Taking you back to September 2005! A relishing journey of National Cadet Corps (NCC).
Hello dear friend. Thank you for coming to read my story. It's been a while I wrote blog. This one is a long blog. It is going to be an experience like reading a novel. So you can read it just the way you spend time for a novel. I was thinking about writing blog while in my college recently, when I went to monitor a Basic Leadership Camp conducted there (28/07/2013). I suddenly felt the urge of sharing how cool my camping experience was. Reason being, most of the camp goers were feeling bored. Ofcourse since it was a BLC and it consisted more of lectures, but then has NCC experience changed from the way it used to be? I was wondering whether adventure spirit was lost in the recent times. I also came to know that there were barely any tent based camps conducted. Ok, Never mind! I thought let me first share my experience and leave it to them (my juniors) to understand how things are and are not today. This blog is also for all others who wished to join NCC but couldn't for many other reasons.
To begin with I must first write down the names of my friends whom I cherish even today and we are still in contact and grow together, sharing our personal ups and downs. A few are not in reach and we are trying to re-establish their contact. They are my camp mates, Chennai mates!
National Integration Camp, Kadegaon. Kolhapur Group, Maharastra.
26th Sept. 2005 to 07th Oct. 2005.
Unit- 1 (TN) SIG COY NCC;
1. Naren- Bharath Institute of Science and Technology (Old name of my college)
2. Ashwin- A.M. Jain College
3. Karthik- A.M. Jain College
4. Kunal- SRM Engineering College
5. Gopinath- SRM Engineering College
Unit- 1 (TN) Medical Unit NCC,
1. Inbarasan- Madras Medical College
2. Ravi- Madras Medical College
3. Karthik- Madras Medical College
4. Venu- Madras Medical College
5. Sandeep- Madras Medical College
Unit- 1 (TN) Girls Battalion
1. Deepa- Stella Maris College
2. Nithya- Stella Maris College
3. Soniya- Stella Maris College
4. Sathya- Queen Maris College
5. Sivaranjani- Queen Maris College
6. Muthumari- Queen Maris College
A total of 16 cadets, 10 SD(boys) and 6 SW(girls).
It was in the month of July 2005 that I joined NCC while I was in my college second year. I was just a baby in the fold, a boy full of zeal and inspiration to wear uniform, practise salute, learn drill, try weapons and above all it was pride and patriotism. While once in college on a regular Saturday one of my seniors, Suresh sir told me "Naren you are going for NIC camp from our college. You are the only person from our college and the reason we are sending you is you are into culturals and you know Hindi." I gladly accepted the offer since I was looking forward for more than the regular Saturday drill practise. My then immediate seniors Sanjeev sir, Deepak sir, Sudhan sir encouraged me to attend the camp as well. Simultaneously my other batch friends, Enoch and Sanjeevarayan were selected to attend Army Attachment camp. Enoch was very proud that he was going to a regular army based camp, wherein I was going to do "Tha thai" cultural dance in camp. We both always have been arguing about each others taste, yet we remain to be best friends. 23rd Sept., I went to my unit office to submit camp papers (attested by college ANO- Associate NCC Officer, then Mr. Radhakrishnan and Indemnity bond from parents) and collect my Kit Bag and Durry (a kind of thick bedsheet which withstands immense cold). The Kit Bag looked funny. It was a cylindrical long bag about 3 feet with two ropes like a sling which one can wear like a back pack. That is what regular army soldiers use even now. I bought the kit bag went home and had packed my things. My baggage involved plates, tumblers, towels, uniform, civil dress, t shirts and tracks, slippers, rope to dry clothes, hangers, clips, bucket, polish and toilet kit and all that you can imagine for a travel cum camp. I polished my DMS boots, pressed my uniform, pinned all the name plate and tabs stuff and hung it on the wall and went to bed.
24th Sept 2005,
I woke up as early as 3.45 AM. Mom, Dad and sister had planned to come to send me off at Central Railway Station. I got ready and we started in our car from home at 5.30 AM and arrived at Central at about 6.15AM. The moment I got down I felt as if everyone in the railway station was looking at me. Its the first time I am out travelling in uniform. Its a strange feeling and only those who have wore uniforms can understand it. The plan was we were first leaving to Bangalore and from there to Karad. From Chennai we were supposed to leave by Brindavan Express, the train departed at 7.00 AM then. Now it departs at 7.50 AM. I had moved to the platform where I was meant to meet my unit office PI(Parade Instructor) staff. I saw the concerned man in an army uniform. I then got there and waited. Meanwhile the other cadets were also assembling. No introduction whatsoever till we got into the train and departed. Our ANO incharge, a school teacher from Little Flower Angels School had come and PI staff was talking to her. He then told dad she is the one who is incharge since my dad was already asking about talking to the incharge. Everyone arrived and the train departed on time. Journey began. Here I had with me a mixed variety of friends all from various backgrounds like arts and science, engineering, medicine. We barely spoke anything to girls, especially me. You see I feel very shy to talk to strange girls!! After some 7 hours travel we arrived at Bangalore. It was going to be a long evening wait. We arrived there at 01.40 PM and we had to wait till 10.00PM to board our next train called Gandhidham express to Karad, Maharastra.
The official introduction of us among girl cadets was done only after arriving at Bangalore station. We anyways had to cut off 9 hours there. Then we boys went out to a nearby market, while I returned soon. Girls too wanted to go out to market. With no choice left it was me who became the sentry(watchman) all alone with ANO ma'am and the luggages. ANO was sincerely sleeping. I sat there at the waiting room taking care of all the belongings. I couldn't sleep either. Each one of them arrived some 6 hours later at about 8 PM. I was sympathized for having been made to wait. I was and remain to be the most patient guy. I can wait as long as possible. Its the calmness of mind that helps to be in one place for long. I then went out with doctor friends and had dinner and came. At about 9.45PM, despite of such a long relaxation a last minute confusion arose that the train was not on the platform that we were waiting, instead on a platform on the farthest end of the station. Everyone was on their toes running to catch the train which may depart in some 10 minutes. We made it! The train departed on time. It was now nothing more than sleep.
25th Sept 2005,
I woke up late at about 8AM ignoring the jiggling jog of the train. While then others were awake and talking about their experiences. Note the point, I am a junior kiddo here and all those who have come are Under Officers and Sergeants. They have something much more than I even know. A little bit of freshening up and train chai and biscuits was all for the day. Later I was just listening to what they spoke trying to grasp whatever I can. I was also busy sight seeing outside the train, the marvellous hilly regions and lush green forests of Western Ghats, the tunnels that we passed through and so on. A long stretching day of travel got over. We arrived at Karad at about 1.45PM. It was obvious we had to have intimidated the camp authorities that we were arriving by so and so train at so and so timings such that our pick up was made at the station. The ANO incharge had probably forgot or something. She then gave the SM(Subedar Major) number to Sandeep. Me and him went to SM (Station Master) room in the railway station and used the phone there to inform. Subedar Major then informed a PI staff about our arrival. A little more of waiting and a canter(mini truck) arrived at the station. For me every little thing was a fantasy. I was super whelmed seeing an army canter.!
Off from the station towards our new home for two weeks. The canter first went to a marriage hall. I was wondering, "Ohh, this is where we are going to stay." But then only girls were made to get down from the canter. First heart break.! Girls were to stay here and we were all going to stay somewhere else. We waved bye to our state girls hoping to see them directly on the last day of camp. A hush of breath filled our hearts and we left the place. We headed into a small village called Uglewadi. In the pathway there were a few more local NCC boys from Kolhapur, the ones organizing the camp. They joined us in the canter and we left off to our camp site.
Upon arrival at the camp site I was blossomed up. Since after sending off girls I was thinking that were also going to another marriage hall or community hall, but I was taken away by surprise. I started loving it instantly. A road led into the camp site which originated from a hill. I was facing towards that hill. To my right were about 20 tents pitched in a row wise manner on an area sprawling about and acre of non cultivatable land which had been taken up for camping. To my left were much bigger tents for camp officers and PI staffs, medical room and a stage for cultural purpose probably. The entire camp area was located on the slope of that hill. On the rear end of the camp site at some 500 yards we could see our railway station, Karad and trains could always be seen going to and fro. I adored the location. I am here for a great adventure I thought.
After reporting at the camp incharge about our arrival, we were guided to our tent. Carrying my luggages and heading to the tent I was imagining that it would have sheets laid, durry around it, a lantern and all that typical thing that would come in one's mind about tent. We arrived at our tent which contained a cardboard tag on it written as "TN,P & A&N" (Tamilnadu, Pondicherry & Andaman & Nicobar islands) and the moment it was opened, "surprise". The tent was pitched on a grass field and interior was full of well grown bushy grass. What a marvellous sight. We had to pluck all the grass, even in order to enter it. Our luggage was dumped outside our tent and we got into work. No sentry here because no other directorate has yet arrived to the camp except Tamilnadu and the local camp team. There was no worry for theft yet. NCC India has a total of 17 directorates today, earlier in my period it was 16.
The rest of the whole day went off just by cleaning the tent area. We then laid sheets and above it our durries. We bought blankets from the camp stock incharge. The rope I bought came in helpful as we tied it across the tent poles for our clothes to dry and hangers to hang our uniforms. Then around 6 PM we had a roll call and later we were offered tea and biscuits. Then one of our guys went to toilet to find out the place. He returned with a 'Wow'. "Semma edam da." means its a great place. I just went to find out how it looks. At a 100 yard (200 meters approx) distance from our tent I could see a yellow flag flying. Away from that flag was our toilet and a little more away was out of bound, since there was a small lake and it was unsafe and chances of slipping and drowning was evident. Toilet in open is the utmost experience of outdoor life and camping. Not many well bought up silver spoon would have experienced it. In that area were small box toilet made from Shamiyana(thick cloth) material. Those were our toilets. Once I entered them I could see a long deep hole dug into the ground some 10 feet deep. The opening was closed with a metal sheet to sit on, which had a decent hole through which we had to "shit". There were about 20 such toilets in the out of bound shit area. The area was good in the beginning with just 20-30 people in the camp. The after math of 500+ boy cadets using the same 10 feet toilet can only be imagined. Yellow flag eventually turned to become danger flag just after 3 days of camp. It would be suicidal to enter the area. Ok, shit with this topic. Let's move on!
That night we were provided with a decent dinner of two roti (wheat bread) and a little rice and dal and a banana. It was splendid to eat with the amount of hunger we had. We were off to bed pretty soon. I picked my mobile, which usually remained in switch off mode. I just said 'Hi' to my family and about my settlement and then off to bed. It was really warm to sleep in a tent.
26th Sept 2005,
The next day morning we were jolt woken up by the camp incharge (CHM) at about 6.00AM. He shouted, "utho, utho chai pio" The first day was welcoming since there were no other states/directorates and he had to make us drink the tea and biscuits made. Later with full camp strength the treatment would be different. We got up had tea, got our shitty business done, took bath in the coldest water which was directly routed from the nearby river, wore uniform and got ready. I had only two sets of uniform. Its a trick to maintain uniform for 10 days without pressing. I will tell you. I wore one uniform two days. I never like stink or sweat or dirty smell out of my dress. I feel down if something so happens. So when I wore a new set the third day I would just gently dip my old set uniform in water. Apply soap to it gently and slightly rinse it without squeezing it to avoid wrinkles. I would just let the cloth dry for two more days. The process was repeated so on. Ok, back to story!
