Bharat Rakshak

Khalsa .. Manmohan .. Oye open your door .. You are not supposed to latch it from within .. Hurry up It was Cpl Pathania. I opened my door, suddenly unsure of how he would react at all the mess I had created instead of unpacking and putting away my stuff neatly. In my defence, I’d never ever done t...

Soon they were dismissed by Ramnath and went about looking for their respective understudies. The circle of punishments was now complete! Finally, about 30 minutes later, came the first major event of the day – the morning muster. The entire sqn was lined up in the small parade ground in front of it...

That realization would dawn after a while. For the time being, however, I was worried more about their uniforms. Guys, what about your uniforms? , I asked, glancing nervously at the clock. Pat came the reply from Daljeet - Abe tu dekhna, abhi in saare tikkiyon ki parade hogi! (Just you see, now thes...

It was Friday, 16th January 1998. My first two days in the Academy were to be spent kitting up. Then would come a Sunday and finally I would join training on Monday, 19th January. Ah, Sunday .. I was back in my dream world. There was so much to be done, but mostly it was about catching up on some sl...

Dileep wrote:Nice doodle. Is that part of the book?

One of the drafts for the book cover, apparently.

CHAPTER III Duniya Hai Mauj Mein Aur Hum Hain Fauj Mein! Utho beta .. (Get up, son) Nahi Mummy .. aaj school ki chhutti hai (No Mom, today is a school holiday) Beta, wake up WAKE UP Noooo ‘THWACK’ The not so motherly ‘thwack’ on my back had me jump up and outside the bed, thoroughly disoriented. Wh...

I said EAT. Hearing these three words, the lost appetite came galloping back. And a minute later my plate was clean too! Now close your plate Close my plate? Suddenly I felt a kick on my foot. It was Daljeet. I quickly glanced leftwards and saw him putting his knife and for parallel to each other. ...

Daljeet quickly served himself and I followed suit. So the bread had to be kept on the quarter plate and cutlets and the curry on the main plate. Noted and duly replicated. Except for the fact that the two seniors were not very happy with the size of the portion I took of the curry. Mirroring their ...

CSM was done in about 10 mins, following which all sixth termers calmly walked out. And then all hell broke lose! In the blink of an eye, practically everyone was on their feet and running to get out of the single door leading out of the ante room. By this time I had given up trying to make sense of...

But something didn’t quite add up .. it wasn’t really the shout of someone dying. It sounded a bit .. musical. Was he singing at the top of his voice? Yes, it did sound like he was indeed singing. And practically everyone in the building was running. What kind of a world had I landed up in Then just...

How in the world could a guy’s room be so clean and so organized? My respects for the maids who would clean up and tidy up these rooms to these standards automatically went up by a few more notches. DCC (short for Divisional Cadet Captain) Raveesh was a short and stocky guy from Hyderabad who was i...

What is your name, Khalsa?, CSM asked, his voice echoing throughout the silent corridor, in a somewhat irritated tone peculiar to someone who’s been rudely woken up from a sound sleep. He had no regard for others who were studying, or snoozing for that matter! By this time I was at my wits’ end aft...

Thanks for the endorsement, gentlemen. The same has been duly conveyed to the author! @Rudradev Ji, the famished structure of the cadets is hardly attributable to the food. There are other reasons for that! The formatting, esp the italics part, is exactly for what you guessed. @Dileep Ji, duly noted...

CHAPTER II Kill ‘em Kut ‘em But Kneel Knot Welcome to Kilo, Khalsa, said Cpl Pathania as we climbed up the three stairs into the sqn building. The first sight of the interiors was as stunning as it can get. The main gate led into the Ground Floor Central Lobby (GFCL, in short). It was approximately...

dnivas wrote:keep it going sir. this is great

Thanks.

