Chapter 5
A Princess and A Soldier
(June, 1980...)
The Handas were heading towards their ancestral village in the district of Hoshiarpur for their annual summer vacation trip. The lush of the fields that passed around him combined with the constant hum of the girls chattering in the back seat, filled him a deep echo of undiluted euphoria.
They had stopped at a dhabba to get their breakfast. Geet and Meera weer feeling extremely tired and promptly fell of to sleep on the cots where they were sitting.
"Meera, Geet," Rano called out to them, "utho, we have get going."
"Ma, the car journey makes me dizzy," Geet replied drowsily, "can't we rest here for a few minutes?"
"Nahi puttar..."
"Rehn do Rano jee," Mohinder interrupted Rano, "let them rest for a while. Chalo, we will enjoy the scenic beauty around us for some time. Kyun Sammy puttar?"
"Jee papaji, after all its the privilege of having our own car."
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(Railway Station, Belgaum...)
It was five in the morning as Maan alighted from the train with few other offficers, who like him were here to undergo the infamous Commando Course at Belgaum. It was a passage to hell as often validated by the tales heard from seniors but for Maan it was the inner calling that he sought to fulfill.
They spotted an area marked as Reception and headed towards it. At the given time they were all taken to the Commando Wing only to report back promptly at 8 to their DS*.
"Officers," the senior officer spoke to them as they gathered in a proper formation.
"Welcome to Belgaum."
"Thank you SIR," the officers boomed back.
"This will be the last time you will be thanking me from your hearts. This is the Ghatak (O) Course, Batch June, 80. If you fail, you will keep taking the course till you pass uptil the age of thirty. And if you still fail, it will be a blemish on your service record. You will be living in barracks and do away with any misconceptions that your officer status will allow you any special status. You are not officers any longer. For the duration of the course you will be known simply as Commandos."
"You will act like machines, only functioning as and when told to...clear?"
"Yes SIR."
"Down!! What are you waiting for you loiterers!! I said Down!!...Up!!...Down!!"
"Are you all tired...can't handle the fatigue of a train journey? Or you are fantasizing about your beds already?"
"No SIR."
"Up!!...On your backs!! Quick!! You call that quick!! Up!! ...On your backs!!"
"Now start rolling!!"
The commandos set rolling on the narrow muddy path, mindless of the pebbles that bruised their backs.
"Roll back!! Don't sham!! Don't wait!! If the chap behind is not fast enough then the Army doesn't need men like him."
As the commandos got rogered around for next one hour, the voice of the DS resonated in the ears once again. "So how was the first days commandos? If you thought that you knew all about the Army, then by the end of the day you would realize that you are nothing better than glorified civilians!! And this is a promise commandos!!"
"Twenty minutes break. Have your breakfast, rest and report back for the admission process in your proper rigs. We will have a Class Photograph later because this is the last time you will look this pretty. Fall out."
"He will kill us, the sadistic bas***d is out to kill us," a commando in the bunk next to Maan complained as he quickly shrugged out of his soiled uniform.
"They are only trying to break us," Maan shrugged back, "the key is to latch on to your will power like life source, not giving into them."
"Sir, its easy to preach. Maybe the ghee of Punjab is keeping you on your toes still. Let's see how much will power is left within you by the end of this day," he came forward and laid a patronozing hand on Maan's shoulder.
Maan turned a steely gaze back at the chap, causing him to flinch and withdraw back.
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(Hoshiarpur...)
"Geet, don't try to defend Lucky. I saw it with my own eyes," her tayiji warned.
"Sachi tayiji, it was me broke your flower vase. Everyone knows how clumsy I am."
"Dekh Geet, I am warning you. Don't try defending him everytime. Let me punish him once, seedha ho jayega," she glared at Lucky before walking off.
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(Commando Course, Week Two')
"5km run in 25 minutes followed by 60 metre sprint in 10 second, climbed a vertical rope, a horizontal rope, jumped a 9ft ditch, swam 30 metres with clothes on and the bloody idiot wants us to keep alert in the Field Tactics class." Mukherjee whined. Maan being used to this kind of cribbing concentrated on the Chief Instructor's lecture.
The CI paused to look at the commandos and asked to raise their hands as he put forth a question, "And I hope all the hands go up in the air," he warned dangerously. All hands went up except Mukherjee's. "So you are the No-types? You are a commissioned officer and can't answer a simple question on Tactics! You don't know what blood runs in your veins?" He turned back at the rest, standing against Maan who happened to be next in line.
"Commando, do you know why this joker couldn't answer the question?" the DS screamed at his face.