We were made to clean the camp area. Help other PI staff in their works and take up duties which may range from Quarter Guard sentry, Mess sentry, CO sentry, and so on. We were introduced to the other familiar duties.
At about 8.30AM we were called for breakfast. (One has to stand in a big queue to have breakfast, lunch or dinner. We get our food on plate and go in sit in a single row in the gathering hall near mess and eat. The waste needs to be thrown in dustbins. If caught the punishment would be serious. Front rolls and back flips makes one vomit the food they had.) While having breakfast we could see a canter entering our camp area. The canter stood right in front of us near the mess area. We were just thinking that it's some ration or something that has come. A cheerful, "Hi" was heard from the canter side. It was our TN girls who had come to the camp site. It was great to see them again. We felt as if we were meeting them after a year, despite of meeting them just the previous day. They came for breakfast. So this was the camp plan. Girls would come to camp area everyday in canter from the time of breakfast and be here for the rest day of activity like tours, visits, cultural practise, lecutres and all that and have dinner and leave to their barracks. We came to know this from them and really felt great! Atleast a little of moral support and hope about the camp being enjoyable. Believe it or not, girls always have the power of cheering up boys, just by them being nearby. The first day was nothing more than duties and lunch and evening was a little bit of relaxation in our tents. Then we had tea and the second day was full of fun to see all the other states/directorates be dropped by canters and our neighbours come and occupy their tents. Our very neighbour tent was Kerala & Lakshdweep. Then the second day of camp came to an end, girls left after dinner and we guys were off to bed. From next day there was mandatory roll call in the morning. Time was becoming precious and wake up time as early as 4.30AM, 3.00AM if you want vacant toilets.
27th Sept 2005,
Many night sentry duties were allocated so our tent mostly consisted of only six people at a time, since four would be out on duty. Timings of duty range from, 10.00PM to 12.00AM, 12.00AM to 2.00AM, 2.00AM to 4.00AM, 4.00AM to 6.00AM. Those on duty from 2.00AM to 4.00AM and 4.00AM to 6.00AM need not come for fall in and morning PT, since they were easily excused. Majority of them would opt for these duties as they wake up at 1.45AM for duty and come back to tent at 4.00AM and sleep again. Sleep had always been a priority in camps. On 27th I woke up at 4.00AM and the toilet was already pushing hard since the camp had taken its strength. "No matter what I kept my personal tank clean in camp. Hygiene first." I tied my hand kerchief around my nose and mouth and entered the out of bound shit area. Then I took bath and wore uniform and came for fall in at 6.30AM after some tea and biscuit. The fall in was massive with some 500+ cadets, a battalion. The SM explained the schedule which may differ from day to day, but morning PT was a must, followed by breakfast and drill practise. We then finished roll call, did some drill, had breakfast and got to our work of cleaning the camp area. In other terms, grass plucking. In hindi, "Saaf safai." Seriously that was the worst work for the first two days. Girls came a bit late to the camp while we were somewhere far from our tents sincerely cleaning the area. We could get a long sight of TN girls entering our tents. While we were all turning back and watching our girls arrival, an instructor shouted from a long distance, "Tamilnadu, Kaam karo fatafat!" "Do your work, quick." Bloody jealous army walla. We then returned to our tent by lunch time. We had lunch and then an instruction was passed over about culturals that was planned to be conducted in the last two days of camp and we had to be prepared and equipped accordingly. After lunch we were discussing with girl cadets about who was good in what. I offered that I am good in painting, a little bit of keyboard and fair amount of singing. Then Ashwin was into silambam, martial arts, Deepa bharatanatyam since she was from Kalakshetra Chennai. Sathya would sing as well others like Inba and Ravi and many others into acting. We had planned songs, dance from Deepa, martial arts from Ashwin, a skit on Kannagiyin sabadam where Soniya was Kannagi and I was King Pandian. Funny right?? Yes I will tell that later on. The evening went settling while when an emergency fall in was announced at 4.30PM. The CO/Camp Commandant had arrived and was going to give Welcome address to cadets. We then assembled and sat down in the open ground. "Parade Savdhan bhait." "Sit erect." Then once the officer waves hand another command would come, "Aaram se." "At ease." The CO then welcomed us and explained about NIC camp, about Kolhapur and the locality, he spoke a few stories of his army life. He was a Colonel with atleast 18 years of service to the nation. He then gave a few tips and instructions about surviving in forest and safety. We were treated like Prince, we had no need for survival at all. Then after the lecture we had tea and then girls were also joining us for the evening roll call at about 6.00PM. Post tea was sports. It was always Volley Ball between prominent teams which was played and the local marathi audience would flood the place. Once darkness settled in, the concerned duties took over. Girls had dinner and they left. The next day was going to be a trek on the nearby hill. I made a phone call to home and was off to bed for the day.
28th Sept 2005,
The next day routine was Morning PT. We wore PT dress, that is a normal T shirt, track and trainer shoes. We used to jog in the nearby road leading to the main road and return and then frog jumps, squats, push ups, sprint and all that. Then we used to rush to change to our uniforms, have breakfast and then again fall in. Meanwhile our girls arrived and they had breakfast and assembled as well. We were all made to trek to the nearby hill below which our camp was based. We then started to walk up the hill, literally the 700+ strength was walking up the hill. It was an amazing sight. Once at the top there was a Shiva temple. A few went in there, while others were running around the hill to have a broad view of the entire area, taking pictures and all that. We had to spend some two hours on the hill. One sight was brilliant, that is the view of our camp area from the top of the hill. It was just amazing. The entire arrangement of the camp site was so nice. The tents were evenly and equidistantly pitched and everything was perfect. A slight smoke coming out of the kitchen tent could be seen as well. Our lunch was being prepared. We then had to come down all the way. We were straight away taken for lunch. We had lunch and there were serious plans about culturals. As evening struck it was tea time and sports time. The day went off as usual. Earlier dad was asking me that should he inform his friends at Kolhapur to come and meet me if I wanted something. I did actually. I was planning to look for a rental keyboard for the cultural programme. Then after discussion with our buddies it was decided to drop. Moreover I am a learner and it would be difficult for me to pick up a tune and I had to manage my time. So that plan was dropped. The upcoming day I had a Quarter guard duty at 2.00AM to 4.00AM. I was informed prior in the evening. I was off to bed at 9.00PM since I had to wake up early. My phone, Nokia 1100 was my alarm. The alarm used to go on even if the phone was switched off. I set alarm at 1.45 and I went to sleep.
29th Sept 2005,
The alarm struck at 1.45AM and I couldn't believe since I was feeling as if I had slept just before a while. Duty calls. I wore my dress, went to pee, had water and awoke myself from sleep and walked to the Quarter Guard. As I walked passing by other tents I felt an immense silence. A few whispers, giggles, snores from various tents. I could also hear insects, owl sounds and various mixed forest effects from the hill side. The wind was cold and I was surprised to see these army soldiers up even at that time, smoking and talking to each other. Damn, these guys are robots. They don't sleep at all I thought! I then went to Quarter Guard and the previous duty cadet was sincerely sleeping in the chair. He was totally lost in sleep. I gently tapped him and he woke up telling, "Yes sir." He frowned after seeing another fellow cadet. Then I told him duty change and he left. Then I was sitting in the chair. I was gazing around and seeing the darkness prevail. It was a nice night. Well yes, the Quarter Guard is something where the weapons are kept. It did contain some 20 SLR rifles inside. Indian Army never compromises when it comes to weapon. Once I saw the rifles my sleep went off. I got serious about my duty. There are possible threats that in a camp area, where the rifles are present, the sentry is the most vulnerable target. I thought this to myself and started walking slowly and vigilantly in the perimeter of the QG. Then at 4.00AM my 'badli' change of duty came and I left to tent. I directly went to bed and I was surprised when I woke up at 7.00AM. There was no one in the camp area except a few duty goers like me and a few army staffs. They must have left for PT, I thought. I then went to yellow flag area, took bath, had breakfast which was ready by the time I came. I then came back to our tent while most of our tent guys were getting ready for the day. Our girls arrived as well and they had breakfast too. Today we were leaving to Kolhapur, some 80 kilometers from our camp site. It was a 2 hours travels in our canter. A prominent city of Maharastra much famous its temples, costumes and export of slippers. "Kolhapur cha Chappal." No we were not leaving for any shopping or something, ofcourse shopping was permitted but we were leaving to Mahalakshmi Temple and Siddhivinayak temple in the city. These two temples are prominent pilgrimage. We were there at Kolhapur and it was a hot day. We were with our own team moving together and the day was going slow and smooth. We returned to camp site by 3.00PM and then had lunch. There was a plan of making paper models for our culturals. Inba wrote down what all needs to be made. We were planning to make charts representing Tamilnadu and we needed karagam for karagaatam and so on so forth the plan was made. We needed an Out Pass to go and buy stationery materials for making them. If possible a song cassette in tamil to dance for. No way will there be a tamil cassette here in Karad, may be in Kolhapur not here. The permission for out pass was denied for that day by SM and we had to hold back our plan for the next day.One more day of camp got over.
30th Sept 2005,
The next day was not much of activity but we were in our camp area. It was an idle day after PT and drill and breakfast. Girls had not turned up for a long while since the canter had gone away for some other work. They reached camp area by some 10AM. We were all in our tents and we pretended as if we were sleeping tight. Just the way any kids would behave. They were all standing outside the entrance of our tent and hesitating to come in. They were talking among themselves, especially Sathya. "Paavam pa, night duty pola ellam toongudhunga." Meanwhile Soniya was telling, "adhu ellam illa acting pa, ellarukuma duty irukkum?" They were talking among themselves and we couldn't control our laughter and we burst out. Even they started laughing. It was great fun though! There was a gathering area in the camp site near mess. It was a long tent where atleast 100 could fit in. It was also the mess area to sit and eat. We all went there to discuss about culturals, plan and practise our steps and enacts. Meanwhile Ashwin found a long stick some 5.5 feet tall. It was silambam (a wooden staff). He was going to perform the old traditional tamil martial art. Deepa was practising natyam and girls were planning what song to sing. We then had lunch, took some rest in tent and were back to the gathering tent for practise. It was a cloudy day and suddenly it started raining heavy. We stopped everything we were doing and started to adore the rain. While all of a sudden Inba noticed water sliding towards our tents. Since we were on the slope of the hill, the water from the hill was directly coming to our tents. We ran towards our tent to stop the water from coming in and spoiling our bed. Ashwin and Karthik instantly started to dig snake pit (ditch for water to flow away) around the tent. The tent was not tied tightly to withstand heavy rain and the top of the tent started to cave in. A few started to push the tent roof from inside in order to throw the water away. The tent got loose after the water was thrown out. We then had to remove all the ropes and retie the tent tightly. It was getting really cold outside and rain was more like hail stone. We succeeded and headed back to the gathering tent and were shivering like hell. After some two hours the rain subsided and we were provided with tea and biscuits. The hot tea was like elixir to drink after the cold rain. Then again we got into practise. The plan was to make me act as King Pandian in the Kannagiyin sabadam story enact. I was also going to sing a tamil song along with Sathya. Karagattam by Sivaranjani and Bharatanatyam by Deepa was planned. There were a lot of ideas pouring in. The biggest worry now was what are we going to do for the materials that is costume, paper models, charts and others. It's evident that the officers and jury were impressed only by the amount of colour and display. The next day we were sure we should some way find a way to go on Out Pass and buy the things needed. Another day got over. I had an early morning duty the next day. Temple duty.
