Pune: Army Chief-Designate Lieutenant General Manoj Naravane on December 22 gave a glimpse of his thinking process to students by recalling how “clean and straight lines of engineering drawing” once appealed to his “military mind”.

Speaking at the golden jubilee function of his alma mater Jnana Prabhodhini School in Pune, where he was felicitated, he said, “my best and favourite subject was engineering drawing. I like the entire concept of being able to visualise things in a free dimension, being able to see things in different perspectives, find out what are the angles involved, get a holistic view of the problem and to be able to translate into a drawing…actually a plan on paper.”

He said this ability to visualise problems and resolve them operationally helped him immensely in his career, which he said was the “greatest teaching I got in the school”. “Somehow I like the clean lines of engineering drawing. Everything is in a straight line, which the Army is famous for. Everything is in right angles with each other line after line, which somehow appealed to the military mind in me,” the Vice Chief of Army staff said.

He advised students to pursue things with passion, sincerity and purpose. “Wherever your are, whatever you do, please do it with complete sincerity, passion and purpose,” the Lt General added.