HYDERABAD: Quartered in snow, silent to remain. When the bugle calls, they shall rise and march again.” This quote from the scroll of honour at Siachen base camp is what motivates the ex- gentleman cadet Roshan Mathew to move ahead in life and pass all hurdles. Growing up in a defence family, seeing the troops around, the valour, the honour and pride in wearing the uniform inspired Roshan to join the armed forces. “It has always been on my mind that this is what I want to do, bearing arms for the service of the nation,” he said. He cleared the Service Selection Board at Bangalore in 2014 and joined the Officers Training Academy at Gaya, Bihar, in January, 2015.
Roshan mentioned, “The first time I wore the uniform and looked at myself in the mirror, it felt surreal. The training period which followed included one year of basic military training after its completion, I joined the Cadets Training Wing (CTW) at MCEME, Secunderabad.”However, during an obstacle course after nine months of training at CTW, he sustained an injury. “I had dislocated my left elbow. There was an open fracture since I fell on the left arm. I had to go through multiple surgeries and was on a lot of antibiotics and medicines,” Roshan added.
“All through this time, my goal remained the same – to serve the nation. I knew I will get through it and will be back doing my course. Cadets have one and a half years to be kept under the medical category. But after the given period, I was told that my injury will take time to heal and I had to leave the course,” he said. The period of hospitalisation takes a toll on one’s mental health and thanks to the training he received as a cadet for helping him establish a schedule. He started to read more and also learnt to play the guitar.
During this phase, Roshan mentioned, “My dad and mom had complete faith in me even after the injury and they knew I could take on anything that came. My friends always gave me a call and visited me. My dad would come every weekend to Pune when I was admitted to spend some time and take me out while talking me through. I was mentally relaxed and I am grateful to each one of them and also to god for helping me with resilience and patience.”
It was time for Roshan to restart his life again and joined Loyola Academy, Hyderabad for BSc in Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science in 2018. “I had a knack for oratory and debating and participated in many events.” He won the Young Managers Talent Hunt contest where he had given a talk on Recovery from failure.
The restart wasn’t easy for him since the academy had a structured routine it was difficult to adjust to college life. He added, “My college was welcoming and the age gap of four years didn’t matter.” Currently, Roshan is in his final year of graduation and has been appointed as the Head Boy for the academic year 2020-2021. “As they say with great power comes great responsibilities, being the head boy, a lot of people look at you. You have to execute every single duty in a rightful manner. It brings back my gentleman cadet life a bit. This has been a learning experience. Learning has always been constant and I still continue to learn new things from each and everyone in the council.”
Roshan is keen to civil services exams. “I have now been placed at a corporate company and I am happy to start working there,” he adds.“Resilience, resolve, and patience. Patience kept me going during my hospitalisation, the resilience to never lose faith in what you do while standing strong on your grounds by believing in your ideas,” says this youngster.”