A Different World

I was a NCC cadet during my college days and that introduced me to a different world. NCC stands for National Cadet Corps.  Being a cadet taught me some of life's lessons - survival, time management and people skills to name a few. I'll share some interesting stories; stories that I have shared with a few of my non-NCC friends :)

I think only NCC cadets will ever fully understand what is it to be a part of this world where we march most of the times, what it means to wake up in the wee hours, queuing up outside a telephone booth during camps to call home, the camp food :D, the meaning of  the words night sentry duty, the hierarchy from Senior Under Office to a Corporal and running around with rifles and even being able to shoot at targets. The Republic Day Parade in Delhi, the passion and the struggle it takes to get there. Thal Sainik camp, NIC camp and so many more terms! :)

For those who weren't a part of NCC here's some info: There are three wings of the NCC much like our armed forces - The Army, The Navy and the Airforce.  This is sort of to have a trained pool of trained people who can be of help in times of emergency (I think).  There are a lot of things that cadets do besides marching around in the sun.  For me it was a passion, the most memorable moments of my college life were spent in camps.  I met most of my closest friends in NCC camps or parades :)  Here are a few of the lessons I learnt at camp.

Lesson 1 - No Think, No Smell: I was a part of the first batch of the girls NCC unit in our college and it was our first NCC camp. Usually cadets are given two pairs of uniforms but since ours was a new unit all of us only had one pair of Khakis (I was an Army cadet).  The camp lasted for 12 days and all of us had to make do with one uniform - imagine this now we were made to march the whole day under the sun and made us sweat a lot and we used the same uniform for at least 8 days before washing it on day 9 or 10 I think :P.  What's interesting to note was nobody complaint of body odour or smelly uniforms :) All of us hung the uniforms on hangers and sprayed deodorant on them :D  and the next morning they would be just OK :) That was the first NCC camp I ever attended :) 

Lesson 2 - Re-arrange Tasks, Make Time: The first morning at the camp and I realized I should have woken up early - there were long queues outside the bathrooms and toilets! Somehow managed to get ready and make it in time for the morning exercise.  That night I showered at night and went to sleep wearing the morning exercise dress. Saved me a lot of time next morning - all I had to do was brush and do my hair - tying two plats in the figure of 8 :) This habit stayed with me for a long time even when I started my new job I had a morning 6 AM shift so I would follow the same thing then too - showered at night and just brushed and dressed up in the morning.  I got ready in 10 minutes! :D

Lesson 3 - Keep it Simple Silly: There used to be long queues outside the telephone booth.  Cell phones were just launched that too the black and grey screen ancient ones, few people in camp owned them.  I wasn't so talkative those days (I'd like to think so ) when it came to calling home I would tell the girls ahead I would take just 1 minute and they would let me cut the line.  I communicated what my mother wanted to know in just in minute or less.  The conversation would mostly just be " I'm fine here, the food is OK, people are fine too.  What else you want to know?" she would just laugh and reply nothing else and I'd hang up :D What else do mothers want to know besides knowing how their child is :)

Lesson 4 - Ask and Only Then You Shall Receive: Its a bad world and one has to fend for oneself no matter how many friends or relative one has.  One must learn to defend and survive independently, want something then learn to ask.  Self service first is the number one rule of the jungle don't expect anyone to wait on you or to take care of you.  There was this very helpful I knew at camp which lasted almost two and half month.  She would help the other girls and share her stuff if anyone wanted anything.  Once she ran out of lip balm (it was winter and lip balm was a very important item) she asked this other girl if she could borrow her's.  Now this other girl was a meanie and behaved as if she didn't hear what she said.  But my friend was persistent, she had once helped this other girl and now she would not going to be ignored.

Lesson 5 - Life is not always Fair: I participated in the Republic Day Parade camp and this is something the cadets will ever understand.  This was the only time I ever wanted to go to Delhi just to participate in the Republic Day Parade.  Its the mother of all camps, the cadets go through series of  mentally and physically excruciating camps. The reason I went for it was to challenge my physical limits, to see how much could my body take.  It seemed all good fun at first but as we advanced the levels so did the number of eliminations happening.  I was eliminated at the third last level of the camp which was almost two and half months of camping in that year.  I didn't think I was bad but it was a numbers game and mine wasn't called out.  That hurt and it was a little depressing but well life is not always fair. But as long as you look at the bright side you will be fine - learn the lessons.

Two years after this camp I was working in a new city and doing odd hours of shift.  The lessons I learnt in camp seemed like a preparation for this new phase of life that began after college...