The day-2 was a bright sunny day. The events planned for the second day included golf for the golfers. And for the non golfers and their families, a visit to the Mangla Fort was planned, followed by games/horse riding for children at the Army Water Sports Club, boat riding in the Mangla Dam Lake, followed by lunch abroad three rafts inside Mangla Dam Lake.
Since the golfers were too busy with their clubs to beat the balls, there is no coverage available (so far). I missed the visit to the fort and went direct to the AWSC for the lunch, therefore could not cover the events at the Mangla Fort and the games/boat riding at the AWSC. However thanks to Muazzem, who has sent me a few photos of these events which can be seen as herein under:
Followed by the Golf, visit to Mangla Fort and boating, everyone boarded the rafts, men and wives on one raft and children on the second and were slowly taken inside the Mangla Lake. Unlike last year, the water was clear and of sea green colour stretched for miles.
After the lunch, the seating plan was changed for a briefing by the course secretary Asif, who apprised the course mates of the latest news about the course and everyone listened to him very attentively. He started off with the news of the shahadat of Dr Sharjeel, son of Shahid Noor, who embraced shahadat in the Waziristan recently and everyone offered fateha and prayed for the bereaved family.
Thereafter, he also conveyed the good news of proceeding on haj by our course mates, namely Saeed Akram, Sami Ullah, Mohsin Amir, and conveyed their special greetings for the course. He also mentioned of Maj Arshad's absence, who is a regular participant in all course gatherings, as he had gone to Lahore on his nephew's marriage. The good news of promotion of Mohsin Amir in the grade 20 were also broken, who is presently working in NADRA.
The secret of sponsoring the lunch on the raft was also broken and it was told that Jamal Zia had borne the expenses of the lunch, on which he got a loud applause from everyone. All those who had not received or collected the shields, sponsored personally by Major Wasif were also asked to collect from Asif at the end of the ceremony. The efforts by Zaheer Ul Islam to look after the course mates were also apprised and lauded by everyone. Before handing over the mike to Agha Umer Farooq, who has recently retired, to say a few words about his settling down, Tariq Khan was thanked on behalf of the course for the wonderful get together arrangements.
Back on the land, there was a group photo of all the participating officers. As it happens with the photographer, no one is willing to give him a place to be in the group and take the shot instead. This happened in the following case too and I had to rush over to find a space for myself and almost falling over the commando Khokhar - to the amusement of everyone.
The gathering then started to drift away - thanking Tariq Khan for his two days long hospitality. Like his hospitality two times, the next two gatherings were to be hosted by Salim Nawaz - more of these next and next to next year.
Photo Credit: While most of the photos have been taken by me, some of the photos have been shared by Mushtaq and Asif Ilyas and
Photo Credit: While most of the photos have been taken by me, some of the photos have been shared by Mushtaq and Asif Ilyas and
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