Second Innings !

My First Day at NDA as a Divo: It’s Different

Well, today is 24 Nov 09 and it’s just another day in my life which happens to go on slow and steady like the calm seas and fair weather awaits the arrival of storm. Mind you, looks are always deceptive.....I sometimes think who so ever came out with this idea was a true genius or had been a guy who had been kicked around at every possible juncture like a football in European league. To my parents my life seems to be a steady flowing river with small bends and to my friends it seems like a calm stagnant lake...By stagnant I intend to put across the idea of a life like a ‘Dull’ lake with no ripples unless disturbed. I wish to write a lot, whatever comes to my mind bcoz I wrote this thought “You should express yourself to know yourself”. It has been about good two and half years that I have completed as Divisional Officer at National Defence Academy, well a chance that every ex NDA prays for, to go back to the institution where you were born. National Defence Academy has a glorious past and a past which is full of selflessness, sacrifice, glory, victory, camaraderie, brotherhood, unity and the spirit so unshakable. It’s indeed a privilege to have been a graduate of this fine institution and then go back to play second innings and to make up for whatever you left behind. So I landed up at the portals of NDA. As I stepped inside and took a deep breath, the smell of land and ofcourse the stables right next to the glider dome brought back some of the most horrifying situations that I had ever been through. The sinking feeling gripped me...I saw the vast extent of glider dome ...I could hear some voices behind me “Come on you sati!!Run harder! I want you to catch up with that alpha guy”. I pulled myself out of those sinking thoughts and looked at the serene view of green valley, open land, fresh air, and the liveliness of cadets on basketball courts. Everything was same nothing had changed. I looked up at the blue sky and tried very hard to have a glimpse of god to thank him for such a wonderful posting although I couldn’t see him but I thanked him anyway and as my sight got back to mother earth, my eyes strained to recognise a well built structure walking towards me in green uniform and beret with red and black hackle on it. The recognition came like reflex to me and I wanted to turn around and run out of the very portals I just entered. The figure came right in front and stamped, saluted and shouted “Jai Hind Saab”. He was my drill instructor, Subedar Shinde, I tried really hard to give a reaction but somehow was astonished by the fact that instead of MOT (Maal on Trishul – A term that describes a sizzling hot girl i.e any female species for cadets) my eyes got a warm welcome which was miraculously unexpected. I saw myself running in KD’s round the parade ground, doing flat foot, running ET’s and doing academy whiskey. My drill instructor had not changed a bit except for a mature look on his face...mature means deadly and khunkhar. Well god definitely was laughing rather he was definitely bursting into laughter coz he had again put me in a catch 22 situation. I must share that god is more biased towards drill instructors. He keeps them in shape so that they can sort out people like me and many more like me in the academy. I thought he’s going to say “I slip out” but instead it was nice to hear from him “Kaise Ho Saab”. I must tell you it’s an out of the world feeling to meet your instructors’ who have trained you at the academy...the bond shared is very special though you go on and ship in your stripes but they remain your instructors all your life. We exchanged pleasantries’ and I moved on towards officers’ mess. While driving I was gripped by nostalgia, it was like a python grips his prey, just waiting for prey to breath so that he can tighten the grip. I stopped at my squadron, my home for three best years of my life. I slowly walked across to my room in CQ flank where I once ruled. Everything was same, untouched, preserved like a mummy in the pyramids. It’s very strange sometimes that apart from humans we do make bonds with stones, concrete and iron. I felt bonded to that building, for a common visitor it’s just like a hostel where cadets’ live but for a cadet it’s his world within a world, where he is born, groomed , grilled and finally carved into a soldier. We as Ex NDA’s are in debt of this concrete and iron and bricks, this is what defines us, this is our existence, and the name of this concrete structure is the name by which we call proudly call ourselves for rest of our lives. We fight tooth and nail for all three years for the colours of this brick and iron to find ourselves and our existence in the midst of a long lasting saga. We invest sweat and blood to find a name and a place in this building...a soldier may not be taught how to invest in his earnings but he is definitely taught how to invest in his faith....it’s the faith that keeps him alive in the face of annihilation. I started my bike, and drove very slowly, as slow as I have never driven before coz I wanted to capture every moment, it was like a chance to capture panorama which you know will never be available. Immediately knew it was time to finish some things that I had left behind as a cadet and the only words that I could think of were “Life’s Beautiful”...