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Life’s getting more hectic… as if that were possible… the PT rounds have been increased to 10… but as if running 4km in the chilling darkness of winter weren't bad enough, we have an over-enthusiastic instructor who’s added a sprinting round after the END of 10 rounds… and then, with us wheezing for breath, we do a few stretches… ‘only 20 push-ups!!!’ he warns us… as if we’d exceed the limit and do a 50 if we went unchecked… and then 20 sit-ups… and then the whole regimen again…


I hadn’t been corporeally punished for a long, long time… the nightmares from the boarding school are being relived here… and somehow, I manage to get into more trouble than the whole squad put together… like the time my t-shirt was poking out of my drill dress and I had to jump down for a few good push-ups in the dusty PT ground, drill dress, boot ankle and all… other excuses are equally trivial… I ran through the parade ground instead of around it… carried tissue instead of kerchiefs… 2 minutes late… borrowed a pen without asking permission… joined the squad without asking… the list is growing…and by the end of 10 months there'll be an inclusive list of all the things that can be punished… I could probably write the NPA Penal Code… just so the juniors are aware of the punishments when they’re walking unaware into the stealthy traps laid by the crafty team of ADIs, DIs, CDI, ADs, ODs, CDs, BDs, etc…

Indoor classes offer the only respite… for most of us it's the most peaceful sleep, though we're sometimes unlucky to be called out by some overly keen-sighted faculty… some are better at the art than others…they manage to sleep before the faculty opens his mouth, wake up for the break for the munchies and coke and tea and promptly continue the sleep as if uninterrupted... Location matters in the practice of the art... the last benches are definitely helpful but even the class-rooms matter...and after studying practically the various sleeping habits, I have come to the following conclusion…

1. Kerala Audi is better than the DJC. Though brightly lit and scantily filled, it offers better, reclining chairs and ample leg space. This is like Kingfisher First as compared to the cattle budget class of DJC...The tables in front provide support to the head while also providing cover from the opponents(faculty).

2. The Mic in front of each one of us provides adequate entertainment by interested people singing, menacingly whispering and snoring into it while making it hard for anybody to recognizing even the direction of the source.

3. The faculty is blinded by the glaring lights all over the place.

But the biggest hurdle these days is neither the Marathon runs in the morning nor the Comatose Classes… Everybody hates the Arms Drill, the girls especially… it involves a lot of juggling with the very heavy SLRs… if one had to throw dangerous, explosive weapons around, why couldn’t we use the revolvers or the pistols???? My right arms feels like it’s gonna split like seam-split at the elbows… and there are bruises from the muzzle, the foresight-guard, from hitting the magazine( we have to hit the magazine hard enough for it to break... i'm not sure if my magazine is gonna break, but my palm certainly is bruised beyond recognition)

Another unique observation: Nowhere else, maybe except in the middle of World War II, did bandages, crutches and limping people, with arms, legs and heads missing (okay I got carried away a little… the missing limbs are purely out of my fancy though i'm not taking back the missing heads)…. The point is, they don’t attract attention! Everybody has them…!! or is gonna have them!! limping is a way of life!

Since the last blog, the big things missed:
there was a cultural function... i was dragged into swaying unrhythmatically in a group dance while our Boss sang a kannada song... i'm not sure i wouldn't have preferred the loaded SLRs instead of facing the audience... the function was followed up with a dancing frenzy! till 1:30... to usher in the New Year... we were told that we were exempt from PT! and soon after we whooped and hopped to show our pleasure, our Boss informed us that it would only be postponed... so the first thing we did on new year was to go on a 5km run at 6am!!! If that's any indication of the year to come, it's gonna be one-looooong-year!!

then, there was the 12km route march… us decked in Jungle gear, with SLRs on our shoulders, and backpacks… marching through the heat of Hyderabad… for no reason at all… people stared at us out of doorways, in their cars, in the middle of games… I wonder what they were thinking…

That’s about it, I suppose… until the next blue moon when I get some time to blog…

Signing off!!!

The Beginning...

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first working day of week 1... until now it was week 0...which was more of demos and preparation for the real thing...

PT started with fall in at 5:35am... march off to PT ground... reporting... PT started at 6am... lot of running (5X400m) till my lungs were on fire... followed by "stretching" with an explicit aim to tear every tendon and ligament... push-ups, sit-ups, something where you throw up one of your leg so high up on a bar, it's definitely not coming down by itself and then proceed to touch the toe... i think they set up 5-year-commissions for this kind of thing... just to figure out the worst things they can do to us....

6:55am - 5 min break... to change into drill gear... beret( a flat cap tight enough to burst a vein in your head)... belt(tightened enough to cause you to faint in the sun during the half breaths you manage, if you can) and boot ankle( don't be a wise guy and think 'ankle boot'... and these are prepared from the hardest, most inflexible leather so that everything in contact - your shin, ankle, toes, heels and other muscles of feet i don't know names of ache painfully)...

the drill is an arduous affair which i do not absolutely understand the point of... it involves doing 'saavdhan', 'vishram', 'daine mood', 'bayen mood', 'peeche mood' for hundreds of times each... till we're turned into automatons reacting on 'muscle memory'... another of the Instructor's favorite terms...

headed off after a quick breakfast of 1/4th parantha, two slices of bread with generous helpings of jam, one full boiled egg, milk and tea (i know you're amazed at my capacity to have both the liquids one after another... actually, i intersperse the drinking of milk with tea... my stomach's a garbage bin!!!)...

off to the DJC(Diamond Jubilee Complex) for Indoor classes - three classes in alll - Police in Modern india was boring, but survived...

Leaders of Police - next class, i succumbed finally after a brave fight with my thick leather cushioned chair and rolled around in sleep as much as decency and the instructor's patience permitted...

the third class was VK sir's and i enrolled myself in the 'Volunteers needed' section ( i was stretching after a small nap and he thought i raised my hand in participation) and have now 'generously offered' to teach the computer illits some basics... i'm going to finally attempt to learn some basics myself... VK's a dynamic leader with a penchant for tricking you to do what he wants you to do and making it seem like you did it coz you wanted to do it... chandu says i have a quarter crush on him... i denied it... 50% is nearer the number... ;-)

lunch - normal rice n roti...

"fall in" for more drilling at 3pm... the instructor proclaimed my cap too big, belt too loose and said my shoes didn't look like they were hurting enough... while barking the following encouragements at my squad...

'keep your heels together'

'turn faster'

'lift your thighs till they're parallel to the ground'

'hit the ground flat and hard'

'toe pointed down'

'shouting zor se!!'

if it makes no sense, don't despair... civvies (civilians) don't need to... ;-)

picked up a few books from library... michael crichton has lost his touch after 'lost world'... am reading his 'prey'.... sucks!

picked up the sequel to 'gone with the wind'... it's called 'Scarlett'... i just realized it's written by some other lady and not Margaret Mitchell...

picked up "Nehru" with high hopes... too high... doubt if i'll finish the prologue...



long entry... gotta go now... and read 'introduction to computers'... after all i just need to stay one class ahead of the comp-illits... (Computer Illiterates)...;-)