INS Viraat (sanskrit word meaning Gigantic), the mighty aircraft carrier that has served our country proudly for 30 years and been its flagship for most part, will be decommissioned.

Dear All, Today is a significant, if somewhat poignant, moment in the history of India and Indian Navy. At sunset today, INS Viraat (sanskrit word meaning Gigantic), the mighty aircraft carrier that has served our country proudly for 30 years and been its flagship for most part, will be decommissioned. Retired from service or serviced out are inadequate words to explain decommissioning in prosiac terms. Navymen believe that unlike brick and stone offices, ships are living, breathing creatures with a soul. When a ship is decommissioned, the soul is put in deep freeze until it is (usually) reincarnated a generation or two later when a brand new ship (usually of the same class) is commissioned and named after its illustrious predecessor. And as it roams the seas, the soul finds utterance and the old yields to new in the eternal cycle of life. The new Avataar carries forward the legacy of the old and all her glorious traditions. An aircraft carrier is a huge ship and even those who do not serve in her take pride in her because she is the centrepiece of our combat capability, the jewel in our crown. Everyone in the navy feels he or she owns a small brick of the '3 acre floating sovereign Indian territory' that is the Carrier. Given below is an article of mine in today's 'The Hindu', one of India's most respected and widely read newspapers. I explain what the Viraat meant to our Navy, interspersed with a bit of my own semi Karmic connection with it. The oldest serving warship in the world today, her keel was laid on 21 Jun 1944. (I was born on the same day 22 years later). She served first with the British and later with us and her history is rich with many great moments including a splendid role in the 1982 Falklands war and in our Sri Lankan IPKF operations. As India has now started building even aircraft carriers, future Viraats will undoubtedly be built from Indian shipyards and take forward her message of 'Jalameva Yasya, Balameva Tasya' or 'He who rules over the seas is all powerful'. That is in the realm of the near future. Today though, all of Indian Navy will be Viraatees or Viratites. And at sunset all of us will bid a fond goodbye to her with a heavy heart. I consider myself supremely lucky to be present at the decommissioning ceremony later today and at the decommissioning cocktails yesterday. Go gently beloved lady. We will always remember you. Srikant Kesnur 06 Mar 17 The article in Hindu at the link below. 👇 [06/03 10:04 am] ‪+91 75758 34666‬: http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/the-end-of-a-voyage/article17413039.ece -- Delete unnecessary portions of mail before replying.