CHINDIT ORDER

BRITISH LEGACY

Life in the NDA was far removed from the impression one got from the outside. The training schedule was punishing in the extreme, followed by hell in the Squadron for the first three months. He learnt to run errands of seniors, get them their morning tea and 'Chota Hazri', as pre-breakfast porridge was called. It was available at exactly 0500 every morning except Sunday, when the authorities gave them 60 minutes more. Life supposedly began at 0545, fully kitted out for the first session of the morning-either Drill or Physical Training. Every alternate day they had both with a ten-minute gap between the two. If it was Drill second, their orderlies would be present at the Drill Square, a 1000 x 750 yard tarmac, with their Drill kit. Khaki Cotton shorts and shirts with knife edged creases, never worn after return from the 'Dhobi' or washerman. The Drill boots had a special layer of leather that covered the toe-cap and this was waxed by their orderlies to shine like a mirror. They had to have exactly fourteen studs, symmetrically punched in. Their stockings were to end exactly one inch below their knees, and folded over by exactly an inch, with their Squadron Colour tags peeping out by exactly half an inch. They had to carry their ID Cards in their left pocket, along with their Blood-group chit and the NDA Prayer. The left pocket had to have just their measuring sticks, used to measure their stockings, nothing else.

All had to pass muster of the Academy Drill Sergeant Major, a hawk-eyed individual with a stentorian voice that easily carried across the vast Parade Square. His was easily the most commanding and impressive personality in the entire Academy and he was chosen from among over a thousand Subedar Majors in the Indian Army. Even the Officers were awed by his sheer presence. The slightest departure from the norms were met with punishment in the form of extra-drills, where one sacrificed one's tea break and a sixty minute reprieve from the daily routine. Instead, one went back to the Drill Square in Field Service Marching Order, an olive green overall with all appurtenances that one would take into battle.

Each defaulter was given a Rifle and spent fifty-five minutes running round the Drill Square with the Rifles above one's head. Punishment no doubt, but healthy in that no one spat venom or took out his ire on you. Severe defaulters were given harsher punishment that included reporting to the Duty Officer twice, the first being halfway during the Breakfast break in standard uniform. The second was late at night, fifteen minutes before Lights-out time, ie, 2145, in yet another Field Uniform called the Chindit Order, named after the famous British Officer who led the Guerilla-type war in Burma, now Myanmar, against the Japanese. The extra-drill routine was part of this punishment. Painful, a loss of leisure time, but not vicious.