1st Oct 2005,
I woke up at 3.15AM since my duty for the day was at 4.00AM, the temple duty comes only at 4.00AM. I was keen about taking bath and leaving for the duty. Since it was god and no compromise on that. I took bath at about 3.30AM in the bitter cold water. It was damn freezing cold. I then went to the temple duty. It was a tent where a few photos of deities of all religions were kept. It had photos of Shiva, Durga ma, Mecca for Allah, one Jesus picture, one Guru Gobind's picture. Only in Indian Army you can see such multi religious worship. It is truly a fascinating sight. I was supposed to play devotional songs at 5.00AM from the tape recorder there connected to an amplifier. I was the DJ and free to pick any cassette. I picked Shirdi Sai Baba's Marathi Aarathi version. "Utha utha sakala jana." Then I stopped the song by 5.45AM while a PI instructor asked me to stop it. I then went for fall in. I was already fresh for the day and didn't want any sleep. Today we just had PT and no drill since we were leaving to another nearby town. We had breakfast and left. There were a few buses and a canter reserved for this purpose. We all headed to a cotton mill which was located high above a hill in Shiroli. A locality pretty close to Kolhapur. The township was magnifying to be at. The cotton factory was fabulous. We were shown from where the cotton was bought and the machines that had spun yarns. It was surprising to know that these cottons were exported to Europe and USA from where the best brands came back to India as imported clothes. Maharastra and Gujarat are the best source of cotton in India. I personally knew it since being bought up in Bombay. While we were coming out of the factory there was a PI staff calling my name. "Naren, Tamilnadu. Naren, Tamilnadu." I was shocked. I ran to him. He said I had a guest who came in search of me. I was wondering. I was infact terrified thinking if it was some bad news. There was a man in a formal dress probably directly from office. He said Namaste to me. I responded with a namaste. He was in his forty's. He said he was from Manugraph Kolhapur and had seen me when I was a child. Then I understood. I had told dad where I headed for the day. Dad spoke to this uncle in Kolhapur. Dad had worked there for quite a long while and had earned a lot of respect in the office. He had seen me while I was little in Bombay. He came all the way to see me to Shiroli. He has also enquired the locals in Shiroli that did they see any army truck go and with their guidance he found me. Such a kind man. I really felt very happy. Truly Marathi people are the kindest and caring when you offer love to them. He gave me a sweet box and left off. I was really feeling great. I then spoke to dad and informed this. My camp friends were staring at me. When I returned to them Ashwin asked me, "Nee enna avlo famous ah??" "are you that famous?" I just smiled! My character has refined a lot just because of being bought up with some of the best community in Maharastra. Its like my home after Tamilnadu. We then went to a nearby hill down where we could see the entire city of Kolhapur. It was again a fascinating sight to see. The weather was cloudy and remained to be for the next few days. We returned to our camp area at about 6.00PM. An entire day had gone. No practise of culturals whatsoever was done for the whole day. I was feeling really sleepy since I woke up pretty early. I had dinner and directly went to bed by 8.30PM. As I went to bed I could listen to a croaking sound near my bed. I looked around and saw a real big size frog near my pillow. I jolted up. I then took a small stick and opened the tent sheet and guided it way out of my bed. Poor thing came in for some warmth I guess. I then was sleeping really well when all of a sudden I was shook and woke up from sleep. There were 5 guys from our tent sitting around me. One guy was holding a torch directly on my face. Then Ashwin asked, "Naren. Toonguriya??" "Naren are you sleeping??" I thought it was just a few minutes since I slept and switched on my phone to check the time. It was 2.00AM. Seriously these guys are genius to wake a nicely sleeping person and ask, Are you sleeping? It was all part of camping. Normally cadets would sit around a well sleeping cadet and cover him with a white bed sheet, put a paper garland and pretend as if the cadet is dead and take pictures with the sleeping cadet. Then again I slept off and woke up at 5.AM for the next day.
2nd Oct 2005,
The next day was once again a day full of visit. In the morning after breakfast, we left to a sugarcane factory at Kolhapur. It was a mandatory visit though it was really boring. We never wanted to go to any factories, since this was not an Industrial Visit. We carried our packed lunch with us. After Sugarcane factory we halted at an open ground and had lunch. We then headed to Kolhapur Museum. This museum stands for the history of warriors of Maratha. From Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj to Bhonsle, Gaekwads, Shinde and many other warrior clans and their weaponry and armoury could be seen there. I was taken back nostalgic as it reminded me about my school days in Bombay. I had read a lot about Shivaji Maharaj and his bravery. We returned to camp area at about 5.30PM. We immediately had tea and after roll call started practising our lines for drama, songs and other respectively. The day was over and we had to go to bed. Since the next day was our best possible hope for going out to buy stuffs and also to prepare well. The day of less work and more travel came to an end.
3rd Oct 2005,
After having breakfast I was asked to sing along with Sathya. A song on amman (mother goddess), which is to portray the tradition of mother god worship in Tamilnadu. We both were singing and the song felt empty. There was no beat to play. Ashwin then improvised with his suitcase. He volunteered to play beat on his suitcase and we were singing. This is the way cultural teams are awarded points, by their improvisation. It was now getting better and the song came to shape. The other directories were also practising their presentations. The gathering hall was turning into a mini India. After lunch we insisted SM to send two cadets out for buying stuffs that we needed the most. He permitted Karthik and Venu with an Out Pass time limit of 8PM. They both left out and we also asked them to buy some eatables. We asked them to look for sugar cane since it would be nice to represent Pongal, the tamil harvest festival. We were then sincerely practising and the day again went off. Time would just fly like that in camp. At times you may feel that time is going very slow also, provided if the work you do is boring. Then at about 8.30PM the Out Pass guys returned, just before the departure of our girls. We sent a few materials with girls for them to make Karagam (A vessel kept on head for dancing without letting it fall down.) and crown for the king. We (I) had to draw Gopuram (Temple Tower) of Tamilnadu Government, i.e, Srivilliputhur temple tower. I had to draw an Indian map to represent Unity in Diversity. I had to proceed with the work in the next day morning since it was too dark to do anything at night. I kept the materials aside and went off to bed.
4th Oct 2005,
I got up early with others but didn't leave for PT. Instead I started drawing Tamilnadu symbol and others that were planned. Everyone in our tent left for PT except me. While I was sitting and working girls had arrived. They joined me in the tent and were looking at what I was doing. I also saw that girls had excellently made Karagam and crown. It was decorated with golden paper and looked really great. Meanwhile boys came back and we got into full swing with our practise. Till noon we were sincerely practising, then we had lunch and came back to our tent. Karthik as he went out for out pass had bought some lemon and sugar, the previous day. Sathya, the most caring girl of all, decided to make some lemon juice. We had it and again were relaxing in the tent. After some time we went to the gathering tent and started our practise. I was not taking anything seriously for the role of King, which in this scene is very angry against Kannagi whose husband the King had convicted for murder of a theft. I was going on laughing while acting and having fun. One of our cadet (can't tell the name) got angry and gave me a loud slap. Everyone became silent. I got blood rushing on my face with anger. I then converted the anger to emotion and performed well. I was applauded for great acting but I was still not settling down from it. He then came and told me, hit me if you want to I don't mind. I didn't talk to him then. Night settled and the next day evening was the day of performance. My mind was glued to the next day performance as I thoughtfully went to bed.
5th Oct 2005, D Day:
The show was in the evening at about 6PM. The entire day was dedicated for practise and practise only. Girls had bought their sarees and stuff. I was the king and needed a dhoti, which Ashwin was lending me. We were all practising and things were going cool. At 4.00PM we started to get ready for the show. Girls took our tent to change dress and one girl sentry was put outside to look out. They changed dress and then we changed dhoti inside. We had tea and were preparing. Then Karthik spotted, "Hey, Naren ku meesa illa." "Naren has no mustache." Everyone started laughing. My expression became terrifying.The reason he told that was I am the king and I had to have a mustache. The worst thing to happen with me was, I was drawn mustache with eye lash or something from girl's make up kit. That was the most disastrous thing to happen. Inba started drawing mustache and everyone passing by were laughing at me. Funny, Funny!! We got ready and headed to the stage. The stage was already buzzing with almost all directorates waiting to perform. Meanwhile the junior division cadets, officers, ANO's, PI staff and even local village audience had gathered to witness the show. We all could feel warmth in the stage and in our bodies. I was wearing a dhoti, bare body and a crown on my head and a drawn mustache on face. I sure must have looked like a school boy dressed up for fancy dress competition. Infact all the school children sitting in the audience were looking at me, some were even pointing at me and laughing. Each and every state were performing their best but nothing could enter our minds since we were sincerely focusing about our performance. Then Tamilnadu was called up. Deepa was the narrator. There were only three events lined up for the evening, Karagaatam, A depict of Tamil marriage and Kannagiyin Sabadam drama. Sivaranjani came and performed Karagaatam and went. Then was my turn and Soniya's turn, Kannagiyin Sabadam drama. It was a mute enact, means no dialogue only expression and body language. The narration was going on at the back and we both had to perform. It was a boil of gestures between me and Soniya which was like an open fire between two armies. The acting created a wave of round of applause and whistle rain. It was so nice to know that the people understood just by our acting. Then was the tamil marriage. Sandeep and Nithya were made husband wife and were imitating getting married. It was really such a fun to watch. Sandeep was blushing for no reason ever since we were practising. Then Ravi gave entry with a strange dance step as if he was dancing for the wedding. Everyone in the audience started laughing at his steps. The evening went great and then after us we could see two more states perform. Then the day was called off and we all had to go for dinner. While walking back to tent many came to me and told me that my acting was nice, overall show was nice. We felt really great about our performance too. The next day was me and Sathya singing, Deepa doing Bharatanatyam and Ashwin on Silambam, martial arts. The day was great indeed. I had dinner and then I went to bed. I couldn't sleep immediately since I was feeling very happy.
