The IMA Days
If NDA was good, IMA was no less. Starting afresh and being ‘juniors’ again was difficult to adjust, but it was just a matter of one term. Try as hard as I may, amongst the few things that I vividly remember of the IMA tenure, one is the ‘Bhadraj’ & the second one is ‘Chindits’. These are the two camps in the second & the third term respectively and the word ‘tough’ would be a reasonably ok to describe them. But what if one has to repeat either of them? or both for that matter? And with ‘jinx’ following us from NDA we were the ideal choice for repeating – both of them!! and had it not been for the President Mr R Venkataraman, who was the chief guest for our POP (passing out parade), we surely could have repeated our POP as well, why because even after numerous rehearsals the big occasion got on to our AUO (Academy Under Officer) and he forgot one of the commands of the drill. I remember making an angled approach to the ‘FINAL STEP’ instead of the traditional straight approach. Amongst the other memories of IMA include the famous ‘Shakumbari’ pass during the Chindits camp, it was amazing to find the entire course bunched up in the morning, no one could locate the pass in the night, moreover everyone was thoroughly drenched except us the Alamein company since we were blissfully sleeping in one of the ‘Gurjar’ huts when it rained cats & dogs outside. The entire course got so late that the academy had to cater for an extra meal since we had already long consumed the emergency rations. Another memory is of me becoming a ‘cane appointment’ as it is popularly called, felt nice since NDA didn’t find me worthy of it, wait it did, as was told by my ‘Divo’ (Divisional Officer) had it not been for a few of my FUs in the junior terms, I deserved something big, no wonder even without any appointment, I ranked pretty high up in the passing out merit from NDA. The jinx was following, so with the rotational policy, my cane appointment went a few weeks before we took our final step.
Alright, before I close the chapter on IMA, one final & most important topic – ‘Choice of Arms’! We were told that it is as important as choosing a wife since we have to live with it. Well it wasn’t entirely wrong; it’s the choice of arm which really differentiates how our careers developed further and where we are now. Since we were the same NDA course on whom ‘science’ was thrust upon, so it wasn’t a surprise when the hot choice was the technical arm – the Engineers, Signals & EME (Electrical & Mechanical Engineers). Our super block guys chose & got Engineers/Signals. Poor me, in the third block that I was in, there were only two signal vacancies with three PCs (Parental Claims), Engineer vacancies having been already consumed by the toppers & Technical Graduates, I was left to make a choice into the unknown, & hoping it to be good. Arty AD (Artillery Air Defence) was my choice; why because it was the most happening arm, the most technologically advanced arm, the arm of air conditioned radars and long range surface to air missiles and last but not the least, we were told that AD guys live in the Metros only!! I still remember the statement made by our AD instructor when he was giving the motivation lecture about AD, he said and I quote “In my 12 years of service, I have always had hot lunch at my home” I had that statement at the back of my mind always, so it was AD for me and I was looking forward to which metro I would be posted to – a myth that was soon to be shattered during the allotment of arms. After all the anticipations & increased palpitations, I was an AD gunner!! but no metro station for me; I was supposed to be going to my Regiment which was located at Ferozepur!!…hello… Ferozepur isn’t a metro, I asked Major (now Brigadier) Ashwani Kumar, our AD instructor, he smiled and said, Siachen isn’t either my dear, and looking at my dazed face clarified that my Regiment was shortly moving from Ferozepur to Siachen Glacier. Not all AD units were located at Metro stations and certainly not mine…..the Metro Myth was shattered…..the ‘jinx’ was back!!!
Before signing off the IMA diary, I must add that though many of us got our preferred choice of arm but those who did not are performing extremely well…..many of them would be becoming ‘Colonels’ very soon this year and start commanding their battalions, the command which Field Marshall Slim has described as one of the most challenging & satisfying command in one’s career. Best of luck guys, will look you up when in town.
See you next time from the AD perspective………..
