I had made a passing mention of jumping from the 7 m boardinto a swimming pool inan earlier post here. Well, this post aims to delve deeper into this lifealtering experience at the National Defence Academy (NDA).To recap – The swimming test at NDA has two phases; swimming50 m and…
Real India Through Humour. The land of history, resourcefulness and ingenuity.
Do you know this Indian State? Well it is Bihar. Its honest citizens are hardworking and have this amazing knack of finding humour while answering the most trying of stereotypical questions. (Sample this – “Wahan toh sab raat 8 baje bandh ho jaata hoga?”. “Bhai, NOIDA main nahin hai Bihar”)….
Military Memories. Swimming is Fun. Learning, not so much
If one is looking for logic, the Armed Forces is not the place to seek it. Take for example, the system of privileges that seniority bestows. Within the Squadrons (hostels) at the National Defence Academy (NDA), there are marked (some would say silly) differences in how one dresses, even in…
Life Lessons with Laughter. Here a Scam there a Scam
Newspapers nowadays are full of news articles about someone or the other getting scammed (Courier scam, Nigerian scam, Customs scam, etc). I would like however, to step back a few years. Those who know me will put me in the handsome, suave and ‘man of the world’ category. And for…
Service Life Chronicles. Nausea, Vertigo, Vomiting!
The human ear is a wonderful organ. It allows us to enjoy – music,the lulling sounds of waves and the soothing pitter patter of rain. On thedownside – ears tend to take the shape of a cauliflower when mistreated (seenwrestlers?) considerable limiting one’s sex appeal. The blasted piece ofcartilage is…
Military Service Reflections. The Joys and Sorrows of Horse Riding
Training at the National Defence Academy has quite a large percentage of time devoted to the physical. This includes PT, swimming, drill, cross country, boxing, various troop games and (strangely) horse riding. One would expect, extrapolating from the movies, that horse riding is great fun –starting with hearty ‘yee haw’,…
Desi Culture Reflections. Everything I have learnt in life, I learnt from Bollywood!
India produces more than 1500 movies every year and the movies of my era (the born in the sixties generation) influenced me in many ways. They taught me Indian values, culture and racism. Please allow me to elucidate. If you are:- Now wasn’t that a master class on understanding India…