6th Oct 2005,
A little bit of Tamilnadu's hard work was pending. As our girls got down from canter, Deepa came in Bharatanatyam frill type saree and Sathya in a folk saree(dhavani). Tamilnadu girls are the most beautiful girls in the world when they are in traditional dress, no doubts. We then went to the stage. Deepa came up as she was the first from Tamilnadu to perform Bharatnatyam. Deepa gave her graceful best and left the stage. Then it was Ashwin's turn for Silambam. He was in the ground below near the stage and he was spinning the wooden staff in the air imitating a fight against enemies surrounded by him. He was electrified. Once he finished everyone started shouting, "Once more, Once more." He did that again for them. Then he rushed to the stage to play beats for the song me and Sathya were singing. Me and Sathya were sitting nearby and I definitely felt it a pleasure to sit with Sathya. The most affectionate girl to me. We did our best and got down from the stage. The other states performed and then it was all over. The time was somewhere near 11.00AM. We had no more activity to do, but wait in our tents have lunch, wait till evening and assemble for results. We then had lunch came back to our tents and were discussing about the good and bad we did. It was like a debriefing. Then was tea time. After tea and roll call we were immediately made to assemble for a lecture. The lecture was on AIDS awareness and Anti-Tobacco awareness with projector screen images and videos on people affected by the disease. Even the village people were benefited out of the video. Then we had a body building ramp walk. Most state level body builders came and displayed their muscles and shapes. It was fun for boys and treat for girls I guess. Then we were dispersed for dinner and we came back for the results. The results were announced by an attending officer while CO and other officers were present on the stage. We were not expecting anything. The results for the best three directorates were to be announced in the descending order. Each winning directorate will be provided with a shield. After all lectures the results was going to be announced. Then came, "The third place goes to, Tamilnadu." Others were all yelling and cheering but I was not that high at all since I was expecting second or first. Then I realised why we didnt get it. We lacked props and materials while performing. North East region won the first place and they had come in tip top perfect Assam dressing. Most of us were highly appreciated by the audience, since we relied on performance rather than material. We made the best of what we had. We all then headed back to our tent with the shield in our hand. The shield was going to go back to ANO ma'am as she shall return it at Group Headquarters. The last night food was called "Bada Khaana.""Big Feast" Here you got the best food cooked in the entire tenure of camp. There was a hefty queue for food as usual. But this time with more excitement. My turn came up and I was served with two vegetables. A brinjal gravey and a dry fried ladies finger. We were allowed to take as many rotis as we want. I took three. Then a fair amount of rice was served. Then some sambar poured on the rice. One papad (appalam) and a banana. Those Non-Veg got egg instead of banana. We had a heavy dinner and went to bed.
7th Oct 2005,
It was the official last day of the camp. Most of them would be leaving except us. Since our train was on 8th morning. We came before everyone and we were leaving after everyone. That's the because of unavailability of train to Bangalore from Karad. After breakfast there was a Closing address by the CO. We then returned to our tents, already packing our stuffs. Then CO came tent to tent and spoke to each and everyone. He then went to the mess cook and other hosts of the camp and departed totally from the camp site. The other cadets were taking their pack lunch for travel. Slowly canters were starting to make trips. We could see each and every other state leaving the camp area. It was making us highly anxious to leave the camp area as well. I personally was dying to leave. Things were not ending that easily with Tamilnadu. Our girls had left to barracks after lunch. By lunch 70% of the camp area was empty. There were just about 40-50 cadets and some 10 PI staffs visible. It was like a marriage hall getting empty. The other directorates with us were Karnataka, Kerala and Delhi. Delhi was the most irritating directorate. The girls of Delhi never left the camp area and they all were sitting and chatting sincerely in their tents. While we South Indian directorates were being alloted work. The work was to dismantle all the tents and fold and roll it. A canter would come and load them up later on. We were seriously frustrated to work. Who would not be? One of our guys went and shouted at Delhi tent to vacate it since we had to remove the tent. All of them were moved away to girls barracks. As evening settled and dusk came in we had finished packing all the tents and all that we could see was an empty ground. Then later Karnataka and Kerala left as well. We Tamilnadu guys and PI staff were the only ones left back. The SM appreciated us for the patience we had to complete the work before departing. He offered us dinner but we instead wanted to roam outside. Most boys wanted to smoke, since they have been controlling themselves for 10 days. The SM gave us a key. It was the key of a farm house near the camp area. We were supposed to stay there for the night. The keys were to be returned to SM to get our MO and departure. The ten of us took Out Pass and went to Karad. At about 7.00PM we were permitted to go out but we were instructed to return by 10.00PM since we were still in camp and our Movement Order (Departure letter) was not issued. We guys went to Karad and for me it was so pleasing to see the lovely town. It was Dussera time and we could see Durga and Santhoshi Maa worshipped in the locality. The temples were decorated and the people were gathered at the stage made for cultural purpose. There would be dance and cultural programmes at night. We then went to a chat eatable shop and had Misal Pav, Wada pav and rotis, tea and had our dinner done. Smokers were smoking. By the time we started walking back to camp area it was 10PM already. Who cares, camp is over and the key is with us. We had to go to bed and be ready in the morning at 5.00AM. There will be a canter that will pick us up. We reached the farm house. It was an old day cottage and was resting place of local farmer or land lord. Once we entered we could get a stench smell of goats. It was evident that goats were made to wait there. The room had no light but had a petromax light, a pressurized paraffin lamp with a mandle which is powered by kerosene. The house looked pretty haunted. Meanwhile before going to bed I wanted my mobile to be charged. I was wondering what to do? There was no electricity in this house. Inba told me that the charging unit was still available in the camp area near the old gathering hall. I came out of the house and I could locate the place. I walked down all alone to the gathering hall and saw an electricity point on a wooden pole. It was about 11.00PM I put my phone on charge and stood there. When I looked around it was pitch darkness and absolute silence except the insect and bird sounds. It was strange to stand all alone. After some 1 hour at about 12.00AM I came to our farm house. These guys were already asleep. I directly went and slept near Inba. He was my bed neighbour through out the camp.
8th Oct 2005,
It was 4.00AM and we all were up. I went in the open and attended nature's call. No water for bath now. By 5.15AM our canter had arrived near the old gathering hall. We picked our luggage and went to the canter. Meanwhile a PI staff bought us a bag full of food. He was so happy about our contribution and gave some 30-40 travel food packs which contained Puri, rice and other eatables for train travel. We then thanked him and boarded the canter. I was feeling great to leave the place. The canter started moving and I could see the large ground which was our home for two weeks. We all were staring at the place, each with some emotional bond to the open ground. I burst out emotionally as if I was leaving my home. Then through the cold morning wind we arrived at the marriage hall. Girls were already waiting. It was again so happy to see them. They boarded the canter and we were heading back to Karad station. We reached the station at about 6.00AM. Our train was supposed to arrive at 8.10AM. Two more hours of waiting at the station. We then took our shield that we won at the camp. We all posed for a picture with the shield as ANO ma'am took a picture for us. (Actually it was me & Sathya alone who had bought roll camera with us. I had bought two rolls extra. There was no digital camera then.) As the day was being born, the brightness in sky showed up the hill below which our camp was based. Me and Nithya were talking about the hill we went up. I was still emotionally bonded to that place. Then we took our dairies to take down each others personal details, a slam book you can say. Name, phone number, address, mail ID, date of birth and all other personal details were wrote down. Time passed and our train arrived and departed on time. Journey back to pavilion. The journey was some 20 hours approx. We shall be reaching Bangalore by 9th early morning 4.00AM. We spent a whole day having fun. From the morning we were just talking and then we had lunch. Then Nithya was narrating Sidney Sheldon story. Deepa was not keeping well. By the time of evening 7.00PM we were somewhere near Hubli in Karnataka and it was raining like anything. It was amazing to see such rain since we were passing through Western Ghats.
9th Oct 2005,
Then we woke up early and got down at Bangalore at 4.00AM. Poor choice of reservation from Group HQ. Our next train to Chennai was at the night of 9th. It was disastrous. We had to leave by Kavery express. The train departed at 11.45PM from Bangalore and arrived in Chennai at 7.45AM. Too long for me to get home. I was dying. I informed home that I was in Bangalore. Dad looked for some flight timings and asked me to catch one in Bangalore if I wanted to. I was surely not interested to leave the team and fly away easily. Moreover I was filthy and dirty to board an aircraft. I denied it right away, since the Govt. was paying for my travel. We all then went out to roam in the city. We did a lot of time pass. Girls went out shopping as usual. We were waiting right at the same place where we were before leaving for the camp. It was great to be there again, with a little experience in mind. The long stretchy day passed by and we boarded Kavery Express and departed to home. It was our last few hours together and we barely slept. We were singing songs late night. Many of the passengers got offended. One man went and informed the Railway Police on duty. A police came to us and asked us which college we were. We informed that we were returning from NCC camp. He understood and politely told us please don't make noise. Then abiding to the law we kept quiet.
10th Oct 2005,
After a long long wait we could see many walls and posters written in tamil. It was near Vyasarpadi and we all felt great to come back home. Dad was waiting for me in the station. After many many signals and halt before entering Central Station, we finally entered the platform at 8.15AM, half an hour late. We all got down and I introduced my camp mates to dad. The first question he asked me was, "why have you become so dark?" Everyone laughed.! Dad saw us leaving as strangers and he is now seeing us a bond of friends returning. Then we started to depart from each other. Boys were hugging each other. Sathya started crying. Even I broke after seeing her cry but I controlled my emotion. I could offer only Kunal a lift since he was on my route, heading to SRM College. I waved good bye to everyone and boarded our car. I walked to the car and saw "Ganesh anna",our driver waiting. I always feel bad to call him driver, he is my elder brother. I learnt driving from him. Then we with Kunal left the station. We went directly to SRM college and dropped Kunal. I was dying out of suspense to return home and meet mom. Atlast, after two long weeks I returned home. It was great to be home. Mom and sister came and hugged me as if I was returning after some 10 years. But that is family bonding. Might it be ten days or 10 months, we miss each other. The smell of the house was amazing. It was so neat and tidy to see our house. I had mom's coffee and it felt wow, just wow!! I missed it a lot. Then I asked mom for hot water for bath. I took a pleasurable hot water bath. I worshipped our god and sat down for lunch. God!! Mother's food can never be matched with anything on earth. The touch, the smell, the taste and above all the love in making it. The rice felt like flower petals to me compared to the raw cooked rice in the camp. I was so happy to be home and have mom's food. After that I went to bed at about 12.30PM. I was sleeping like a dead man. Then I woke up at 4.00PM. It was Monday. Many of my college friends were ringing me that have I arrived safe. Others camp friends had also called but I missed them since I was asleep. I called back and spoke to them. Then I rang up to my NCC senior. He wished me great and asked me to return the Kit Bag and Durry in the unit. I went to unit, informed them about my arrival and other stories, returned the kit, durry and came back home. Then from 11th Oct 2005, Tuesday I was back to college with my regular routine.
A memory that has remained in my mind for such a long time. I am writing this blog in 2013 and I am still able to recall every little thing that has happened. It is definitely the best camp I ever attended. I am sure I carried you along with me in the nostalgic journey.
Aftermath of the camp:
1. I became very dark in colour because of the cold breeze and unusual water. It took me few months to regain my old fair texture
2. I got a lot of fungal infection in my private area, for which I had to consult a doctor.
3. My ability to cope up in life improved. I understood the value of every little thing available.
4. Mother's food is the best food. No doubt about it.
Once again thank you so much for the long read. I am sure you enjoyed it like a novel. I just have two pictures now. Here you can see me standing on the left most. I don't have many pictures now since Sandeep has a few at his home. He is a doctor and is away from home on a deputation. He will scan and send me the rest sometime later We are in search of Sathya. We lost her contact and we shall be happy to find her. She has most of the pictures taken in my camera. I miss her really bad. That's it. Have a good day dear friend. Cherish the friends who really love you. Take care!
