Elvis Presley's Sideburns- Angst & Admiration

"I never did want my haircut. I wear long hair and sideburns because some people look better with long hair. I do because my face is long / the fans like it long, I guess, because they first saw me that way. And I certainly don't want to do anything they wouldn't like. "- Elvis Presley to columnist Aline Mosby, 01 June 1957

Disclaimer - This article is not about the rise and shine of the great "Elvis Presley", but about his "sideburns" that became synonymous to his name.

In March 1999, I was appointed as the Watchkeeping Officer (WKO) onboard the illustrious INS Khukri, a missile corvette and a workhouse of the Eastern Fleet. The Watchkeeping Certification (WKC) is a mandatory qualification for an Executive officer to stand an independent watch onboard a warship. However, it takes about six to nine months and at times around a year to qualify the Watchkeeing Board and receive the Watchkeeping Certificate (WKC).

By virtue of being the junior-most Executive officer on a naval warship, the most interesting job - Staff Officer to the Commanding Officer (CO) is tenanted by the WKO. Whilst I was not the only WKO onboard, however for some peculiar reason the CO only wanted me to tenant the role. I gathered later that it was because my course mate/batch mate (other WKO) was severely sea-sick, and I had my "sea-legs".

Just for the records, the CO was a 'seadog' and a hard-core surface naval officer. In his career spanning 17 years until then he was appointed on multiple naval warships for 16 years and his last tenure was the Fleet Navigation Officer (FNO), Western Fleet. FNO, West is considered the toughest and most challenging appointment since the naval operations at sea are planned and controlled by the FNO. He is the nerve-center of the Fleet and the closest aide to the Fleet Commander (Fleet Cdr). Next in line was the Executive Officer (EXO) or the Number-1/Second in Command. He again was a navigation and air-direction specialist and had completed his tenure as the Navigating Officer onboard ex-Viraat (Aircraft Carrier) prior to the present appointment. A hard task master with no mercy for incompetence. The third in line was the Navigating Officer (NO) of Khukri - a course-topper in his batch. I later found out that the CO, EXO and NO had all topped the Navigation and Air Direction specialization Course as well.

Given the credentials and the associated personalities, you can well imagine, the plight that I would have sustained at sea to earn the WKC. Life was grueling and yet very interesting at sea. However, tough times make you strong and resilient. The sweat and toil at sea taught me a lot and I am deeply indebted to the trio of CO-EXO-NO for shaping me as a gritty and hardened surface naval officer. Any guesses then on what my specialization in the Navy was...had to be Navigation and Air Direction.

Having beaten around the bush for a while, Iet me get to the brass tacks. On 20 Aug 1999 at Visakhapatnam which is a major naval port in East Coast of India, a group of ten fleet ships were preparing to set sail for a deployment exercise of over ten days in the Bay of Bengal.

During such deployments, the Fleet Staff Officers and the Fleet Cdr, who is the Operational authority, embark the ships as part of the exercise. The embarkation is undertaken to assess the operational readiness of the ships. The Fleet Staff, decided to embark Khukri during the first leg of the exercise. Missile Corvettes are medium sized warships packed with majority of surface to surface & surface to air missiles, associated equipment and close-in-weapon-systems. Hence, space is not a luxury on these ships.

We were standing-by for the Fleet embarkation. I distinctly remember the entire sea sortie since it was an eventful and exciting phase of my tenure onboard Khukri. Ships are controlled from the 'Bridge', and it is considered the sanctum-sanctorum in any ship be it a naval warship or a merchant-ship. The Fleet Cdr and his staff entered the Bridge and started with their fireworks. The first directive received was that the Commanding Officer (CO) is in-capacitated. As a result, the CO was told to go to his cabin and the EXO was now in-charge. I was on the Bridge engrossed with the activities linked to casting-off the ship.

The Fleet Cdr occupied the COs chair and he suddenly turned left and started staring at me. At that moment, I was busy communicating with multiple teams to complete certain check-off lists. Suddenly, I heard the Fleet Commander scream at the top of his voice - "You WKO come here". Amidst all the activity and the hullabaloo, I was summoned in front of the Fleet Cdr. He said - "Are you related to Elvis Presley". I understood that he was irritated at seeing me with the sideburns. I replied in the negative but then he asked me the most important question - "Son, who told you that you can have sideburns".

I realized that the Fleet Staff in the Bridge, my CO running up from his cabin on hearing that I was summoned by the Fleet Cdr and other members on the Bridge were all looking at me, hence, this was no time to remain silent. However, I waited for the Admiral to ask me the next question - "Are you entitled to support sideburns young-man". That's when I rattled out the current naval regulations verbatim on supporting sideburns and also quoted the Navy Order that dealt with the Uniform regulation. For a brief moment he continued to gape at me, and from the corner of my eye, I could see my CO sink. Suddenly, out of the blue, low behold, the Admiral started smiling looking at me and said - "Young man your surname rings a bell. Are you related to Pips". Naval aviators have nicknames, and my father was a naval aviator and that was his nickname. I replied - "yes sir", and then suddenly the Fleet Cdr addressed the gathering on the Bridge. "Gentleman, here is a young naval officer who dared to quote a Navy Order to an Admiral. I am not surprised with his actions because I know his old man far too well. We have been aviators and hail from the same helicopter Squadron. His father is known to be a Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) man and his achievements are exemplary."

But what made my chest swell with pride is when he said - "I share this with you all because, I am alive today due to his father's bravado during a critical air sortie. If not for his presence of mind and high order skills as an aviator I would not be here to tell you this piece".

Subsequently, I became a popular figure amongst the naval fraternity. People referred to me as "the guy who quoted a Navy Order to the Fleet Cdr". This is certainly one interesting incident, but I had to earn my WKC after a lot of grind and hard work. As they say- "The more you sweat in peace, the less you bleed in War". It took me precisely nine months to earn the WKC. But since then, I was never un-settled at sea.

I wanted to pen this story down before amnesia strikes. I am hoping to prepare a Compendium - "Memoirs at Sea" on the time that I spent at sea on numerous warships that I have had the privilege to serve on. This piece is an unforgettable one and will certainly find a place in the Compendium.