Although we learnt about the Both Watches (BW) during the Water Baby camps, we actively started attending Both Watches as cadets on board INS Delhi from July 1974. The BW is a morning fall-in at which the entire ship’s company musters, usually at the ship’s quarter deck and is then detailed off for the day’s work. The cadets’ BW was held on the starboard side of the quarter deck. Usually the training coordinator (TC) presided, and the training Master Chief Petty Officer reported to the TC. The ship’s company BW was held on the quarter deck pretty close to ours and at the same time, so we did get to see the proceedings. The muster was usually reported by the Master Chief Bosun Mate to the First Lieutenant in port and to the dreaded Commander when the ship was at sea.
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Some arm badges of the IN sailors of different trades
After the exchange of salutes and the reports, at ease order followed. After that began the process of detailing work to the ship’s company. Almost invariably the first order that went out was ‘Topasses carry-on’. Our youthful inquisitiveness got the better of us because the seamen sailors who usually mustered by forecastle, top and quarterdeck divisions received detailed instructions and frequently changed orders. Sometimes they had to chip so & so deck, on other occasions boats’ maintenance or sponging out of the guns and so forth. What was it that made the topasses so special that they needed no instructions, and their work remained the same round the year and the order they received invariably was ‘Topasses carry-on’. With the passage of time, we gained insight into the ship’s working and acquainted ourselves with the ratings’ job specs and voila we had our answer.
The topasses are uniformed naval sailors who are recruited as sanitary hygienists. During battle stations they form the ammunition supply-chain and assist as stretcher orderlies. Most of the topasses that I saw on board the ships were multi-talented. Some of them were excellent hockey or Kabaddi players, others played musical instruments to professional standards and yet some excelled in drama and were mimics par excellence. I did come across one whose conjuring tricks could keep the ship’s company mesmerised for hours on end.
I joined the Krishna for obtaining my watchkeeping certificate in 1976. The Krishna was a constituent of the Number 1 Training Squadron and was the midshipmen training ship. At the time the ship had the midshipmen of an NDA course some numbers junior to us as well as their NAVAC equivalent. Shortly after I joined the ship, the welfare officer organised a ship’s picnic. The officers and sailors on essential duties stayed onboard and the others boarded the bus that was to take us to a nearby resort town. Since the rows of seats in the front that had been left for the officers had filled in, I moved aft. The aisle seat of a two-seater was vacant, and I plonked on it. The sailor in plain clothes occupying the other seat stiffened somewhat. I may have been mistaken but several sailors in adjacent seats exchanged incredulous looks. Appadurai Topass 2 (Appa) was one of the topasses on board and was the only topass permitted to attend the picnic. The silent discrimination that these sailors faced was clearly evident in that no other sailor had shared the seat that Appa had occupied.
Appa was extremely hardworking and on hundred percent sincere although he wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed. Like most topasses he was also multi-talented. On board the IN ships there are separate cooks and galleys for the officers and the sailors. The officers’ cooks (Cook Ó’) and the sailors cooks (Cook ‘S’) are trained differently and acquire expertise in different cuisines. The officers’ galley team on board the Krishna was very prone to seasickness. At the first roll or pitch of the ship the Chief Cook and his deputy would take to their bunk. Rather than have them introduce some undesirable ingredients into the wardroom menu the mess secretary tended to let them be till the sea conditions improved. On such occasions with the Ex-O’s permission, he would recruit the services of Appa for the officers’ galley. Most officers quite looked forward to such interludes, for no cook made the rassam quite as lip smacking good as did Appa. With him in the galley there followed a parade of crispy palak pakodas, appetisingly golden aloo tikkis and an endless chain of masala tea. Such was Appa’s culinary skills that there came a time when several wardroom members would pray for the inclement weather conditions to continue so that the Chief Cook and his deputy would continue to warm their bunks.