"No, Sir," Maan replied. He wouldn't say that the commando in question had fallen asleep with his eyes open due to exhaustion. A commando does not squeal. And the punishment would have been muh more for that breach of honor. "Then all of you give me 100 in honor of this bugger."
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(Hoshiarpur...)
"Meera!! I have had it with you," Sameera hollered at her sister as she slammed the door shut behind her.
Geet immediately took her sister in a hug, comforting Meera as her sobs broke out.
"Geet, I did try making chapattis. Sachi," she looked at Geet sincerely. "But I am not as quick as Di. I have not done this often at home and doing full-tome cooking here is tough for me. Sammy Di thinks I am good for nothing. She does not love me."
"Nahi Di," Geet wiped her tears tenderly, "You know Sammy Di na? She always blows her fuse when worried for us. You know everyone is here at the village. They don't like us sitting around free. They always want us working, specially in kitchen. And as they can't say anything infront of Papaji, they taunt Ma. Sammy Di does not like it, therefore she insists we do as the relatives want, so that Ma can be defended. Anyways, all this work will only help us learn this stuff better. Plus, as much she she wants to pull their hairs, she can't do that na? One shows anger only on those whom they love, right?"
Meera smiled as Geet's words calmed her down and hugged her sister tight.
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(Commando Course, Week Three')
"You are not worthy of being called a commando you bugger," the DS yelled at an injured commando, as he stood holding his forearm to avoid bleeding further, "you can't cross a fire ditch!! Did the fire turn your balls to ashes? What will you do on a battle-ground ablaze with flames?! Will you weep and call for your mother, you wimp!" He swung around towards the rest of the commandos assembled, "You...Maan...tend to his wounds and then double up back to your group."
Maan jogged over to his batchie and took out his first-aid kit from his backpack. Instances such as these make the commandos realize why they are made to train with full gear accounting for 18kgs of weight on their shoulders. He relieved the other fellow of his backpack, "Verma, leave your hand, let me roll your sleeves up."
"I agree it was my fault to cling to the rope rather than keep my arms apart, but its inhuman how he treats us. Inhuman," his body gave a involuntary shake.
"They will break you piece by piece, cripple your ego and then put you back together. And when you will be put back together you will be a man who has earned endurance, strength, confidence. You will realize that your mind is the supreme power and you are not a slave to your body. You will be punished till you can take the torture without flinching, kill with a flick of your index finger, serve with a dedication unparalleled."
"You know all our batchmates are right," Verma looked on in awe, "you are made of steel."
"No," Maan replied steadily as he tied the final knot, "I am a man made of my own will."
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(Hoshiarpur...)
Geet took her position in the middle. Sameera tied her dupatta around her head like a turban. Other girls formed a circle around them.
[YOUTUBE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3ne_dkaHbk[/YOUTUBE]
"Waah! Maza aa gaya," Meera chirped as the dance ended.
"Oye Geet, tainu kee hoyya?" a cousin as Geet suddenly lost her smile.
Geet looked at Sameera and pointed towards the neighbors roof, where a guy stood clearly leering at the girls.
"Monty kutta!" Sameera's ire instantly flared up. "Isski toh..."
"Chaddo Di," Geet urged. "Lets just get away from here," she said clearly disgusted with how most men these days treat every girl like an object. Babaji, have you stopped making good and decent fellows kya?
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(Commando Course, Week Four...)
They were all gathered in Uday Bhavan restaurant, some busy chatting away and some like Maan, celebrating the three hours break that Adm day brought along.
"Oye look a butterfly," Mukherjee pointed to a pretty girl in what was the commando slang for for them and caused a commotion on their tables.
"Dekh na, Maan," Verma nudged, "Not interested."
"Kya yaar tu jitna field pe aag ka gola hai, utna hi larkiyon ke mamle mein bhola hai."
"I simply find it a waste of time. These three hours are hard earned. Why should we fritter it away on such frivolous matters?"
"A 20km speed march in full battle gear, rock climbing 60 feet in 1 minute flat, the gruelling sessions unarmed combat, the battle obstacle course covering 17 hurdles spread over nearly a kilometre in 14 minutes and then there is the 30km speed march with an 18.5 paplu* and a 4-kilo rifle covering the distance in 4 hours falt. Man we deserve this Adm Day and all the fun we can have," Chopra flopped down on the opposite chair to Maan giving him a pointed look.
Maan knew all this was harmless. The officer in them would never cross the line to disrespect. But to vent out your frustration of past three weeks in such insignificant way was beyond his understanding. He would rather prepare his mind for the three weeks coming ahead.
