CHENNAI: The Officers’ Training Academy at St Thomas Mount on Saturday witnessed yet another passing out parade, when a total of 322 officer cadets, including 31 lady cadets, were commissioned in the army.
Of them, Lieutenants Nidhi Mishra and Swathi Mahadik are to serve the nation just like their husbands, who are no more, did. Swati’s husband Colonel Santhosh Mahadik was killed in action in Kashmir in 2015, while Nidhi lost her partner, Mukesh Kumar, a jawan attached to the Mahar Regiment, after he suffered an heart attack. It was choice that led both to don the olive greens and as Swati puts it, “I joined the army out of my own love.”
At 38, Swati might have been the eldest officer cadet in her batch, but she has been described as a person who is ‘youngest in the heart.’ Fellow officer Sariya Abbasi, from UP said that she displayed immense strength and refused to be bogged down by anything, let alone the past.
The inspiration for Nidhi, aged 30, to join army came from Captain Priya Semwal, whose husband was martyred. “I read about Priya, who passed out from this very academy. Furthermore, I was encouraged by army personnel attached to my husband’s regiment.” Nidhi, who has an eight-year-old son, counts her parents as her biggest supporters. They were there at the academy to witness the passing out parade, reviewed by Lieutenant-General P M Hariz, General Officer Commanding in Chief, Southern Command.
Having successfully endured the gruelling 49 week training at OTA, Nidhi is now geared for action.
Serving the nation
Lieutenants Nidhi Mishra and Swathi Mahadik are to serve the nation just like their husbands, who are no more, did. Swati’s husband Colonel Santhosh Mahadik was killed in action in Kashmir in 2015, while Nidhi lost her partner, Mukesh Kumar, a jawan, after he suffered an heart attack