Shenoys theatre, Cochin was the flagship project of its eponymous family and was inaugurated with much fanfare by President Sh. VV Giri in 1969. Tucked discreetly to its side and approached through a narrow alley is a 240-seat theatre called Little Shenoys. Parallel cinema was all the rage in the 1970s. Since this cinema appealed to a limited audience, to Little Shenoys went the credit of bringing it to Cochin. Many a junior and not so junior naval officer enjoyed movies such as Ankur, Nishant and Trikal in Little Shenoys. Directorial names such as Girish Karnad, Govind Nihalini and Syam Benegal became overnight sensation.
To obtain their promotion the IN sailors are required to sit an educational test. Appa on his divisional officer’s prodding decided to try his luck too. On the due date the junior sailors’ dining hall of the ship became the examination hall. The naval instructor officers are colloquially called schoolies. The ship’s schoolie, a much wannabe, puffed up with self-importance went around seeing the arrangements and pulling up the Master Chief Bosu’n Mate for some minor infringement or the other. Sub Lt RK Mittal was duly detailed off to be an invigilator. A small portion of the question paper was devoted to general knowledge. About twenty minutes into the exam the schoolie felt the urgent need to visit the heads, I assumed to attend to some de-ballasting operations. Appa felt that all the rassam and pakoras he had fed me entitled him to seek a little help. On receiving a pleading look from him I went across to where he was seated. He whispered, “Sahab, West Bengaal to hum nuun maloom hai parr yeah sallaa Shyam Bengaal kya cheez howai?” I am not at all sure whether Appa passed the exam or not, but he did get the answer to one general knowledge question absolutely right.
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Shenoys Theatre Cochin
One morning when the Krishna was in port, I dropped in at the cabin of the logistics officer (LOGO) for progressing the audit of a non-public fund of which we were board members. The LOGO however appeared to be extremely busy. The stores Master Chief PO, who was the divisional chief, had marched up Appa to the divisional officer as a request-man. The request being: ‘change of branch’. The official matters in the navy are taken up through Request-men and Defaulters through the chain of command. If a sailor wants to opt for a course, he puts in a request through his divisional chief to see the divisional officer. Likewise, if a sailor overstays his annual leave he is placed on defaulter by the officer of the day after due investigation. The LOGO pointed me to the corner couch as he dealt with the sailor’s request. It transpired that Appa had observed minutely the newly joined midshipmen on board the ship. He saw that the young midshipmen were always dressed in sparkling white uniforms, that they did precious little other than attend a few classes and some practical demonstrations. They dined on sumptuous meals in the gunroom. It hadn’t escaped his sharp eye that there were nineteen midshipmen on board. He therefore had put in a request for change of branch to ‘midshipman branch’. During the request-man I heard Appa plead with the divisional officer, “Sahab suna hai ship parr aaik midshipman ka vacancy bhi hai”. The LOGO’s finesse in tackling the matter belied his rustic origins. With infinite patience and with extreme tact he explained to Appa the recruitment process of naval officers and how cadets become midshipmen and so forth. The LOGO’s sensitivity, delicate perceptions and persuasive power were absolutely magnificent. He convinced Appa that such a request was not doable, and Appa continued with his routine duties as diligently as he did all other that he was ordered to do. While the matter was deemed closed the unfairness of this practice no doubt continued to rankle Appa as indeed the other topasses on board.
A former Indian admiral had in a 2021 article (https://www.indianewsstream.com/news-views/the-1970-topass-incident-still-stains-the-indian-navy/) opined that while the IN had progressed and vastly improved in most professional aspects, there remained distressing holdouts from its past that resisted change. The IN is one of the few navies that recruits uniformed sailors for the degrading job of toilet cleaning. Most navies do not have any dedicated toilet-cleaners on board their ships, uniformed or otherwise. The merchant marine the world over functions with exemplary efficiency without topasses on board its tens of thousands of vessels trading worldwide. The 2021 article seems to suggest that there is reluctance at the Naval Headquarters to tackle the issue decisively. Sometimes it crosses my mind that if on board the Krishna in 1976 a Topass 2 had miraculously been granted the change of branch to ‘midshipman branch’, the IN possibly may have had an officer who in due course and on gaining sufficient seniority & heft would have had the motive to impart coup de grace to this abhorrent naval trade.
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