If NDA was good, IMA was no less. Starting afresh and being ‘juniors’ again was difficult to adjust, but it was just a matter of one term. Try as hard as I may, amongst the few things that I vividly remember of the IMA tenure, one is the ‘Bhadraj’ & the second one is ‘Chindits’. These are the two camps in the second & the third term respectively and the word ‘tough’ would be a reasonably ok to describe them. But what if one has to repeat either of them? or both for that matter? And with ‘jinx’ following us from NDA we were the ideal choice for repeating – both of them!! and had it not been for the President Mr R Venkataraman, who was the chief guest for our POP (passing out parade), we surely could have repeated our POP as well, why because even after numerous rehearsals the big occasion got on to our AUO (Academy Under Officer) and he forgot one of the commands of the drill. I remember making an angled approach to the ‘FINAL STEP’ instead of the traditional straight approach. Amongst the other memories of IMA include the famous ‘Shakumbari’ pass during the Chindits camp, it was amazing to find the entire course bunched up in the morning, no one could locate the pass in the night, moreover everyone was thoroughly drenched except us the Alamein company since we were blissfully sleeping in one of the ‘Gurjar’ huts when it rained cats & dogs outside. The entire course got so late that the academy had to cater for an extra meal since we had already long consumed the emergency rations. Another memory is of me becoming a ‘cane appointment’ as it is popularly called, felt nice since NDA didn’t find me worthy of it, wait it did, as was told by my ‘Divo’ (Divisional Officer) had it not been for a few of my FUs in the junior terms, I deserved something big, no wonder even without any appointment, I ranked pretty high up in the passing out merit from NDA. The jinx was following, so with the rotational policy, my cane appointment went a few weeks before we took our final step.
Alright, before I close the chapter on IMA, one final & most important topic – ‘Choice of Arms’! We were told that it is as important as choosing a wife since we have to live with it. Well it wasn’t entirely wrong; it’s the choice of arm which really differentiates how our careers developed further and where we are now. Since we were the same NDA course on whom ‘science’ was thrust upon, so it wasn’t a surprise when the hot choice was the technical arm – the Engineers, Signals & EME (Electrical & Mechanical Engineers). Our super block guys chose & got Engineers/Signals. Poor me, in the third block that I was in, there were only two signal vacancies with three PCs (Parental Claims), Engineer vacancies having been already consumed by the toppers & Technical Graduates, I was left to make a choice into the unknown, & hoping it to be good. Arty AD (Artillery Air Defence) was my choice; why because it was the most happening arm, the most technologically advanced arm, the arm of air conditioned radars and long range surface to air missiles and last but not the least, we were told that AD guys live in the Metros only!! I still remember the statement made by our AD instructor when he was giving the motivation lecture about AD, he said and I quote “In my 12 years of service, I have always had hot lunch at my home” I had that statement at the back of my mind always, so it was AD for me and I was looking forward to which metro I would be posted to – a myth that was soon to be shattered during the allotment of arms. After all the anticipations & increased palpitations, I was an AD gunner!! but no metro station for me; I was supposed to be going to my Regiment which was located at Ferozepur!!…hello… Ferozepur isn’t a metro, I asked Major (now Brigadier) Ashwani Kumar, our AD instructor, he smiled and said, Siachen isn’t either my dear, and looking at my dazed face clarified that my Regiment was shortly moving from Ferozepur to Siachen Glacier. Not all AD units were located at Metro stations and certainly not mine…..the Metro Myth was shattered…..the ‘jinx’ was back!!!
Before signing off the IMA diary, I must add that though many of us got our preferred choice of arm but those who did not are performing extremely well…..many of them would be becoming ‘Colonels’ very soon this year and start commanding their battalions, the command which Field Marshall Slim has described as one of the most challenging & satisfying command in one’s career. Best of luck guys, will look you up when in town.
See you next time from the AD perspective………..
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