A Playful Day

The alarm goes off before the chicken in the morning. It's 6 o'clock!!! I hurriedly get off from the bed to get ready at the speed of a bullet train.

But gosh! I didn't even know where my bun cover, bun pins and batches are and even the uniform is not ironed. Luckily I have got very helpful parents. My mom irons my uniform while I hurriedly look for my things in every corner of the room and my dad always polishes my DMs (which are heavier than a shot put ball) a day before in advance. After a lot of twisting and turning, I finally put my foot into the DMs and manage to get down the stairs with my ankle stiff. I have learnt how to cross the divider without spoiling my uniform because I never reach the bus stop on time and have to wave a hand to the driver to stop on the way.

The travelling time passes very quickly with the daily newspaper and some music. I'm crazy about music from the nightingale of Bollywood to one D, I love listening to all their melodies.

After getting down from the bus remains this long journey from Kashmir to Kanyakumari i.e. from the bus stop to the NCC complex. The million kilometres long path is reduced to a few miles when I get the company of my chatterbox gang. Our ears have now fed up with Anu's complaint about her hair and then Tina starts commenting on her dark lip shade and her photo filters. The number of members of the gang increases as we proceed on the way.

Finally, we enter the mighty gates of the complex and our bags come down into our hands from the shoulders. We find our seniors and batchies under the trees in front of the unit. We wish them, Jai Hind!!

Let me introduce you all to my gang.

Tina, Annu and Nikki are our chatterboxes. I, Palak and Mann( beauty king, Nickname given to him by me) are their quiet listeners. Mahi is our teddy bear. I like her lovely hug which is full of love like a mother's hug. Sonu is a little atom bomb that is full of energy and can burst with just a little strike of light. Garima is our Priyanka Chopra and her giggle adds to her beauty. Harit is a gentleman and the most sincere guy. I appreciate his patience level and calmness. His love is food and we easily get to know that he has overeaten by looking at his belly which has come out and he has to loosen his belt.  Dev is an easy-going lad, always fighting with me and we both do all stupid things together. I think Suchit is the re-birth of Hitler on the earth when he is in a serious mood which he is always. But he leaves no chance to pull anyone's leg. Aditya is a chill guy but becomes an angry bird in the drill ground. Aadil is a prank master and the funniest person in the world. Sid and Sam are the detectives of our unit who have news of each corner that we are just unaware of. Sahil is a smart guy who always keeps smiling.

We correct our bearing by setting each other's Barret and batches and trim our nails before the morning muster. I love to tease my fellow SDs for their clean shave look. Now enters our SCC( Senior cadet captain), Kabir Sir to disturb our gala time. One can notice a cute rabbit smile between his long moustaches. He commands for the morning muster in a loud voice like a lion's roar.

After listening to the command, Riya ma'am regains her memory and comes in the form of CC(Cadet captain). She is more like a kid with zero size figure. We never get to know when she is serious and when she is kidding. Her expression changes just in milliseconds.

We get into proper 3's after a lot of quarrels about who will stand in the front row (because standing in the front means you are right under the commander's nose). Then we march like a battalion to the parade ground. The parade ground is the place where we have our drill practice and it becomes our dance floor on the last day of every camp. It's the place where we are forced to get charred under the sun.  After marking attendance and the headcount, we have our dress inspection by Ram sir. He is our Gunnery instructor who always points out that our shoes are not polished even if they are polished. The other two of our instructors are Prakash Sir and Ramesh sir. Prakash Sir is from the communication department and I like his subject the most. He is a very calm man who never gets angry. Ramesh sir is a simple person with a shy nature but is the most dangerous one when he gets angry.

Now we are divided into various troops for the drill practice and the time for ragda and makra begins.  I have never seen a Makrebaaz like Vishal sir. He can always be spotted as Makrebaaz and is never caught by the commander. I think I must learn the tricks from him. Someone has rightly said that "Friends are the pain killer of our life". This line holds perfectly true when I even enjoy the ragda in my friend's company. While our hands and legs are busy swinging and coordinating and our mouths shouting left-right-left, our eyes are constantly fixed at the entrance gate waiting for the refreshment. I always get a throwback of the memories of our initial days on the parade ground when we used to get unconscious because of the scorching heat of the sun and were taken care of by our sweet super seniors.