They finally managed to gather themselves and one of them suggested that they call someone called Adju (short for Adjutant, as I learnt later). The phone call was short and crisp. I could hear only one side of it, though. Good Evening Sir, this is Cpl (Short for Corporal) Mohit Sharma. One new cadet...

The moment the bus entered from the gate, it was a different world altogether. It was nearly dark by this time and most activities were winding up. Yet, not even the creeping darkness could hide the beauty of the place. The smooth roads and the ordered surroundings were a sight to behold. And the cl...

Pune city traffic was at its peak at this hour. It took us the better part of an hour to clear the city. Soon, however, we were on the NDA Road – a long, winding road flanked by small hillocks and very little traffic. It was about as far from the chaotic Delhi traffic as one could get. Soon there wa...

Its a thinly veiled message to India/BJP/Modi that endorsement at home does not equal Pakistan being a pushover. They are nervous about the return of the right and are marking territory. Unfortunately their Nuclear bluff has been called, lets carry on and bash them regardless. Additionally, some Pa...

‘ Delhi se, Saab. ’ The ‘Saab’ came more naturally this time What followed was about half an hour of conversation before Subedar Kripal Singh and I would officially become instructor and instructed later in the day. Apparently, his own son too had just appeared for the UPSC entrance exam for the nex...

For the time being however, I was blissfully unaware of this as I walked back towards the reception and the uniformed uncle. Wait, Kripal Singh Saab was what he had told me to address him as. No more ‘uncle’ business. Glad I hadn’t actually called him uncle! Soon after Dad disconnected, I had dialle...

Suddenly I realized that the uncle must be waiting for an answer. Focussed back on him and yes, there he was, clearly expecting a correct reply. ‘ Cadet Manmohan, Saab ’, I squeaked, a bit louder this time. This reply seemed to satisfy him and he broke into a half smile, perhaps satisfied that he ha...

CHAPTER I Home Sweet Home? I had finally reached my new ‘hometown’ and what would soon be my new family. First step towards that direction was getting the damn box out of the compartment and thereafter look for the NDA reception at the station as was mentioned in the very detailed joining instructi...

Thank you for the feedback, Sirs! The book is nearing completion but all that I have right now is the first two chapters and that too in a print copy. So I am having to type it all over again. Hence the posts restricted to weekends and the lengths of the posts. Will try and post longer portions of t...

Moving on after Jhansi, I remembered that I’d forgotten to have lunch in the middle of all the talking with Lt Rajiv and the siesta that followed. I was suddenly hungry now! Itching to open the dinner packet and atleast see what it contained, I tried desperately to hold myself till it was atleast a ...

With too many thoughts wracking my mind, I decided the best thing to do would be to take a quick nap. And it turned out to be the one decision in past week or so that I was genuinely proud of! Woke up refreshed just as the train pulled into Jhansi for a 10 minute halt. Hmmm Jhansi .., I thought. The...

Next few hours till Gwalior were spent in Lt Rajiv sharing his experiences of life as a trainee and later, a commissioned officer. All very interesting stuff, especially for someone like me who had no knowledge whatsoever about what the Indian Army actually was. All that I had for reference was the...

‘Are you in the Army’? These words suddenly jolted me out of my thoughts as the train left Faridabad. I looked ahead to find a young guy occupying the vacant seat ahead of me. I stared blankly at him, not knowing what to say. Less than an hour into the train journey towards joining the NDA and I al...

ramana wrote:Sure go ahead.
ramana

Thanks a lot Ramana Ji.
Will post updates over the weekends.

The task of convincing parents accomplished, focus now turned towards preparing for the move. Time was short. The younger brother was rewarded for the extra hours of study by being excused from school the next day and being sent to book a train ticket for his elder brother. On that note, thank God ...

Folks, I have been a lurker for a long time, till I came across this story that absolutely had to be shared with you all. I felt the need to start a fresh thread because somehow, it wouldn't fit in with the basic theme of the Military Scenarios thread. The story is about the training imparted at th...