Wednesday, September 9, 2015

Memory of Visiting the Artillery Centre at Nashik Road

The Arty Centre

As a bachelor I was posted to Artillery Centre at Nashik Road. I was part of the Air Force element of the helicopter units attached to the Artillery Centre. The Artillery centre in Nashik Road is over a 125 years old and was set up by the British Indian army to train gunners. Earlier it was a British cantonment and was much liked by the English soldiers. At one time it also housed the Staff College. It is in short the home of the Artillery which remains one of the most important arms of the Indian army. The Artillery centre also has its own airfield from which Air Observation Posts take off to help direct gun fire on the enemy. Presently the AOP's are equipped with the Chetak Mark II helicopters, which are a derivative of the French Allouettechoppers.

The artillery centre trains recruits to handle and fire guns. It has long ranges that are used for long range firing practice and that includes heavy guns like the 155 mm cannons. The latest radar controlled guns and rockets fired from launchersare also tested here. In fact when as part of the staff college team we came to Nashik , the commandant organized a live firing demonstration of rockets on to the distant hills, some 10 miles away.

The Mini Museum

The officers mess has a mini musem and is decorated with wall paintings that bring out the history of the Arty regiments of the Indian arrmy. Over a period of time some of the paintings need a touch up and I hope some experts can be drafted for the same. The paintings show Sikh gunners and later I learnt that during the days of the Raj, the Sikhs and Punjabi Muslims were preferred for these arty regiments.The paintings are all by British painters who were with the artillery regiments

The artillery centre is part of folklore of the Indian army and and traces a long history. It is very well kept and worth a visit. Civilian visitors can also visit after taking permission from the Commandant. .Nashik Road can be easily reached by rail from Mumbai and lies on the Mumbai- Nagpur/ Allahabad route.

Lastly, I remember dances at the Temple Hills club with a lovely Anglo Girl who was a teacher at St Barnes High School as well as long rides with her on my Enfield through the mountains of the Ghats.

Both photos of paintings in Officers Mess are uploaded by me
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Tuesday, September 1, 2015

Seekyt Goes Off the Deep End on Payment -- Unfair to Writers


I know this PWG blog is defunct, but since I posted here several times about Seekyt, I have to report the admin has made a decision about payment I not only disagree with, but it has made my previous articles false advertising.

Seekyt has now hit upon the terrible and unfair idea of rewarding their top 10-20 (or 30 depending on how you read the past couple of correspondences) for the revenue on ALL their articles. That means if, like me, you are taking a hiatus from writing to pursue much more lucrative work, rather than me earning my residuals or ad sales from my hard work, someone else will get paid.

As soon as I have time (whenever that will be because business is booming!) I plan to move my entire Seekyt library to my own blog or to Examiner if appropriate, but in the meantime I hope Seekyt changes this terrible and unfair policy. I enjoyed writing for them in the past, but giving my earnings -- no matter how large or small -- to someone else is certainly a deal breaker. I believe their referral program is also dead in the water.

Make up your own mind if you followed me to Seekyt, but be aware of the changes there and make an informed decision.

Best wishes and happy writing!

Related:
Earning Money Writing for Seekyt.com
Earning Money Writing for Seekyt.com 
Referrals: Another Reason I Like Writing for Seekyt
Earning Money Writing for Examiner.com 

Thank you for reading and thank you for sharing the link to this article with others. This article is © Kathryn Darden, all rights reserved,  and is not available to repost on websites, blogs, discussion boards, Facebook, or to translate and post elsewhere without written permission.

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