Vidhi ma'am, our ex-SCC, has the world's most precious smile and is a role model for all of us. Finally when we are completely squeezed and our throat is not in a condition to utter even a single word, comes the time for a water break. Walking with the speed of tied camels we reach for our bags and empty our water bottles. After making us physically exhausted, now to also make us mentally exhausted, Deepak sir comes to take our theory class. He is a short man with a very faint voice. He wears thick spectacles and looks like an innocent kid in a casual T-shirt. I don't even understand even half of what he says because he speaks in pure Hindi language.

After making us all settle down he asks two SDs to bring a whiteboard and marker. They waste as much time as they could to bring the board from just the first floor and till they come we listen to his knowledge of Hindi. After the board is placed, he writes the topic 'National Integration' in the English alphabet which is a surprise for all of us. He starts explaining the topic but tells everything except it and the whole class doesn't know what 'National Integration' means till the end.

Now, to just kill the time and reduce the boredom Tina starts questioning.

"Sir, I have not understood what is National Integration? Please explain it in an understandable language". As an answer, he again starts his usual lecture on Hindi literature and the remaining time passes in that. Kabir Sir comes slowly from the backside and asks us to queue up. 

After sucking our blood comes our time to suck the Chhota Bheem frooti i.e. refreshment time. The moment for which we wait since morning. The samosas don't contain potatoes but still, we love to eat them. Poor private cadets are unable to speak anything about the injustice happening to them because they have to pay for the refreshment and the government ones get it for free. I guess how big are SDs' bellies that they could eat 3-4 samosas at a time. The energy which we get from the refreshment is utilised by making us wait for the CO sir and daur kadam tal. He reaches his destination after the tour of the whole complex.

He has unique charisma and demeanour which makes him stand out from the others. He has a stern approach toward discipline and always has something new in his mind for the overall development of the cadets.,He starts with his usual dialogue," The whole idea is......" and I start wondering in my dreamland. I come back to reality when Anu tells me that CO sir is calling out a few cadets and I was one among them. I fall out at a very slow pace, asking others what was going on. He asks us to repeat what he has said. Gosh! What to speak now? But luck saved me I was the second one. Dev said the mainline and I just elaborated it. The day is incomplete without the echo of the NCC song. The NCC song is liked by millions of cadets, both past and present, and is sung on all important occasions of the NCC. It signifies that despite differences in culture, traditions, religion and languages, India is United.

On the command, we start to sing together.....

   Hum sab Bharatiya hain,

   Apni manzil ek hai,

   Ha ha ha ek hai, ho ho ho ek hai,

   Hum sab Bharatiya hain.

   Kashmir ki dharti Rani hai,Sartaj Himalaya hai,

   Sadiyon se hamne isko apne khoon se pala hai,

   Desh ki raksha ke khatir hum shamshir utha lenge,

   Hum shamshir utha lenge,

   Bikhare bikhare taare hai hum,

   Lekin jhilmil ek hai,

   Ha ha ha ek hai, ho ho ho ek hai,

   Hum sab Bharatiya hain.

   Mandir Gurudware bhi hai yahan,

   Aur Masjid bhi hai yahan,

   Girija ka hai ghariyal kahin,

   Mullah ki kahin hai azaan,

   Ek hi apna Ram hai,

   Ek hi Allah taala hai, ek hi Allah taala hai,

   Rang birange deepak hain hum,

   Lekin jagmag ek hai,

   Ha ha ha ek hai, ho ho ho ek hai,

   Hum sab Bharatiya hain.

 

   Vande mataram, Vande matram!

   Bharatiya Nau Sena ki Jai!!

   Squad......visarjan!

We take our bags and went out of the mighty gates. As we step out, we turn into naughty college lads from disciplined cadets.

We share all the spicy news near the coffee shop. It's fixed that I would get a coffee treat by Dev every time we meet. We click photographs as a memory of our mischiefs. The most entertaining part is the Tarun and Abhi's romantic acts.

After our usual matargasti we part each other goodbye and walk towards our homes.