{"id":1927,"date":"2025-02-21T05:55:25","date_gmt":"2025-02-21T05:55:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rohitagarwal.in\/swordarm\/?p=1927"},"modified":"2025-02-21T05:55:25","modified_gmt":"2025-02-21T05:55:25","slug":"rules-fools-and-exceptions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rohitagarwal.in\/swordarm\/2025\/02\/21\/rules-fools-and-exceptions\/","title":{"rendered":"Rules, Fools and Exceptions"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A recent post by a retired bureaucrat about rules and precedents reminded me of an interesting and educational encounter I had with regulations a couple of decades ago. The year was 1993, and the place was Chandimandir. But let me start at the beginning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I got married at the age of 23\u2014yes, a tad young. In the Army, marriage before 25 is informally discouraged, though not explicitly prohibited. One subtle deterrent is that officers below 25 are not entitled to married accommodation. I didn\u2019t give it much thought at the time since my wife and I were quite happy in the two-room set within the regiment\u2019s officers’ mess during the first two months of our marriage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then, I was detailed for a six-month course in Ahmednagar, where we were again provided ad hoc accommodation\u2014a single large room in a repurposed stable, aptly named Ghoda (Horse) Barracks. These barracks housed numerous newlywed officers, each occupying a similar room. Immediately after the course, I was posted to Chandimandir as ADC to the Army Commander. Once again, we settled into a two-room set in the officers’ mess, content with our arrangement and mess dining facilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One day, the Station Commander\u2014a brigade commander responsible for station matters, including accommodation\u2014came to call on my boss, the Army Commander. While waiting in my office, he engaged in small talk, likely seeking insights into the station\u2019s housing situation from someone at the grassroots level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHow is your house, young man?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I resisted the urge to quip, \u201cWhat house?\u201d and instead replied with due decorum, informing him that my wife and I were staying in the mess. He looked at me in disbelief. There was no shortage of accommodation in the station, and given that the ADC to the Army Commander was a privileged appointment, he saw no reason why I hadn\u2019t been allotted a house.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhy?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I explained that I was not yet 25 years old.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo?\u201d came his next question, blunt and to the point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not grasping his confusion, I stated the obvious: \u201cSir, officers below 25 years of age are not authorized married accommodation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSays who?\u201d he shot back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having researched the matter thoroughly before getting married, I had my response ready. \u201cSpecial Army Order 10\/S of 86, sir.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our conversation was interrupted by the red light outside the Army Commander\u2019s office turning green, indicating he was ready to receive his visitor. As the brigadier stood to leave, he instructed me to fetch the Army Order. Being the diligent staff officer that I was, I not only retrieved the document but also highlighted the pertinent sentence:\u00a0\u2018Officers below 25 years of age will not be authorized married accommodation.<\/strong>\u2019<\/em>\u00a0There it was, in black and white\u2014unambiguous and definitive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the Station Commander returned, I handed him the highlighted page. He glanced at it, then pushed the book back toward me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOpen the first page,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I complied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRead the last line of the first paragraph.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I did. It read:\u00a0\u2018There will be no deviation from these rules except with the sanction of the Station Commander<\/strong>.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The penny dropped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With a knowing smirk, he looked at me and said, \u201cSo why haven\u2019t you asked me for a sanction?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ten days later, we moved into a freshly whitewashed two-bedroom house\u2014the entitled accommodation of a Captain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beyond the newfound domestic bliss, this experience left me with a lasting lesson. I had often heard the phrase, \u2018Rules are for fools.\u2019<\/em> That day, I understood its true meaning. Rules are created to be followed in spirit, not just to the letter. That\u2019s why they include provisions for exceptions, allowing appropriate authorities the discretion to interpret them judiciously. The wise navigate these nuances to uphold the intent of the law, while the uninformed rigidly adhere to its wording, missing the bigger picture.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A recent post by a retired bureaucrat about rules and precedents reminded me of an interesting and educational encounter I had with regulations a couple of decades ago. The year was 1993, and the place was Chandimandir. But let me … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[58,9,77],"tags":[524,492,12],"class_list":["post-1927","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-management","category-military","category-welfare","tag-anecdotes","tag-humour-in-uniform","tag-indian-army"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rohitagarwal.in\/swordarm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1927","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rohitagarwal.in\/swordarm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rohitagarwal.in\/swordarm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rohitagarwal.in\/swordarm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rohitagarwal.in\/swordarm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1927"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/rohitagarwal.in\/swordarm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1927\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1929,"href":"https:\/\/rohitagarwal.in\/swordarm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1927\/revisions\/1929"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rohitagarwal.in\/swordarm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rohitagarwal.in\/swordarm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1927"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rohitagarwal.in\/swordarm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}