The Bina Topi Ka Photo

Passing out picture of the 9th Entry batch, 1964, AFAC
Details: Circa : May 1964, Location: AFAC Coimbatore

This is an favorite old picture isn't it? A snap of passing out that is taken officially at the end of the course that is then handed out to you before you pass out. I remember that I always had to pay for a picture of myself, be it a class picture or a batch passing out picture at TS Chanakya.

For some reason these pictures always last the test of time and the faces of the people, look back at you with regimented attention over the years. While the other pictures, those taken by themselves, under the wings of the planes, in grassy meadow, or at a banks edge, never last. I find that tragic. And it is those pictures that I want to put here eventually.

Dad had joined the 9th Entry batch and did his AFAC (Air Force Administrative College) , Coimbatore from 9th Dec 1963 to 9th of June 1964. So I guess this picture must have been shot sometime in May 1964. If I was under the impression that the Administrative college was focused in teaching the budding cadets war manouvers and the administration of great nations, I was soon disabused of those notions. As per dad, the only thing he remembers from the AFAC was the parading and the PT's!

It really isn't very hard to find dad out here. He is the only one in the picture without a cap! As I had first seen the picture, trying to scan it to spot dad, my reactions were like ,
" Hey look! there's a person there without a cap!"
"... Isn't that you dad?"

Dad has no convincing explaination. He sheepishly tries to put it off as a one time lapse of uniformity! :)

But the two of us shall always refer to this as dad's "Bina Topi ka photo."