Love and Care,
Naren Pillai.
To begin with I must first write down the names of my friends whom I cherish even today and we are still in contact and grow together, sharing our personal ups and downs. A few are not in reach and we are trying to re-establish their contact. They are my camp mates, Chennai mates!
National Integration Camp, Kadegaon. Kolhapur Group, Maharastra.
26th Sept. 2005 to 07th Oct. 2005.
Unit- 1 (TN) SIG COY NCC;
1. Naren- Bharath Institute of Science and Technology (Old name of my college)
2. Ashwin- A.M. Jain College
3. Karthik- A.M. Jain College
4. Kunal- SRM Engineering College
5. Gopinath- SRM Engineering College
Unit- 1 (TN) Medical Unit NCC,
1. Inbarasan- Madras Medical College
2. Ravi- Madras Medical College
3. Karthik- Madras Medical College
4. Venu- Madras Medical College
5. Sandeep- Madras Medical College
Unit- 1 (TN) Girls Battalion
1. Deepa- Stella Maris College
2. Nithya- Stella Maris College
3. Soniya- Stella Maris College
4. Sathya- Queen Maris College
5. Sivaranjani- Queen Maris College
6. Muthumari- Queen Maris College
A total of 16 cadets, 10 SD(boys) and 6 SW(girls).
It was in the month of July 2005 that I joined NCC while I was in my college second year. I was just a baby in the fold, a boy full of zeal and inspiration to wear uniform, practise salute, learn drill, try weapons and above all it was pride and patriotism. While once in college on a regular Saturday one of my seniors, Suresh sir told me "Naren you are going for NIC camp from our college. You are the only person from our college and the reason we are sending you is you are into culturals and you know Hindi." I gladly accepted the offer since I was looking forward for more than the regular Saturday drill practise. My then immediate seniors Sanjeev sir, Deepak sir, Sudhan sir encouraged me to attend the camp as well. Simultaneously my other batch friends, Enoch and Sanjeevarayan were selected to attend Army Attachment camp. Enoch was very proud that he was going to a regular army based camp, wherein I was going to do "Tha thai" cultural dance in camp. We both always have been arguing about each others taste, yet we remain to be best friends. 23rd Sept., I went to my unit office to submit camp papers (attested by college ANO- Associate NCC Officer, then Mr. Radhakrishnan and Indemnity bond from parents) and collect my Kit Bag and Durry (a kind of thick bedsheet which withstands immense cold). The Kit Bag looked funny. It was a cylindrical long bag about 3 feet with two ropes like a sling which one can wear like a back pack. That is what regular army soldiers use even now. I bought the kit bag went home and had packed my things. My baggage involved plates, tumblers, towels, uniform, civil dress, t shirts and tracks, slippers, rope to dry clothes, hangers, clips, bucket, polish and toilet kit and all that you can imagine for a travel cum camp. I polished my DMS boots, pressed my uniform, pinned all the name plate and tabs stuff and hung it on the wall and went to bed.
24th Sept 2005,
I woke up as early as 3.45 AM. Mom, Dad and sister had planned to come to send me off at Central Railway Station. I got ready and we started in our car from home at 5.30 AM and arrived at Central at about 6.15AM. The moment I got down I felt as if everyone in the railway station was looking at me. Its the first time I am out travelling in uniform. Its a strange feeling and only those who have wore uniforms can understand it. The plan was we were first leaving to Bangalore and from there to Karad. From Chennai we were supposed to leave by Brindavan Express, the train departed at 7.00 AM then. Now it departs at 7.50 AM. I had moved to the platform where I was meant to meet my unit office PI(Parade Instructor) staff. I saw the concerned man in an army uniform. I then got there and waited. Meanwhile the other cadets were also assembling. No introduction whatsoever till we got into the train and departed. Our ANO incharge, a school teacher from Little Flower Angels School had come and PI staff was talking to her. He then told dad she is the one who is incharge since my dad was already asking about talking to the incharge. Everyone arrived and the train departed on time. Journey began. Here I had with me a mixed variety of friends all from various backgrounds like arts and science, engineering, medicine. We barely spoke anything to girls, especially me. You see I feel very shy to talk to strange girls!! After some 7 hours travel we arrived at Bangalore. It was going to be a long evening wait. We arrived there at 01.40 PM and we had to wait till 10.00PM to board our next train called Gandhidham express to Karad, Maharastra.
The official introduction of us among girl cadets was done only after arriving at Bangalore station. We anyways had to cut off 9 hours there. Then we boys went out to a nearby market, while I returned soon. Girls too wanted to go out to market. With no choice left it was me who became the sentry(watchman) all alone with ANO ma'am and the luggages. ANO was sincerely sleeping. I sat there at the waiting room taking care of all the belongings. I couldn't sleep either. Each one of them arrived some 6 hours later at about 8 PM. I was sympathized for having been made to wait. I was and remain to be the most patient guy. I can wait as long as possible. Its the calmness of mind that helps to be in one place for long. I then went out with doctor friends and had dinner and came. At about 9.45PM, despite of such a long relaxation a last minute confusion arose that the train was not on the platform that we were waiting, instead on a platform on the farthest end of the station. Everyone was on their toes running to catch the train which may depart in some 10 minutes. We made it! The train departed on time. It was now nothing more than sleep.
25th Sept 2005,
I woke up late at about 8AM ignoring the jiggling jog of the train. While then others were awake and talking about their experiences. Note the point, I am a junior kiddo here and all those who have come are Under Officers and Sergeants. They have something much more than I even know. A little bit of freshening up and train chai and biscuits was all for the day. Later I was just listening to what they spoke trying to grasp whatever I can. I was also busy sight seeing outside the train, the marvellous hilly regions and lush green forests of Western Ghats, the tunnels that we passed through and so on. A long stretching day of travel got over. We arrived at Karad at about 1.45PM. It was obvious we had to have intimidated the camp authorities that we were arriving by so and so train at so and so timings such that our pick up was made at the station. The ANO incharge had probably forgot or something. She then gave the SM(Subedar Major) number to Sandeep. Me and him went to SM (Station Master) room in the railway station and used the phone there to inform. Subedar Major then informed a PI staff about our arrival. A little more of waiting and a canter(mini truck) arrived at the station. For me every little thing was a fantasy. I was super whelmed seeing an army canter.!
Off from the station towards our new home for two weeks. The canter first went to a marriage hall. I was wondering, "Ohh, this is where we are going to stay." But then only girls were made to get down from the canter. First heart break.! Girls were to stay here and we were all going to stay somewhere else. We waved bye to our state girls hoping to see them directly on the last day of camp. A hush of breath filled our hearts and we left the place. We headed into a small village called Uglewadi. In the pathway there were a few more local NCC boys from Kolhapur, the ones organizing the camp. They joined us in the canter and we left off to our camp site.
Upon arrival at the camp site I was blossomed up. Since after sending off girls I was thinking that were also going to another marriage hall or community hall, but I was taken away by surprise. I started loving it instantly. A road led into the camp site which originated from a hill. I was facing towards that hill. To my right were about 20 tents pitched in a row wise manner on an area sprawling about and acre of non cultivatable land which had been taken up for camping. To my left were much bigger tents for camp officers and PI staffs, medical room and a stage for cultural purpose probably. The entire camp area was located on the slope of that hill. On the rear end of the camp site at some 500 yards we could see our railway station, Karad and trains could always be seen going to and fro. I adored the location. I am here for a great adventure I thought.
After reporting at the camp incharge about our arrival, we were guided to our tent. Carrying my luggages and heading to the tent I was imagining that it would have sheets laid, durry around it, a lantern and all that typical thing that would come in one's mind about tent. We arrived at our tent which contained a cardboard tag on it written as "TN,P & A&N" (Tamilnadu, Pondicherry & Andaman & Nicobar islands) and the moment it was opened, "surprise". The tent was pitched on a grass field and interior was full of well grown bushy grass. What a marvellous sight. We had to pluck all the grass, even in order to enter it. Our luggage was dumped outside our tent and we got into work. No sentry here because no other directorate has yet arrived to the camp except Tamilnadu and the local camp team. There was no worry for theft yet. NCC India has a total of 17 directorates today, earlier in my period it was 16.
The rest of the whole day went off just by cleaning the tent area. We then laid sheets and above it our durries. We bought blankets from the camp stock incharge. The rope I bought came in helpful as we tied it across the tent poles for our clothes to dry and hangers to hang our uniforms. Then around 6 PM we had a roll call and later we were offered tea and biscuits. Then one of our guys went to toilet to find out the place. He returned with a 'Wow'. "Semma edam da." means its a great place. I just went to find out how it looks. At a 100 yard (200 meters approx) distance from our tent I could see a yellow flag flying. Away from that flag was our toilet and a little more away was out of bound, since there was a small lake and it was unsafe and chances of slipping and drowning was evident. Toilet in open is the utmost experience of outdoor life and camping. Not many well bought up silver spoon would have experienced it. In that area were small box toilet made from Shamiyana(thick cloth) material. Those were our toilets. Once I entered them I could see a long deep hole dug into the ground some 10 feet deep. The opening was closed with a metal sheet to sit on, which had a decent hole through which we had to "shit". There were about 20 such toilets in the out of bound shit area. The area was good in the beginning with just 20-30 people in the camp. The after math of 500+ boy cadets using the same 10 feet toilet can only be imagined. Yellow flag eventually turned to become danger flag just after 3 days of camp. It would be suicidal to enter the area. Ok, shit with this topic. Let's move on!
That night we were provided with a decent dinner of two roti (wheat bread) and a little rice and dal and a banana. It was splendid to eat with the amount of hunger we had. We were off to bed pretty soon. I picked my mobile, which usually remained in switch off mode. I just said 'Hi' to my family and about my settlement and then off to bed. It was really warm to sleep in a tent.
26th Sept 2005,
The next day morning we were jolt woken up by the camp incharge (CHM) at about 6.00AM. He shouted, "utho, utho chai pio" The first day was welcoming since there were no other states/directorates and he had to make us drink the tea and biscuits made. Later with full camp strength the treatment would be different. We got up had tea, got our shitty business done, took bath in the coldest water which was directly routed from the nearby river, wore uniform and got ready. I had only two sets of uniform. Its a trick to maintain uniform for 10 days without pressing. I will tell you. I wore one uniform two days. I never like stink or sweat or dirty smell out of my dress. I feel down if something so happens. So when I wore a new set the third day I would just gently dip my old set uniform in water. Apply soap to it gently and slightly rinse it without squeezing it to avoid wrinkles. I would just let the cloth dry for two more days. The process was repeated so on. Ok, back to story!
We were made to clean the camp area. Help other PI staff in their works and take up duties which may range from Quarter Guard sentry, Mess sentry, CO sentry, and so on. We were introduced to the other familiar duties.
