My friend the Navy

My friend the Navy

TOI dated 31 January 2016

Those who lived in the old town of Vizag in the 1950s to 1970s had an emotional link to the Navy. Many of us lived on or very near the beach road of the old town long before the entire beach front was taken up by the Outer Harbour project. From our sea facing balcony we would see the naval vessels steam in and out of the harbour and watching those grey vessels against our blue seas was a treat. Those who studied in St. Aloysius would be drawn away from the teacher and blackboard to gaze at these wonderful vessels bristling with guns. Where were they coming from, where were they going? What were the navy men doing on board? Our fertile minds created an aura around these men in white. We dreamt of lands far away and the life in the navy. Many youngsters wanted to make a career in the navy when they grew up. The navy had a profound impression on our young minds.

Of fishing and navy ship watching

During the long summer vacations we used to go fishing from the jetties on the channel, we carried a can of slimy live worms which we dug out in the morning, a catgut fishing line and hooks procured from Iqbal’s shop in Kota Veedhi (Fort Lane). A steel nut served as a sink, a piece of wood was our float and a thin cane or bamboo stick was our high tech fishing rod. The salty smell of the sea, the seagulls careening overhead and the throbbing engines of the merchant and naval ship as they sailed through the channel was a heady mix. We gazed in awe at the naval ship, with their decks lined with those wonderful smart men in white as yet another fish got away with the worm on the hook.

Coastal battery

The navy was very much a part of our life. To the North of old town Vizag was the Naval Coastal Battery. To get across the naval battery and go further north to where the RK beach now is one had to cross across the Jalarpeta slums by road. Alternatively if we were adventurous enough we could hop from rock to rock in front of the coastal battery till we came to KGH down on the beach side. For the uninitiated the coastal battery was not an electricity storage device but an area filled with huge guns pointing out to sea. They would test their guns firing tracer bullets over the sea. It was exciting to hear the boom…boom…boom of those guns and see the tracer bullets describe an orange arc over the sea. We would sit on the beach and watch the spectacle with excitement. During the 1965 and 1971 wars the air raid sirens would be sounded and as the city became dark the sky would be lit up with hundreds of the tracers.

The little boat to the boxing ring

The times were different and the people of Vizag and their navy in Vizag had an easy relationship. During the navy boxing tournaments groups of kids would take a walk from the old town beach road to the port jetty and catch a navy boat to the naval base. We would just walk into the base and take our seats alongside the boxing ring and witness bout after bout of top notch navy boxers from all over India. Late in the night the navy ran boats for all of us to ferry us back across the harbour to the port jetty from where we would walk home still tingling with the joy of watching an exciting evening of boxing.

The kings of hockey

The hockey tournament held every year in the 1960s and 1970s at the Gymkhana Club now occupied by offices inside the port area was a wonderful large ground surrounded by small and elegant naval green and white buildings. Every year there was a clash between the best hockey teams of Vizag. For several years in a row the finalists would be the Navy versus Caltex (now HPCL). The grounds were crowded and the atmosphere was electric. The matches were very tough owing to the equal strength of both teams. Some years the Navy won and in other years Caltex won. All of Vizag’s sports loving public shouted themselves hoarse cheering their favourite team.

Getting to first base

Those days the way to the INS Circars, as the naval base was referred to, was through the Sappers Bridge – a narrow wood and steel bridge. Young boys and girls used to cycle to the base to meet their school mates and at times to see the Naval ships that were tied to their moorings at the base. The Navy had the only decent swimming pool in Vizag where youngsters could drop a name and go in for a swim. My old timer friend Frank Borthwick comments that in those days a commanding Officer of the INS Circars was in the Rank of Commander unlike now when the Navy glitters with Vice Admirals and Rear Admirals. Life was simple then and there was not much restriction in entering the Naval Base as long as you had friends serving in the Navy.

Here comes the ball

Vizag’s annual highlight in the 1960s was the famous Navy Ball. We would iron our jackets and shine our boots days before the ball. Ladies dressed in their best and Navy officers dressed in their elegant uniforms were all there as were aspiring teenage heroes and heroines from old town. Frank reminds that emceeing these dances were some of the greats, to name a few, late Capt. Roy Milan, Commander Rehan Subhan , Lieutenant Udhay Bhaskar now retired as a Commodore and seen on TV as a defence analyst. If you had a naval connection, relatives or friends you had easy access to the ball. There was an understanding between the Elite clubs of Visakhapatnam and the Navy, wherein for Dances or any other events, the Officers came into town and the Civilians use to go to the base.

Still our navy, still our pride

Things have changed now. With India’s place in the world getting more central the Indian navy has grown enormously. Its duties and area of operations has become vast. This week Vizag will be in the spotlight as we host the International Fleet Review. While one part of us feels proud to be the epicentre of the naval world, albeit for a week, we also feel a twinge of nostalgia. It’s like losing a long-time friend to stardom. The easy relationship is gone and we can only admire from afar. Yet this formidable force is still Vizag’s own, and when we say that we are from Vizag, the headquarters of the Eastern Naval Command a glow of pride passes through us. Enjoy the IFR.