TIME TO LEAVE NDA

THE PASSING OUT PARADE

Squadron spirit was essential. They would all go to cheer the Squadron Teams whenever a match was in progress. As a good all-round athlete, he had played Football, Hockey, Squash and Tennis for the Squadron, right from his first term. They would be cheered as a team, even with first termers playing. The Squadron fund would pay for their post match soft refreshments like Cokes and peanuts. Camaraderie was built up this way, to stand them in good stead later. The NDA stamp was all embracing, the very word establishing rapport. Yes, those were the formative years that had developed in him a sense of belonging to his unit, whichever it be. This was the most enduring of relationships, which would continue life-long. In fact, there was an occasion when the three Service Chiefs were course-mates from their salad days.

His three year stay had passed off so rapidly that many occurrences had been forgotten. Ragging and punishment was history, condemned to the remotest corner of one's brain. The change of stream was the wisest decision of his life, even though his Naval course-mates were Commissioned one full year before him while the Army cadets had gained six months over him, their Commissioning being that much earlier. One never thought about such mundane things; it was infra dig. He had been appointed the SCC of his Squadron, a matter of great pride, as he had excelled in sports and done fairly well in Academics.

But he got his greatest thrills in Gliding. They were flying the venerable British Sedbergh T-21B Glider, and were allowed a total of sixty launches before appearing for a Solo Check with the Flight Commander, where one either failed passed. The check consisted of two Sorties, the second being a test of reflexes in case of any failures, like the tow-line attached to the winch snapping during the climb out, etc. He had passed and was presented his wings by the Flight Commander. He had shown great promise and flew five dual sorties with his instructor pilot, who then cleared him for three solo sorties, all on the same T-21B, with a 60 Kilo pack as ballast in the vacant seat. He was the only cadet permitted to fly the Eon Baby, an aerobatic single-seat ultra-light glider. He recalled hitting a thermal and climbing upto 6,000 feet above ground, 5,000 feet higher than he had ever been before. NDA when seen from the air was a magnificent spectacle. Seeing the historic fort of Sinhagad below him was yet another truly awe-inspiring picture. From that day onwards, he had decided that he would become a fighter pilot. 

He remembered his Passing-out Parade with nostalgia. As the SCC, he commanded his Squadron through the parade till it was time to separate from his boys and line up in sixes to march up towards the 'Quarter Deck' as the large dais was called. There was a mast with sails, much like the ships of the past. The National Flag fluttered with glory at the peak and the NDA Flag was one level below it, followed by the Colours of each Squadron. He remembered the final salute as they reached abeam the Mast, marching past in Slow Order. The other Cadets also marched away in Slow Order and the view from Big Ben showed the symmetry of the two lots of Cadets marching away from each other. This view was truly magnificent, to say the least.

The rest of the day went in a haze, with felicitations all round. He had taken his parents to meet the Commandant of the Academy, a two-star General in those days. They also met the Home Minister who had presided over the Parade and taken the Salute. How they reached home remained a blur in the distant past, travelling with proud parents who recounted the experience of the three days that they had spent in the NDA with their son. First the round of the Campus in a coach, with a smartly dressed cadet as guide and historian, boating on Khadakwasla Lake, the three-hour Cultural Show, the Dinner Night, the Polo match and the various displays put up by the other Cadets for their benefit.  What a dream that was, all of forty-five years ago.