At about 8.30AM we were called for breakfast. (One has to stand in a big queue to have breakfast, lunch or dinner. We get our food on plate and go in sit in a single row in the gathering hall near mess and eat. The waste needs to be thrown in dustbins. If caught the punishment would be serious. Front rolls and back flips makes one vomit the food they had.) While having breakfast we could see a canter entering our camp area. The canter stood right in front of us near the mess area. We were just thinking that it's some ration or something that has come. A cheerful, "Hi" was heard from the canter side. It was our TN girls who had come to the camp site. It was great to see them again. We felt as if we were meeting them after a year, despite of meeting them just the previous day. They came for breakfast. So this was the camp plan. Girls would come to camp area everyday in canter from the time of breakfast and be here for the rest day of activity like tours, visits, cultural practise, lecutres and all that and have dinner and leave to their barracks. We came to know this from them and really felt great! Atleast a little of moral support and hope about the camp being enjoyable. Believe it or not, girls always have the power of cheering up boys, just by them being nearby. The first day was nothing more than duties and lunch and evening was a little bit of relaxation in our tents. Then we had tea and the second day was full of fun to see all the other states/directorates be dropped by canters and our neighbours come and occupy their tents. Our very neighbour tent was Kerala & Lakshdweep. Then the second day of camp came to an end, girls left after dinner and we guys were off to bed. From next day there was mandatory roll call in the morning. Time was becoming precious and wake up time as early as 4.30AM, 3.00AM if you want vacant toilets.
27th Sept 2005,
Many night sentry duties were allocated so our tent mostly consisted of only six people at a time, since four would be out on duty. Timings of duty range from, 10.00PM to 12.00AM, 12.00AM to 2.00AM, 2.00AM to 4.00AM, 4.00AM to 6.00AM. Those on duty from 2.00AM to 4.00AM and 4.00AM to 6.00AM need not come for fall in and morning PT, since they were easily excused. Majority of them would opt for these duties as they wake up at 1.45AM for duty and come back to tent at 4.00AM and sleep again. Sleep had always been a priority in camps. On 27th I woke up at 4.00AM and the toilet was already pushing hard since the camp had taken its strength. "No matter what I kept my personal tank clean in camp. Hygiene first." I tied my hand kerchief around my nose and mouth and entered the out of bound shit area. Then I took bath and wore uniform and came for fall in at 6.30AM after some tea and biscuit. The fall in was massive with some 500+ cadets, a battalion. The SM explained the schedule which may differ from day to day, but morning PT was a must, followed by breakfast and drill practise. We then finished roll call, did some drill, had breakfast and got to our work of cleaning the camp area. In other terms, grass plucking. In hindi, "Saaf safai." Seriously that was the worst work for the first two days. Girls came a bit late to the camp while we were somewhere far from our tents sincerely cleaning the area. We could get a long sight of TN girls entering our tents. While we were all turning back and watching our girls arrival, an instructor shouted from a long distance, "Tamilnadu, Kaam karo fatafat!" "Do your work, quick." Bloody jealous army walla. We then returned to our tent by lunch time. We had lunch and then an instruction was passed over about culturals that was planned to be conducted in the last two days of camp and we had to be prepared and equipped accordingly. After lunch we were discussing with girl cadets about who was good in what. I offered that I am good in painting, a little bit of keyboard and fair amount of singing. Then Ashwin was into silambam, martial arts, Deepa bharatanatyam since she was from Kalakshetra Chennai. Sathya would sing as well others like Inba and Ravi and many others into acting. We had planned songs, dance from Deepa, martial arts from Ashwin, a skit on Kannagiyin sabadam where Soniya was Kannagi and I was King Pandian. Funny right?? Yes I will tell that later on. The evening went settling while when an emergency fall in was announced at 4.30PM. The CO/Camp Commandant had arrived and was going to give Welcome address to cadets. We then assembled and sat down in the open ground. "Parade Savdhan bhait." "Sit erect." Then once the officer waves hand another command would come, "Aaram se." "At ease." The CO then welcomed us and explained about NIC camp, about Kolhapur and the locality, he spoke a few stories of his army life. He was a Colonel with atleast 18 years of service to the nation. He then gave a few tips and instructions about surviving in forest and safety. We were treated like Prince, we had no need for survival at all. Then after the lecture we had tea and then girls were also joining us for the evening roll call at about 6.00PM. Post tea was sports. It was always Volley Ball between prominent teams which was played and the local marathi audience would flood the place. Once darkness settled in, the concerned duties took over. Girls had dinner and they left. The next day was going to be a trek on the nearby hill. I made a phone call to home and was off to bed for the day.
28th Sept 2005,
The next day routine was Morning PT. We wore PT dress, that is a normal T shirt, track and trainer shoes. We used to jog in the nearby road leading to the main road and return and then frog jumps, squats, push ups, sprint and all that. Then we used to rush to change to our uniforms, have breakfast and then again fall in. Meanwhile our girls arrived and they had breakfast and assembled as well. We were all made to trek to the nearby hill below which our camp was based. We then started to walk up the hill, literally the 700+ strength was walking up the hill. It was an amazing sight. Once at the top there was a Shiva temple. A few went in there, while others were running around the hill to have a broad view of the entire area, taking pictures and all that. We had to spend some two hours on the hill. One sight was brilliant, that is the view of our camp area from the top of the hill. It was just amazing. The entire arrangement of the camp site was so nice. The tents were evenly and equidistantly pitched and everything was perfect. A slight smoke coming out of the kitchen tent could be seen as well. Our lunch was being prepared. We then had to come down all the way. We were straight away taken for lunch. We had lunch and there were serious plans about culturals. As evening struck it was tea time and sports time. The day went off as usual. Earlier dad was asking me that should he inform his friends at Kolhapur to come and meet me if I wanted something. I did actually. I was planning to look for a rental keyboard for the cultural programme. Then after discussion with our buddies it was decided to drop. Moreover I am a learner and it would be difficult for me to pick up a tune and I had to manage my time. So that plan was dropped. The upcoming day I had a Quarter guard duty at 2.00AM to 4.00AM. I was informed prior in the evening. I was off to bed at 9.00PM since I had to wake up early. My phone, Nokia 1100 was my alarm. The alarm used to go on even if the phone was switched off. I set alarm at 1.45 and I went to sleep.
29th Sept 2005,
The alarm struck at 1.45AM and I couldn't believe since I was feeling as if I had slept just before a while. Duty calls. I wore my dress, went to pee, had water and awoke myself from sleep and walked to the Quarter Guard. As I walked passing by other tents I felt an immense silence. A few whispers, giggles, snores from various tents. I could also hear insects, owl sounds and various mixed forest effects from the hill side. The wind was cold and I was surprised to see these army soldiers up even at that time, smoking and talking to each other. Damn, these guys are robots. They don't sleep at all I thought! I then went to Quarter Guard and the previous duty cadet was sincerely sleeping in the chair. He was totally lost in sleep. I gently tapped him and he woke up telling, "Yes sir." He frowned after seeing another fellow cadet. Then I told him duty change and he left. Then I was sitting in the chair. I was gazing around and seeing the darkness prevail. It was a nice night. Well yes, the Quarter Guard is something where the weapons are kept. It did contain some 20 SLR rifles inside. Indian Army never compromises when it comes to weapon. Once I saw the rifles my sleep went off. I got serious about my duty. There are possible threats that in a camp area, where the rifles are present, the sentry is the most vulnerable target. I thought this to myself and started walking slowly and vigilantly in the perimeter of the QG. Then at 4.00AM my 'badli' change of duty came and I left to tent. I directly went to bed and I was surprised when I woke up at 7.00AM. There was no one in the camp area except a few duty goers like me and a few army staffs. They must have left for PT, I thought. I then went to yellow flag area, took bath, had breakfast which was ready by the time I came. I then came back to our tent while most of our tent guys were getting ready for the day. Our girls arrived as well and they had breakfast too. Today we were leaving to Kolhapur, some 80 kilometers from our camp site. It was a 2 hours travels in our canter. A prominent city of Maharastra much famous its temples, costumes and export of slippers. "Kolhapur cha Chappal." No we were not leaving for any shopping or something, ofcourse shopping was permitted but we were leaving to Mahalakshmi Temple and Siddhivinayak temple in the city. These two temples are prominent pilgrimage. We were there at Kolhapur and it was a hot day. We were with our own team moving together and the day was going slow and smooth. We returned to camp site by 3.00PM and then had lunch. There was a plan of making paper models for our culturals. Inba wrote down what all needs to be made. We were planning to make charts representing Tamilnadu and we needed karagam for karagaatam and so on so forth the plan was made. We needed an Out Pass to go and buy stationery materials for making them. If possible a song cassette in tamil to dance for. No way will there be a tamil cassette here in Karad, may be in Kolhapur not here. The permission for out pass was denied for that day by SM and we had to hold back our plan for the next day.One more day of camp got over.
30th Sept 2005,
The next day was not much of activity but we were in our camp area. It was an idle day after PT and drill and breakfast. Girls had not turned up for a long while since the canter had gone away for some other work. They reached camp area by some 10AM. We were all in our tents and we pretended as if we were sleeping tight. Just the way any kids would behave. They were all standing outside the entrance of our tent and hesitating to come in. They were talking among themselves, especially Sathya. "Paavam pa, night duty pola ellam toongudhunga." Meanwhile Soniya was telling, "adhu ellam illa acting pa, ellarukuma duty irukkum?" They were talking among themselves and we couldn't control our laughter and we burst out. Even they started laughing. It was great fun though! There was a gathering area in the camp site near mess. It was a long tent where atleast 100 could fit in. It was also the mess area to sit and eat. We all went there to discuss about culturals, plan and practise our steps and enacts. Meanwhile Ashwin found a long stick some 5.5 feet tall. It was silambam (a wooden staff). He was going to perform the old traditional tamil martial art. Deepa was practising natyam and girls were planning what song to sing. We then had lunch, took some rest in tent and were back to the gathering tent for practise. It was a cloudy day and suddenly it started raining heavy. We stopped everything we were doing and started to adore the rain. While all of a sudden Inba noticed water sliding towards our tents. Since we were on the slope of the hill, the water from the hill was directly coming to our tents. We ran towards our tent to stop the water from coming in and spoiling our bed. Ashwin and Karthik instantly started to dig snake pit (ditch for water to flow away) around the tent. The tent was not tied tightly to withstand heavy rain and the top of the tent started to cave in. A few started to push the tent roof from inside in order to throw the water away. The tent got loose after the water was thrown out. We then had to remove all the ropes and retie the tent tightly. It was getting really cold outside and rain was more like hail stone. We succeeded and headed back to the gathering tent and were shivering like hell. After some two hours the rain subsided and we were provided with tea and biscuits. The hot tea was like elixir to drink after the cold rain. Then again we got into practise. The plan was to make me act as King Pandian in the Kannagiyin sabadam story enact. I was also going to sing a tamil song along with Sathya. Karagattam by Sivaranjani and Bharatanatyam by Deepa was planned. There were a lot of ideas pouring in. The biggest worry now was what are we going to do for the materials that is costume, paper models, charts and others. It's evident that the officers and jury were impressed only by the amount of colour and display. The next day we were sure we should some way find a way to go on Out Pass and buy the things needed. Another day got over. I had an early morning duty the next day. Temple duty.
