cheeks , ahhh your body feels warm..he said as he hugged her chunni, his arms draped around her chunni across his chest... I love you baaaby, hummh, it's true I might be going to UK, to deliver a series of lectures..wanted to tell you first this time my love... think about it , maine apna jawab nehi diya hai..tu bhi sooche is bare mein, sooche shamjhe ke faisla lena hoga Dutta ko"...he said, paused and then out of the blue added, "Naku mujhe lagan ke phoran bad baacha chaiya"...and he closed his eyes as he whispered , "ja sau ja Naku tera Saab bhi aaj bahut thaka hoya hai"..Naku, sent him a silent kiss for his broad forehead.. and the call ended... to be continued~ Hamlet53...20.4.12

Precap: Naku, was chaffed to see the positive influence Sangakkarra had on her prime patient..

This UD, is without a doubt dedicated to Tahera, who smokes me out of my hiding place with her, pokes, prods, punches, pulls, pushes and threats..to which I say khabi pyar se bhi pukar liya kar...Naku, daya ,brv, warrie, tammy, tumhare awaazien bhi back ground chorus mein I can hear ,but the lead singer has to be you Tahera, with your fantastic, references ,to bribery ,butter, army/ civvi partnership...thank you all for keeping the thread alive ,when I am dead... thanks love you all xhammie

res ...

dhat teri!!... hammie😡 england mein jab drought ayay ga toh ayayga tu nay aur major ne kyon abhi se shower lena chodhr diya?...