I get down the car with my
luggage in one hand and admission letter in the other. I am wearing formal
suit, Van Heusen’s collared white shirt, necktie and black trousers. I bid
farewell to my parents. No! it’s not what you are thinking.
This was not the way I came to Navodaya but the way I got admitted to the
Indian Naval Academy, Ezhimala, Kerala which was solely because of the
education and exposure, enthusiastic teachers, their guidance and blessings I
gained during my 7 years of stay in JNVB. So, I bid farewell to my parents and
enter the office where I meet a man who is checking the admission letters. He
was a burly guy in his mid 30s with a hair cut similar to Brad Pitt in ‘The
Inglorious Bastards.’ His name was Captain Bal Bahadhur Singh. He was annoyed
admitting students from morning to evening and I was the last guy!I: Hello Sir. I am Cadet Abhilash UN.Captain: I don’t give a damn who you are! Get your things on that
chair and give me all your documents, hurry up, you're in the Indian Navy now!Make it fast.(I didn’t open my mouth for two days except for eating.) Making me a defence officer was my
parents’ dream rather than mine (in fact every parent likes to see their
children in alluring uniforms) though I liked the uniforms and majestic ranks
and insignia of the Defence forces. Ain’t it cool to be called Lieutenant
Commander ABCDEF? I was selected to the SSB interview
(which every individual has to clear to get into Indian defence) based on my
class XII percentage. I would suggest every one of you to attend this interview
even though you don’t want to join defence since it helps you understand your
qualities, capabilities and calibre. One need not be very diligent to clear it.
Just basic education till XII is the pre-requisite. For me it was conducted in
Bhopal. There were 4 rounds where I was judged based on the physical, mental,
psychological qualities and at last a medical test. We were 80 students in our
group and 2 of us were navodayans. You all know that a navodayan gets along
with another one so well. We instantly became good friends. The other guy was
from JNV Pathananthitta, Kerala. Believe it or not, finally it was me and him
who cleared all the tests including 5 more days of medical test. We did it to
the Indian Naval Academy (10 others got temporarily rejected who had the option
of taking a medical check up and then join the academy which was mostly tentative).
Every other batch mate was shocked to hear that two navodayans made it where as
many other guys who went to some Hi-fi English Medium School couldn’t. I was
not very fluent in speaking English then. So, I gave all the interviews and group-discussions
in Hindi (Thanks to the migration system in Navodaya). I gave SSB interview when I
already had an admission in NITK Surathkal. I was at last selected to navy
after all the police verification and medical tests. I was in a complete
dilemma whether to leave NIT to join INA or not. I finally decided to go to INA.
We were 100 in our batch and there were four classes- Alpha, Bravo, Charlie and
Delta. Unlike me most of the cadets who came there had intended to clear SSB, took
classes for it and came there. I felt a bit regretted when they asked me why I
left such a good college. There was ragging too. But it was official and
healthy. Seniors cared a lot for their squadron juniors (we had 4 squadrons
like four houses in Navodaya). There were no illegal forms of ragging as some
seniors had been rusticated from the academy for doing so. The food was
amazing. I would have easily got a B.tech degree and get posted in some coastal
areas of India as a naval officer after 4 years. But I felt there was too much
discipline in the academy. Also we were supposed to sign on a bond paper to
stay there for 20 years. I didn’t like it. I left the academy after two weeks
and continued my engineering in NITK.It’s not that all the officers
were strict. There were many who were very friendly with us. For example- on
the 3rd day during drill class our drill sergeant was speaking to me,Drill
Sergeant: UN! What's your sole purpose in this navy?I: To do whatever you tell me, drill sergeant! (Seniors advised us to answer this to the drill sergeant)Drill Sergeant: God
damn it, UN! You're a god damn genius! This is the most outstanding answer I
have ever heard. You must have a goddamn I.Q. of 160. You are goddamn gifted,
Cadet UN. Listen up, people…(Now for some reason I
fit in the Navy like one of them round pegs. It's not really hard. You just
make your bed real neat and remember to stand up straight and always answer every
question with "Yes, drill sergeant." )Drill Sergeant: ...Is
that clear?Everyone: Yes, drill sergeant! I didn’t leave the academy because
I was castigated by those slang swear words which I never heard of, nor because
of the official ragging involved. But I felt something was incomplete. I wasn’t
feeling comfortable in spite of the quality food, games we played, swimming and
rowing classes we had in between the class hours and very affable and caring
seniors. I missed that part of engineering where we can actually build the
bots, construct our own machine prototypes along with their simulation in
different softwares and learn new stuff. In fact there was no time for all
these in the academy. The time table was set by them and very less importance
was given to academics. I believe, a person does his job efficiently and
effectively when he sets timetable for himself and does whatever interests him
the most. Everything was taken care of except
the academics part. Most of the teachers who taught us were not confident and
took teaching for granted. I still remember the first class of Engineering
Physics. The teacher’s name was Lieutenant Commander Mrs. Chawla Rathore. She was
quite beautiful and hot enough to drive men wild!! WE (We were 25 students in our
class-Alpha): Wow! And then - Good
morning Ma’am.Ma’am: Good morning. Please sit
down.WE: (murmuring) Guy1 : what do
you think she’s gonna teach? Guy2: (still looking at her agape).Ma’am: Okay listen up cadets. You
there, shut your mouth and sit straight. I don’t entertain any indiscipline in
class. Well, to begin with, how many
states of matter are there?WE: (Shouting) 4,..5,..3.Ma’am: Silence! Yes you.(He said there are four states and named them, One more guy added ‘Bose
Einstein Condensate’ and made it 5.)Ma’am: Good. (Casually) Actually,
there are many states of matter!Everyone: What the?!Random guy: Guys, take it
positively. She must be encouraging us to find out more states of matter! On the other side, Indian defence
offers you a very good standard of life. To mention a few, you have a very good
pay scale, all basic amenities free of cost to you and your family. Respect in
the society and most importantly good health and hygiene.
The reason I left it is just that I am not its type. I went there
thinking I could manage it. But I couldn’t, and I don’t regret it because I
imagined a different way of life after XII std., which I am enjoying now.Anyway, I can never forget those
two weeks I spent in Indian navy, trying to learn Malayalam (Though I ended up
learning only slang words), making friends, cursing the Captain for making us
stand in line for two to three hours just to take attendance, gorgeous Physics
ma’am, scary boating experiences and many more. Not only me, all of us reach a
crossroad at a certain point of our lives. Taking a proper decision will take
you to the destiny you hoped for. If you’re tired, sleep; if you’re hungry,
eat; if you’re missing someone, call them, speak to them. Do what you want do
in life, not what others want you to do. If your parents are against your
decision, try to convince them. No parent would like to put their children in
the Guantanamo Bay! My
mamma and pappa always told me that we each have a destiny and “we are the
makers of our own destiny”. Captain Bal Bahadhur Singh used to tell us that we
are all floating around like feathers on a breeze and the wind takes us to our
destiny. But I think it’s both. Both are happening
at the same time. The people one comes across and the situations one faces
mould his/her character. So, every one of us owe a lot to
our Navodaya because of which we are here, being responsible citizens of the
country and I am grateful to all the teachers, friends, annas and akkas who
actually made it possible.
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