1st Oct 2005,
I woke up at 3.15AM since my duty for the day was at 4.00AM, the temple duty comes only at 4.00AM. I was keen about taking bath and leaving for the duty. Since it was god and no compromise on that. I took bath at about 3.30AM in the bitter cold water. It was damn freezing cold. I then went to the temple duty. It was a tent where a few photos of deities of all religions were kept. It had photos of Shiva, Durga ma, Mecca for Allah, one Jesus picture, one Guru Gobind's picture. Only in Indian Army you can see such multi religious worship. It is truly a fascinating sight. I was supposed to play devotional songs at 5.00AM from the tape recorder there connected to an amplifier. I was the DJ and free to pick any cassette. I picked Shirdi Sai Baba's Marathi Aarathi version. "Utha utha sakala jana." Then I stopped the song by 5.45AM while a PI instructor asked me to stop it. I then went for fall in. I was already fresh for the day and didn't want any sleep. Today we just had PT and no drill since we were leaving to another nearby town. We had breakfast and left. There were a few buses and a canter reserved for this purpose. We all headed to a cotton mill which was located high above a hill in Shiroli. A locality pretty close to Kolhapur. The township was magnifying to be at. The cotton factory was fabulous. We were shown from where the cotton was bought and the machines that had spun yarns. It was surprising to know that these cottons were exported to Europe and USA from where the best brands came back to India as imported clothes. Maharastra and Gujarat are the best source of cotton in India. I personally knew it since being bought up in Bombay. While we were coming out of the factory there was a PI staff calling my name. "Naren, Tamilnadu. Naren, Tamilnadu." I was shocked. I ran to him. He said I had a guest who came in search of me. I was wondering. I was infact terrified thinking if it was some bad news. There was a man in a formal dress probably directly from office. He said Namaste to me. I responded with a namaste. He was in his forty's. He said he was from Manugraph Kolhapur and had seen me when I was a child. Then I understood. I had told dad where I headed for the day. Dad spoke to this uncle in Kolhapur. Dad had worked there for quite a long while and had earned a lot of respect in the office. He had seen me while I was little in Bombay. He came all the way to see me to Shiroli. He has also enquired the locals in Shiroli that did they see any army truck go and with their guidance he found me. Such a kind man. I really felt very happy. Truly Marathi people are the kindest and caring when you offer love to them. He gave me a sweet box and left off. I was really feeling great. I then spoke to dad and informed this. My camp friends were staring at me. When I returned to them Ashwin asked me, "Nee enna avlo famous ah??" "are you that famous?" I just smiled! My character has refined a lot just because of being bought up with some of the best community in Maharastra. Its like my home after Tamilnadu. We then went to a nearby hill down where we could see the entire city of Kolhapur. It was again a fascinating sight to see. The weather was cloudy and remained to be for the next few days. We returned to our camp area at about 6.00PM. An entire day had gone. No practise of culturals whatsoever was done for the whole day. I was feeling really sleepy since I woke up pretty early. I had dinner and directly went to bed by 8.30PM. As I went to bed I could listen to a croaking sound near my bed. I looked around and saw a real big size frog near my pillow. I jolted up. I then took a small stick and opened the tent sheet and guided it way out of my bed. Poor thing came in for some warmth I guess. I then was sleeping really well when all of a sudden I was shook and woke up from sleep. There were 5 guys from our tent sitting around me. One guy was holding a torch directly on my face. Then Ashwin asked, "Naren. Toonguriya??" "Naren are you sleeping??" I thought it was just a few minutes since I slept and switched on my phone to check the time. It was 2.00AM. Seriously these guys are genius to wake a nicely sleeping person and ask, Are you sleeping? It was all part of camping. Normally cadets would sit around a well sleeping cadet and cover him with a white bed sheet, put a paper garland and pretend as if the cadet is dead and take pictures with the sleeping cadet. Then again I slept off and woke up at 5.AM for the next day.
2nd Oct 2005,
The next day was once again a day full of visit. In the morning after breakfast, we left to a sugarcane factory at Kolhapur. It was a mandatory visit though it was really boring. We never wanted to go to any factories, since this was not an Industrial Visit. We carried our packed lunch with us. After Sugarcane factory we halted at an open ground and had lunch. We then headed to Kolhapur Museum. This museum stands for the history of warriors of Maratha. From Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj to Bhonsle, Gaekwads, Shinde and many other warrior clans and their weaponry and armoury could be seen there. I was taken back nostalgic as it reminded me about my school days in Bombay. I had read a lot about Shivaji Maharaj and his bravery. We returned to camp area at about 5.30PM. We immediately had tea and after roll call started practising our lines for drama, songs and other respectively. The day was over and we had to go to bed. Since the next day was our best possible hope for going out to buy stuffs and also to prepare well. The day of less work and more travel came to an end.
3rd Oct 2005,
After having breakfast I was asked to sing along with Sathya. A song on amman (mother goddess), which is to portray the tradition of mother god worship in Tamilnadu. We both were singing and the song felt empty. There was no beat to play. Ashwin then improvised with his suitcase. He volunteered to play beat on his suitcase and we were singing. This is the way cultural teams are awarded points, by their improvisation. It was now getting better and the song came to shape. The other directories were also practising their presentations. The gathering hall was turning into a mini India. After lunch we insisted SM to send two cadets out for buying stuffs that we needed the most. He permitted Karthik and Venu with an Out Pass time limit of 8PM. They both left out and we also asked them to buy some eatables. We asked them to look for sugar cane since it would be nice to represent Pongal, the tamil harvest festival. We were then sincerely practising and the day again went off. Time would just fly like that in camp. At times you may feel that time is going very slow also, provided if the work you do is boring. Then at about 8.30PM the Out Pass guys returned, just before the departure of our girls. We sent a few materials with girls for them to make Karagam (A vessel kept on head for dancing without letting it fall down.) and crown for the king. We (I) had to draw Gopuram (Temple Tower) of Tamilnadu Government, i.e, Srivilliputhur temple tower. I had to draw an Indian map to represent Unity in Diversity. I had to proceed with the work in the next day morning since it was too dark to do anything at night. I kept the materials aside and went off to bed.
4th Oct 2005,
I got up early with others but didn't leave for PT. Instead I started drawing Tamilnadu symbol and others that were planned. Everyone in our tent left for PT except me. While I was sitting and working girls had arrived. They joined me in the tent and were looking at what I was doing. I also saw that girls had excellently made Karagam and crown. It was decorated with golden paper and looked really great. Meanwhile boys came back and we got into full swing with our practise. Till noon we were sincerely practising, then we had lunch and came back to our tent. Karthik as he went out for out pass had bought some lemon and sugar, the previous day. Sathya, the most caring girl of all, decided to make some lemon juice. We had it and again were relaxing in the tent. After some time we went to the gathering tent and started our practise. I was not taking anything seriously for the role of King, which in this scene is very angry against Kannagi whose husband the King had convicted for murder of a theft. I was going on laughing while acting and having fun. One of our cadet (can't tell the name) got angry and gave me a loud slap. Everyone became silent. I got blood rushing on my face with anger. I then converted the anger to emotion and performed well. I was applauded for great acting but I was still not settling down from it. He then came and told me, hit me if you want to I don't mind. I didn't talk to him then. Night settled and the next day evening was the day of performance. My mind was glued to the next day performance as I thoughtfully went to bed.
5th Oct 2005, D Day:
The show was in the evening at about 6PM. The entire day was dedicated for practise and practise only. Girls had bought their sarees and stuff. I was the king and needed a dhoti, which Ashwin was lending me. We were all practising and things were going cool. At 4.00PM we started to get ready for the show. Girls took our tent to change dress and one girl sentry was put outside to look out. They changed dress and then we changed dhoti inside. We had tea and were preparing. Then Karthik spotted, "Hey, Naren ku meesa illa." "Naren has no mustache." Everyone started laughing. My expression became terrifying.The reason he told that was I am the king and I had to have a mustache. The worst thing to happen with me was, I was drawn mustache with eye lash or something from girl's make up kit. That was the most disastrous thing to happen. Inba started drawing mustache and everyone passing by were laughing at me. Funny, Funny!! We got ready and headed to the stage. The stage was already buzzing with almost all directorates waiting to perform. Meanwhile the junior division cadets, officers, ANO's, PI staff and even local village audience had gathered to witness the show. We all could feel warmth in the stage and in our bodies. I was wearing a dhoti, bare body and a crown on my head and a drawn mustache on face. I sure must have looked like a school boy dressed up for fancy dress competition. Infact all the school children sitting in the audience were looking at me, some were even pointing at me and laughing. Each and every state were performing their best but nothing could enter our minds since we were sincerely focusing about our performance. Then Tamilnadu was called up. Deepa was the narrator. There were only three events lined up for the evening, Karagaatam, A depict of Tamil marriage and Kannagiyin Sabadam drama. Sivaranjani came and performed Karagaatam and went. Then was my turn and Soniya's turn, Kannagiyin Sabadam drama. It was a mute enact, means no dialogue only expression and body language. The narration was going on at the back and we both had to perform. It was a boil of gestures between me and Soniya which was like an open fire between two armies. The acting created a wave of round of applause and whistle rain. It was so nice to know that the people understood just by our acting. Then was the tamil marriage. Sandeep and Nithya were made husband wife and were imitating getting married. It was really such a fun to watch. Sandeep was blushing for no reason ever since we were practising. Then Ravi gave entry with a strange dance step as if he was dancing for the wedding. Everyone in the audience started laughing at his steps. The evening went great and then after us we could see two more states perform. Then the day was called off and we all had to go for dinner. While walking back to tent many came to me and told me that my acting was nice, overall show was nice. We felt really great about our performance too. The next day was me and Sathya singing, Deepa doing Bharatanatyam and Ashwin on Silambam, martial arts. The day was great indeed. I had dinner and then I went to bed. I couldn't sleep immediately since I was feeling very happy.
