Hospital era Dec'04 to Mar'06

> An era per se…the hospital era…one year plus. Seen a lot about life in this time. People, living in d day-to-day world with a plethora of petty problems are so oblivious to d fact that they are so lucky…saw so many different health problems that can happen to a person with no rhyme or reason, tht it made me feel thankful to God…I’m still better off!!

> Had a great time, no big-time worries, had my family besides me (for a month at least), used to talk to “her” all the time while she was recuperating from her injuries. I was in Pune…down south, n herself in Dehradun…far up there…But d very fact that there was someone whom I was going to marry soon, mitigated all d pain…

> Those were d days when I had no tension about my career, no work load, no pressure of studies. Made so many friends- offrs of all ages… youngsters and retired offrs alike. Then there were “good looking visitors” who used to come n visit d plethora of offrs (since it was a Command hosp)…well, made quite a few GOOD n long term friends there (I name no names!! ).

> Was on the wheel chair for the first 5-6 months…it was a quite a sight- there was a long corridor with marble flooring, and a one handed patient with a fractured leg ,on a wheelchair used to whoosh past ppl sitting out in the evening-backwards at full speed. I was n expert on tht…an authority, used to go backwards, pushing with the other leg, n as soon as the end of d corridor used to arrive…left hand used to bring the left wheel to a stand-still and lo…the inertia of motion gave a such n effect…the wheelchair used to take a sudden 360 deg turn, n ppl used 2 look at me in amazement…Heh heh heh…quite a sight…

> In May, she recuperated and joined her unit…came to know the army code for dialing directly to Guwahati n then 2 her office…used to talk for hours…day n night…gratis…free of cost!! Good ol’ time…

> Used to sit in the eveng in the garden with senior offrs, n whenever they used to start off with- “In my times……”, v used to quietly msg a friend (looking straight ofcourse) to call up…n then “Excuse me sir”, and wheel away to freedom !!

> In one of the operations in which graft had to be taken out from my leg, docs asked me while I was in sedation, I remember telling ‘em with closed eyes… “take it from the right one…it’s off-road as it is [fractured :)]”

> Had a good rapport with the nurses [:)], many-a-times used 2 go out sans informing nebody...once I was on foot ofcourse…
During this time, was shifted from Baroda to Pune to Baroda to Delhi to Baroda to Jabalpur n finally out once d ordeal was over.

> Met an officer (I name no names!!) who lost his right arm, half his rt leg and entire left leg due to delay in evacuation while serving in Siachen. It was a gruesome sight but the smile on d face of that officer and composure of his mental self was stupendous. He added on 2 my belief in the thought that, “What’s happened has happened, your being despondent is not going to change anything…Move on…Enjoy life…Make use of what you have in hand…”

> Wrote to d chief o’ army staff tht I don’t want to leave the forces, but as they say “Rules are rules”…As Tom Hanks said in Forrest Gump- “Shit happens!!”… Decided to prepare for life outside…rest is history !!

Life @ NDA

There is so much to write, but again so much which has to be censored by me myself, lest youngsters get intimidated by d hard work involved…Newayz, letz see wht comes up in black and white.

> Its an odd feeling…now that I reminisce over the ostensibly “hard-to-get-over” 3 years at NDA. Such a big transformation- in personality, thinking, physical structure, attitude towards life, et al.
> Each of those 6 terms came with new privileges (within the squadron), new opportunities, new competitions, new headaches!!, new responsibilities and of course “added respect”. To help cadets out, there r various kinds of “Pal-funda”… “name-type pals”, “place-type pals”, “b’day type”,”face type”, “school type”…u name a common factor n approach a senior to take “Lift” veneva ure facing predicaments n embattled times.
> The first day of the first term was very iffy…had no idea what I was stepping into...Joined the Foxtrot Squadron. Within 24hours life was in a spin wherein the spinning wheel had no friction…whatsoever...The first phase consists of breaking the inherent ego tht is in d minds of guyz coming from Class XII, best part….it is not done by slapping or even man-handling for tht matter…a few cream-rolls here (read rolling on undulating ground), a few back rolls there n u come to ground level…you “unlearn” everything tht you have brought to the academy, ready to become an Officer brimming with qualities 2 b among the top-notch in whteva field one is in.

> There was so much to do- PT, running, breakfast (an event per se), classes, lunch (again an event per se), clubs, games, “moving in” (i.e. doing zillions of push-up to enter the squadron…) after the games, study period, dinner, and post dinner activities J. Thanks-fully wearing a wrist-watch was a sixth term privilege…used to just wait n wait n wait for time to pass by…no dearth in activities- riding, polo, swimming, mountain climbing, water skiing, golf, photography, firing et al.

> For all the terms, everyday was a new day, it was like somehow doing all the activities and making it to your bed safe n sound at night. Going from squadron for breakfast, breakfast to classes, going from one LH(lecture hall) to another, classes to lunch…n onwards, without getting caught by appointments, lifting up your bikes, running around poles, et al ; was a big deal!!
> The camps were tough, made us tougher- mentally n physically. It imbibed us the spirit of “ Never give up” and “Therez no limit to human endurance…none at all !!”.

> Check out some of our photos from