LIVE AND LET LIVE!

LIVE AND LET LIVE!

Friday 1 March 2019

THE CAMP



Image result for N C C CAMP SITES photosImage result for N C C tents in CAMPING photos




                                         

THE      CAMP

                                    _______________________________




                  IN the  50's   India   was beginning  to industrialise  ; 

 unfortunately   there was a huge shortage of   engineers.  to add to 

the problem,  there were very few engineering colleges ,just two in 

Maharashtra but the parents  wanted their wards,  to study 

Engineering.   but getting into these colleges  was not easy  as there

were few seats available in them.  for eg,   one college had just  30 

seats for the Mechanical Engineering  main stream while the 

demand was huge.But  there was  an option  before the students  

interested in   following a career in  Engineering.The then 

government  wanted the  students also to  undergo  military training  and thus set up the National Cadet  Corps for this purpose

and ruled that students enrolling  and successfully completing the 

training  will get an additional  two  percent  to their academic 

 marks and the total percent would be considered  for the 

Engineering  entrance  courses. Since I had  wanted to become an

 engineer  I enrolled for the NCC(  NATIONAL CADET CORPS )

and managed to get myself selected.
 

THE army personnel  were surprised to see me , as I was short  and

 of puny build. I was thus the subject of ridicule  by the personnel 

as well as the fellow cadets  who were tall and well built.   

The NC C was a minimum two year course with parades held on

 week ends.Attendance  was compulsory and the absentees  were 

removed  unless it was justified.WE were taught basic  arms 

training  [ uses and practice with   rifle  ,machine & sten guns  ]


THE army  soldiers clothes & other apparel such as boots, socks 

belts etc were given  to each cadet and he has to take care of it and 

return the same in tact after service.



The camp was usually in the outskirts  of the metropolis , out in the 

open  far away from any nearby village or town.At the camp,

  apart from living  a soldier's life, the cadets were required to do 

social service, which invariably involved building roads, houses, 

and other civic facilities.  the cadets worked like unskilled 

labourers, transporting manually materials to and from the 

construction site.  it was a thankless job, with a deadline target, so 

one can imagine the inhuman way, the cadets ' lives were used at 

the camp.Prior to the departure for the camp, the cadets had to 

weigh in,  and we had to weigh in again at the camp conclusion,

  and a doctor , would recommend medicines for those who had 

drastically lost weight.  Usually a pilot team would leave, about a 

week earlier to set up the camp before the main contingent's arrival.


When we arrived at the camp site,  most of us newcomers were in 

for a rude shock. We had to sleep  at night on almost bare ground 

in tents;.  Each  tarpaulin tent housed  eight cadets;  the bare  

uneven rough ground was just covered with a tarpaulin sheet;.

for pillows unless the smarties  had brought air pillows,  we had to 

use our clothes as pillows Dont smirk,  barked the army havaldar,

  in charge, but get used to being a soldier here , he said.

By the way during the cadet training, and particularly at the camp, 

there was a frequent use of swear and vulgar words.  words such as 

bast**d,  f**k, As***le, c**t, C**k and in the vernacular B***n 

ch**t and ma***r c***t among all supervisors and cadets. 

 Anybody not doing his duty properly  were subjected to these 

words.


AT the outset we were taken around the camp to get ourselves 

acquainted with the service centres   At one area     
.
there were around 15 pits,  at regular intervals fenced on the 

 outside by tarpaulin but open at the top. I was wondering what 

service is this about, when the havaldar told me  in vernacular and I

understood  it later as to answer nature's  call .  Horror of horrors  

we were expected to answer nature's call here early in the 

mornings  out in the open  with 14 of our  mates ! while others 

waited for their turn.

I was never in such a situation in my life before, and I decided not 

to use it in the mornings !But how long can one resist nature's call;

 so one night when the entire camp was at sleep,I sneaked out of

 my tent .  Hey where are you going shouted my tent leader, to 

answer nature's call I replied and luckily he  agreed


 Another [  pain in the neck] in camp life was night  patrol duty

 here,  some cadets are chosen to patrol[ do sentry work at night] 

 when the camp is asleep at night .  usually it was a shift duty of 3

hrs from 9 to 12 am,  12 to 3 am and 3 to 6 am. and yes, I was one 

of the unlucky ones to do this duty.of course your sleep gets 

compensated, for 3 hours, in the mornings and you get to report for

 duty3 hours later than the official timings .Imagine  patrolling in

 the nights,  in a desolate area,without any sign of habitation in 

sight;  what would happen if God forbid  some wild animals

would stray in that area, or there was a sudden downpour;  where 

would you run for cover ?Luckily my patrolling duties passed off 

without such incidents !


Then  we used to  have rifle, machine and stengun practices at the

 camp followed by competitions.At one such practice, an  

unfriendly army major , was teaching us the use of  stenguns. Each

 of us were provided  with guns  BY, oversight  my gun was 

pointing at the Major. He immediatelybarked,Hey you Bas***d,

 put your gun down and later, he made me crawl with the gun the 

entire length and back of the firing range. as a punishment. 



Needless to say my camp life did not win me any honours from all 

my superiors . with my horny spectacles , and overall poor

  performance at the camp, I could guess from their looks, that I 

was not  rated favourably.,  but the worst was yet to come; At the 

end of the camp, prior to returning home,there was the compulsive 

weighing in of all cadets.  My college professor and also an N C C 

officer  was present at our weighing in. It was his wish to see that 

all of his college wards weighed less so that  he could boast to all 

around that his wards, had worked hard at the camp.  Oh Mehta, he,

 shouted you have worked hard and so lost 2 kgs, but dont worry 

take the prescribed vitamins and you will be OK;Likewise Singh,  

Sharad, and the names of my other colleagues.  Then came my

turn to weigh in and the scale showed that I had gained  2 Kgs! .

 What Venkatesh , he hollered, you, good for nothing fellow,you 

have ruined the reputation of our college and because of you, we 

have  lost the trophy for the most hard working college.All my 

pleadings that I worked equally hard at home, fell on deaf years; 

  his anger did not end there, while on our return march home, he 

rained blows on me with his baton, on the wrong pretext, that I was

 not marching  properly .

My   days  in the N C C  seemed to end there. but I was not 

finished with it yet  as I had to get  the 2 %  additional marks to be 

added to my college marks for which I had joined the N C C .

so I had to swallow all the insults hurled at me by the professor. 

  Well, the exams  did come finally

after all of the N C C  trials and turbulences. There were  both 

theory  and practical exams.  While in  the practicals, I just scraped 

through, in theory  I did very well and so overall I passed  and got

 the 2%  additional marks.  That helped me to qualify and get a  

seat  in a Mumbai College.

All is  well  that  ends well


GVenkatesh



















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