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(Hoshiarpur...)
"Ah!!"
"Its alright Geet," Meera cooed, "the antiseptic will hurt only for a few minutes."
"But Kakku, why were you playing with the kids on the roof?" Sameera asked. "Don't you know that by now wherever you go accidents wil follow," she teased Geet in an attempt to divert her mind from the hurt.
"Di," Geet cribbed, "I fell so hard from the ladder and you are making fun of me."
Sameera laughed at the pretty pout Geet made.
"Bas, I am going to papaji. Only he loves me," saying so she ran away to seek her father's pampering indulgence.
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(Commando Course, Week Five...)
"The Ledo jump, Commandos." The DS stood infront of the assembled lot to introduce the most dreaded task of the training. "It implies diving into a water tank in combat dress, swimming across to a ladder, ascending 16.5 metres, with your clothes and water-logged boots dragging you down, and then walking across a none-too-wide platform. And that's the fun part."
"At the other end, you will have to climb on to a rope, monkey crawl till you reach the red ribbon that hangs halfway through and then hang by your hands, waiting for the instructor's signal. And then you let go, just like that, into the pool. If you have real guts you will be to able keep your body straight and streamlined, with your hands closed and head stead."
"But if your legs are even a little spread, you will hit the water with the most terrible splash. And it hurts like hell when you splash into it at 40 to 50 km/h and walk out with bruised genitals. When you jump your head is your radar. If you look down you will land on your face. And if you tilt it backwards, you will fall on your back. Both are extremely painful."
"The jump," he went on, "is the most important among the confidence-building exercises. The 16.5 metres looks more like 60 metree; the height is accentuated as the rope is there in the middle of such a huge open space," he said, "But it teaches you to overcome fear. You are letting yourself go into a void. Once you do it then you know you are capable of overcoming anything."
"So, Commando Khurana are you ready," DS asked Maan who was already standing at the top.
"Yes SIR," Maan let out a full confident affirmative.
"Jump."
With the war cry of commando, Maan jumped straight and erect.
When he walked out, neither did his legs shake nor did his shoulders sacked. He had passed the test with the top grade.
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(Hoshiarpur...)
"Kakku..."
"Jee papaji?"
"Puttar, go have the langar yourself. Its been four hours since you have been serving others."
"Koi na papaji," Geet chirped. "Gurdware wale bhaiji said that serving langar is the ultimate form of sewa of Babaji. I will have langar only after the samagam* ends. I can stay hungry for sometime papaji, but I will not shirk my duties. That is not what you have taught us."
Mohinder stood in awe of his daughter's dedication. "Bless you, puttar."
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(Commando Course, Week Six...)
Maan crouched to the ground and stealthly snuck behind the snake's tail. Distracting the slithering reptile with his left hand, he lunged at it with his right catching hold of it by its head and neck. In one quick move he cut its head off and headed back to his buddy.
"This is gross," Verma complained as Maan got to the task of skinning the dead snake. "Even a meat eater like me can't imagine eating a snake for survival."
"It's a four day exercise in jungle, we are to save ourselves from getting captured, find enemy location and demolisg target. With only two boiled potatoes and a packet of salt, eating wild animals becomes imperative," Maan calmly explained.
"But a snake?"
"I guess it is believed that if we are man enough to kill and eat a snake, then we will not shy away from anything."
Verma grinned at him as they both sopke their training motto together, "Mukhkil waqt, Commando sakht*."
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(Hoshiarpur...)
Geet looked at the view that passed by, as they travelled back towards Amritsar, their home. The time they spent in Hoshiarpur always formed a bitter-sweet memory. But if the relatives were hard on them with their narrow-minded outlook, her parents were there to remind her how lucky she was and their fortunate life in Amritsar. Her family was her own Heaven on earth.
Life was good, never mind whatever difficulties they faced.
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(Belgaum Railway Station..)
These six weeks they spent in the aptly named hell of every Infantry officer's life were the toughest he would ever go through. But for Maan it was a defining and enlightening time in his life.
Today he was going back a man who knew the limits of his body, and the power of his mind to its full extent. The course lived up to its motto, making them Men from Boys.
Life was good, and if he had to come back here again he gladly plkunge back to this Hell.
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*DS - The Officer Instructor *Paplu - heavy load sacks
*Samagam - confluence/meeting.
*Mushkil waqt, Commando sakht - When the going gets rough, Commando gets tough.
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Edited by jazzerette - 13 years ago
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