BENGALURU: Often, things do not work out as planned. You grow up thinking you will be something, but end up as something else.
A day after the 75th Army Day celebrations on January 15 – which for the first time in its history, saw its main edition being held outside of New Delhi, and in Bengaluru – some memories came flooding back. I once had an ambition of joining the Army.
It was not just an ambition, but an obsession. It attracted me, and despite moderate discouragement from parents (as I was the only son), I set out to achieve that goal. The first step came in the form of the National Cadet Corps (NCC) when I entered junior college (class XI) in Mumbai, then Bombay. I got into the 3rd Maharashtra Battalion, the Infantry wing of the NCC. That was 1982.
The NCC – as one of its aims – only further strengthened my resolve to join the Army. It was not just about parades. There was weapon training (assembling, dismantling and servicing rifles, sten guns and light machine guns), combat drills, compass reading and map coordinates, battle skills and field formation training, attachment and leadership camps, and a fair bit of social service, too. It was exciting.
At the 1983 Army Day, there was a demonstration planned. It was about an attack on an “enemy post”. I was supposed to lead the section attack on the “post”. Unfortunately, I arrived at the college grounds for the pre-demo briefing about five minutes late. In keeping with the motto of the NCC – “Unity and Discipline” – I had to face the penalty, which saw me being placed as an “enemy” instead of leading the section into the “attack”. And the demo completed with my “post” being “attacked” and me and my “comrades” being “killed in action”.
A few years later, it was the dream of joining the Army that got killed. After my Combined Defence Services Examinations, my myopia was found to be way above the permissible limits to join the Indian Army.
A shattered dream can really hurt. The dream of getting into the National Defence Academy (NDA) or, even later, in the Indian Military Academy (IMA) to pass before its Chetwode Block carrying the inspiring Chetwode Motto (“The safety, honour and welfare of your country come first, always and every time. The honour, welfare and comfort of the men you command come next. Your own ease, comfort and safety come last, always and every time”), was destroyed.
Some senior Army officers, who frequently visited us to narrate tales of combat and inspire us to join the Army, used to say, “A soldier has to be ready to face the bullet. There could be one with your name written on it!” Stress was equally laid on General Patton’s (the Allied hero in World War II) quote: “The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other b*#@#*d (the enemy) die for his!”
But a shattered dream does not mean a life wasted. The NCC training did bear its fruits, although I have no “enemies” to train my guns on. It prepared me for experiences in later life to understand that “disunity” and “indiscipline” can be your own enemies from within, on whom guns need to be trained; and that failures can be overcome with determination to avoid a repeat. I had learned on 1983 Army Day that indiscipline (arriving late) can land you as an ‘enemy’.
It prepared me to understand that although there may be no bullet with “my name written on it”, there will be a day with my name on it – and until that day arrives, the fight must go on, because life itself is a war, each day a battle, each of us a soldier!