6th Oct 2005,
A little bit of Tamilnadu's hard work was pending. As our girls got down from canter, Deepa came in Bharatanatyam frill type saree and Sathya in a folk saree(dhavani). Tamilnadu girls are the most beautiful girls in the world when they are in traditional dress, no doubts. We then went to the stage. Deepa came up as she was the first from Tamilnadu to perform Bharatnatyam. Deepa gave her graceful best and left the stage. Then it was Ashwin's turn for Silambam. He was in the ground below near the stage and he was spinning the wooden staff in the air imitating a fight against enemies surrounded by him. He was electrified. Once he finished everyone started shouting, "Once more, Once more." He did that again for them. Then he rushed to the stage to play beats for the song me and Sathya were singing. Me and Sathya were sitting nearby and I definitely felt it a pleasure to sit with Sathya. The most affectionate girl to me. We did our best and got down from the stage. The other states performed and then it was all over. The time was somewhere near 11.00AM. We had no more activity to do, but wait in our tents have lunch, wait till evening and assemble for results. We then had lunch came back to our tents and were discussing about the good and bad we did. It was like a debriefing. Then was tea time. After tea and roll call we were immediately made to assemble for a lecture. The lecture was on AIDS awareness and Anti-Tobacco awareness with projector screen images and videos on people affected by the disease. Even the village people were benefited out of the video. Then we had a body building ramp walk. Most state level body builders came and displayed their muscles and shapes. It was fun for boys and treat for girls I guess. Then we were dispersed for dinner and we came back for the results. The results were announced by an attending officer while CO and other officers were present on the stage. We were not expecting anything. The results for the best three directorates were to be announced in the descending order. Each winning directorate will be provided with a shield. After all lectures the results was going to be announced. Then came, "The third place goes to, Tamilnadu." Others were all yelling and cheering but I was not that high at all since I was expecting second or first. Then I realised why we didnt get it. We lacked props and materials while performing. North East region won the first place and they had come in tip top perfect Assam dressing. Most of us were highly appreciated by the audience, since we relied on performance rather than material. We made the best of what we had. We all then headed back to our tent with the shield in our hand. The shield was going to go back to ANO ma'am as she shall return it at Group Headquarters. The last night food was called "Bada Khaana.""Big Feast" Here you got the best food cooked in the entire tenure of camp. There was a hefty queue for food as usual. But this time with more excitement. My turn came up and I was served with two vegetables. A brinjal gravey and a dry fried ladies finger. We were allowed to take as many rotis as we want. I took three. Then a fair amount of rice was served. Then some sambar poured on the rice. One papad (appalam) and a banana. Those Non-Veg got egg instead of banana. We had a heavy dinner and went to bed.
7th Oct 2005,
It was the official last day of the camp. Most of them would be leaving except us. Since our train was on 8th morning. We came before everyone and we were leaving after everyone. That's the because of unavailability of train to Bangalore from Karad. After breakfast there was a Closing address by the CO. We then returned to our tents, already packing our stuffs. Then CO came tent to tent and spoke to each and everyone. He then went to the mess cook and other hosts of the camp and departed totally from the camp site. The other cadets were taking their pack lunch for travel. Slowly canters were starting to make trips. We could see each and every other state leaving the camp area. It was making us highly anxious to leave the camp area as well. I personally was dying to leave. Things were not ending that easily with Tamilnadu. Our girls had left to barracks after lunch. By lunch 70% of the camp area was empty. There were just about 40-50 cadets and some 10 PI staffs visible. It was like a marriage hall getting empty. The other directorates with us were Karnataka, Kerala and Delhi. Delhi was the most irritating directorate. The girls of Delhi never left the camp area and they all were sitting and chatting sincerely in their tents. While we South Indian directorates were being alloted work. The work was to dismantle all the tents and fold and roll it. A canter would come and load them up later on. We were seriously frustrated to work. Who would not be? One of our guys went and shouted at Delhi tent to vacate it since we had to remove the tent. All of them were moved away to girls barracks. As evening settled and dusk came in we had finished packing all the tents and all that we could see was an empty ground. Then later Karnataka and Kerala left as well. We Tamilnadu guys and PI staff were the only ones left back. The SM appreciated us for the patience we had to complete the work before departing. He offered us dinner but we instead wanted to roam outside. Most boys wanted to smoke, since they have been controlling themselves for 10 days. The SM gave us a key. It was the key of a farm house near the camp area. We were supposed to stay there for the night. The keys were to be returned to SM to get our MO and departure. The ten of us took Out Pass and went to Karad. At about 7.00PM we were permitted to go out but we were instructed to return by 10.00PM since we were still in camp and our Movement Order (Departure letter) was not issued. We guys went to Karad and for me it was so pleasing to see the lovely town. It was Dussera time and we could see Durga and Santhoshi Maa worshipped in the locality. The temples were decorated and the people were gathered at the stage made for cultural purpose. There would be dance and cultural programmes at night. We then went to a chat eatable shop and had Misal Pav, Wada pav and rotis, tea and had our dinner done. Smokers were smoking. By the time we started walking back to camp area it was 10PM already. Who cares, camp is over and the key is with us. We had to go to bed and be ready in the morning at 5.00AM. There will be a canter that will pick us up. We reached the farm house. It was an old day cottage and was resting place of local farmer or land lord. Once we entered we could get a stench smell of goats. It was evident that goats were made to wait there. The room had no light but had a petromax light, a pressurized paraffin lamp with a mandle which is powered by kerosene. The house looked pretty haunted. Meanwhile before going to bed I wanted my mobile to be charged. I was wondering what to do? There was no electricity in this house. Inba told me that the charging unit was still available in the camp area near the old gathering hall. I came out of the house and I could locate the place. I walked down all alone to the gathering hall and saw an electricity point on a wooden pole. It was about 11.00PM I put my phone on charge and stood there. When I looked around it was pitch darkness and absolute silence except the insect and bird sounds. It was strange to stand all alone. After some 1 hour at about 12.00AM I came to our farm house. These guys were already asleep. I directly went and slept near Inba. He was my bed neighbour through out the camp.
8th Oct 2005,
It was 4.00AM and we all were up. I went in the open and attended nature's call. No water for bath now. By 5.15AM our canter had arrived near the old gathering hall. We picked our luggage and went to the canter. Meanwhile a PI staff bought us a bag full of food. He was so happy about our contribution and gave some 30-40 travel food packs which contained Puri, rice and other eatables for train travel. We then thanked him and boarded the canter. I was feeling great to leave the place. The canter started moving and I could see the large ground which was our home for two weeks. We all were staring at the place, each with some emotional bond to the open ground. I burst out emotionally as if I was leaving my home. Then through the cold morning wind we arrived at the marriage hall. Girls were already waiting. It was again so happy to see them. They boarded the canter and we were heading back to Karad station. We reached the station at about 6.00AM. Our train was supposed to arrive at 8.10AM. Two more hours of waiting at the station. We then took our shield that we won at the camp. We all posed for a picture with the shield as ANO ma'am took a picture for us. (Actually it was me & Sathya alone who had bought roll camera with us. I had bought two rolls extra. There was no digital camera then.) As the day was being born, the brightness in sky showed up the hill below which our camp was based. Me and Nithya were talking about the hill we went up. I was still emotionally bonded to that place. Then we took our dairies to take down each others personal details, a slam book you can say. Name, phone number, address, mail ID, date of birth and all other personal details were wrote down. Time passed and our train arrived and departed on time. Journey back to pavilion. The journey was some 20 hours approx. We shall be reaching Bangalore by 9th early morning 4.00AM. We spent a whole day having fun. From the morning we were just talking and then we had lunch. Then Nithya was narrating Sidney Sheldon story. Deepa was not keeping well. By the time of evening 7.00PM we were somewhere near Hubli in Karnataka and it was raining like anything. It was amazing to see such rain since we were passing through Western Ghats.
9th Oct 2005,
Then we woke up early and got down at Bangalore at 4.00AM. Poor choice of reservation from Group HQ. Our next train to Chennai was at the night of 9th. It was disastrous. We had to leave by Kavery express. The train departed at 11.45PM from Bangalore and arrived in Chennai at 7.45AM. Too long for me to get home. I was dying. I informed home that I was in Bangalore. Dad looked for some flight timings and asked me to catch one in Bangalore if I wanted to. I was surely not interested to leave the team and fly away easily. Moreover I was filthy and dirty to board an aircraft. I denied it right away, since the Govt. was paying for my travel. We all then went out to roam in the city. We did a lot of time pass. Girls went out shopping as usual. We were waiting right at the same place where we were before leaving for the camp. It was great to be there again, with a little experience in mind. The long stretchy day passed by and we boarded Kavery Express and departed to home. It was our last few hours together and we barely slept. We were singing songs late night. Many of the passengers got offended. One man went and informed the Railway Police on duty. A police came to us and asked us which college we were. We informed that we were returning from NCC camp. He understood and politely told us please don't make noise. Then abiding to the law we kept quiet.
10th Oct 2005,
After a long long wait we could see many walls and posters written in tamil. It was near Vyasarpadi and we all felt great to come back home. Dad was waiting for me in the station. After many many signals and halt before entering Central Station, we finally entered the platform at 8.15AM, half an hour late. We all got down and I introduced my camp mates to dad. The first question he asked me was, "why have you become so dark?" Everyone laughed.! Dad saw us leaving as strangers and he is now seeing us a bond of friends returning. Then we started to depart from each other. Boys were hugging each other. Sathya started crying. Even I broke after seeing her cry but I controlled my emotion. I could offer only Kunal a lift since he was on my route, heading to SRM College. I waved good bye to everyone and boarded our car. I walked to the car and saw "Ganesh anna",our driver waiting. I always feel bad to call him driver, he is my elder brother. I learnt driving from him. Then we with Kunal left the station. We went directly to SRM college and dropped Kunal. I was dying out of suspense to return home and meet mom. Atlast, after two long weeks I returned home. It was great to be home. Mom and sister came and hugged me as if I was returning after some 10 years. But that is family bonding. Might it be ten days or 10 months, we miss each other. The smell of the house was amazing. It was so neat and tidy to see our house. I had mom's coffee and it felt wow, just wow!! I missed it a lot. Then I asked mom for hot water for bath. I took a pleasurable hot water bath. I worshipped our god and sat down for lunch. God!! Mother's food can never be matched with anything on earth. The touch, the smell, the taste and above all the love in making it. The rice felt like flower petals to me compared to the raw cooked rice in the camp. I was so happy to be home and have mom's food. After that I went to bed at about 12.30PM. I was sleeping like a dead man. Then I woke up at 4.00PM. It was Monday. Many of my college friends were ringing me that have I arrived safe. Others camp friends had also called but I missed them since I was asleep. I called back and spoke to them. Then I rang up to my NCC senior. He wished me great and asked me to return the Kit Bag and Durry in the unit. I went to unit, informed them about my arrival and other stories, returned the kit, durry and came back home. Then from 11th Oct 2005, Tuesday I was back to college with my regular routine.
A memory that has remained in my mind for such a long time. I am writing this blog in 2013 and I am still able to recall every little thing that has happened. It is definitely the best camp I ever attended. I am sure I carried you along with me in the nostalgic journey.
Aftermath of the camp:
1. I became very dark in colour because of the cold breeze and unusual water. It took me few months to regain my old fair texture
2. I got a lot of fungal infection in my private area, for which I had to consult a doctor.
3. My ability to cope up in life improved. I understood the value of every little thing available.
4. Mother's food is the best food. No doubt about it.
Once again thank you so much for the long read. I am sure you enjoyed it like a novel. I just have two pictures now. Here you can see me standing on the left most. I don't have many pictures now since Sandeep has a few at his home. He is a doctor and is away from home on a deputation. He will scan and send me the rest sometime later We are in search of Sathya. We lost her contact and we shall be happy to find her. She has most of the pictures taken in my camera. I miss her really bad. That's it. Have a good day dear friend. Cherish the friends who really love you. Take care!
Love and Care,
Naren Pillai.
Beautifully written and expressed.....
ReplyDeleteI love it and the place sounds exuberant....
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