Combat Chuckles: Humour in the Services

COMBAT CHUCKLES is a spirited collection of humourous tales from life in the armed forces. The book offers a rare, lighthearted glimpse into the camaraderie and quietly comic moments behind the uniform.

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Readers will be enthralled by this collection of immensely funny stories and poems, compiled and edited by Ratna Manucha. Each incident narrated in this compilation is hilarious. The magnitude of humour is enhanced as it emerges in the most unexpected of situations. In this case , it occurs in the most risk prone theatre in which our Armed Forces operate!— Radha Raturi IAS (Retd), (Ex-Chief Secretary and Chief Information Commissioner, Uttarakhand)

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Each of the entries in Combat Chuckles competes with the rest – and in the end one wants to read all of them again, for each story is grounded in a situation that shows that even in the world of inspections, hierarchies and the individual idiosyncrasies, there is an abundance of camaraderie, the spirit of 'never-say-no', the ability to rise above adversity and celebrate the bizarre! Kudos to Ratna for bringing the cantonment stories to all those who care to read about a life in and beyond the brass and barracks! — Dr. Sanjeev Chopra, (Senior Fellow, Centre for Contemporary Studies, The Prime Minister's Museum and Library; Academic Council Member, National Centre for Good Governance, National Centre for Disaster Management; Historian, Columnist and Festival Director, Valley of Words: International Literature and Arts Festival, Dehradun)

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A delightfully refreshing prism on life in uniform such as this collection is long overdue. The camaraderie and spirit de corps that marks the fabric of brothers in arms (sisters, too) often creates a fun flow of anecdotes and one off incidents that provoke a warm and often laugh out loud reaction. Born into a military family and married to a senior army officer, Ratna Manucha has curated real life stories and narrated them on these pages with panache and a deep and loving understanding of the quirky side of the forces. After all, we have to go by the rules. If it moves, salute it, if it can be lifted, carry it away and if it cannot, paint it. — Bikram Vohra (Author, Columnist)

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Humour is the essence of life! Readers will be completely engrossed in the twenty-one comical episodes and three poems in this book. Wittily narrated by officers of the Indian Armed Forces, each tale reiterates the timeless truth that no matter how grave the situation may be, humour never fails to uplift the human spirit! The book is a must read for all those who believe that laughter really is the best medicine! —Anil Raturi IPS (Retd.) (Ex-DGP Uttarakhand)