Lt Gen Vinayak Patankar (Retd)
At a New Year’s party a few days back, with just minutes to bid farewell to 2023, the noisy disco music switched to the serene and nostalgic ‘Auld Lang Syne’. That haunting tune always takes me and every alumnus of the National Defence Academy (NDA) back to the final slow-march to the quarter-deck in a grand finale of the Passing Out Parade.
Nestled in the Sahyadri hills, abutting the Khadakvasla lake and in the shadow of the Sinhagad fort, the NDA is an institution that is truly unique. It has the distinction of being the first in the world to conduct combined military and academic training of cadets who would be future officers in our Army, Navy or Air Force.
After leaving the heavy traffic of Pune city behind and getting on the picturesque NDA road, there is a rising sense of anticipation. As one reaches the top of the last hill to the ‘first-view’ point, the vista is truly impressive. The distinctive brick-red dome of the main building, called the Sudan block, the well laid out campus, tree-lined avenues and large swathes of wooded slopes of the surrounding hills are spectacular.
On January 16, 1949, training of 190 cadets of the three Services commenced in what was first called Inter Services Wing and later changed to Joint Services Wing. After it moved to its new campus at Khadakvasla, it finally established itself as the National Defence Academy. Though some things in its routine and training methods changed with time and according to necessities, the ethos and standards it had set for itself didn’t; if anything, they have only grown higher. It has been rightly called the ‘cradle of military leadership’.
It has been a splendid journey since then and on January 16, 2024, the NDA will complete 75 years as a premier institute. It is in this temple of military leadership that every NDA cadet spends three memorable years.
The NDA is extremely well organised not only for every training activity, but also for the lifestyle the cadets are expected to follow on how to conduct themselves. To emphasise jointness, terminologies used are also taken from the three Services. Cadets are housed in ‘squadrons’, each with a strength of 100-120 persons, distributed equally in three ‘divisions’, and every cadet occupies a ‘cabin’.
The Cadets’ Mess is not just a place where food is served three times a day but is, in fact, an institution. Strict protocol, table etiquette and dress code are required to be followed by all. The officers-to-be thus are equally at ease at formal banquets or sharing food with their troops in later years.
It was on July 12, 1961, when on a soggy, rainy morning that we, the fresh-faced young lads of the 26th Course, arrived at Khadakvasla to join the NDA. A more fateful event awaited us. First the heavy incessant rain caused the earthen dam upstream at Panshet to break. The tsunamic torrents hurtling down from there breached the Khadakvasla dam next. That prompted us to give ourselves the moniker of ‘The Dambusters’!
The ‘Dambusters’ were quickly made to conform to the lifestyle of the Academy. The ‘makeover’ began with a visit to the barber shop where in under three minutes, we were given a ‘crew-cut’. Next, we were packed off to collect our individual ‘kit’. It included clothing and footwear for every activity, ranging from physical training (PT), horse riding, drill and classroom to formal mess dresses. Several other dresses included ‘walking out’ and ‘mufti’. Then there were heavy boots for drill and field training, canvas shoes for games, formal ‘Oxfords’ for everything else and ‘putties’ for riding. Large and small haversacks and ‘web’ equipment completed the inventory.
Each morning at 5:45 am, the entire ‘community’ of the squadron would be shaken out of their beds by the full-throated shouts from a freshman cadet assigned the duty of announcing ‘reveille’. The next 45 minutes would see cadets bustling about — in and out of the bathrooms in their dressing gowns, grabbing a mug of tea, after carrying one for a senior, and also getting ready in the ‘rig’ of the day. That done, they would rush to the ‘muster fall-in’. It was never enough to be on time, one had to be dressed impeccably. Strict discipline was evident everywhere. Cadets always had to move in ‘squads’ of a minimum of four cadets — whether marching or riding bicycles!
Normally, the first two or three periods would comprise outdoor activities — PT, drill or riding. Each of those made us sweaty and mucky if you took a tumble either as part of PT or if you mounted a nasty horse. We would ride our bicycles as fast as possible to get at least 30 minutes to shower, dress, and march to the Mess to grab breakfast because one had to be in time for the classes all in less than an hour.
After a strenuous workout, a hot shower and full stomach, when one sat in a comfortable classroom, the most natural consequence was dozing off! Apart from being in time for maths, science and humanities classes, the big challenge used to be to stay awake. Academics were always given high priority with no concession given to being a good sportsman, rider or gymnast; we always felt that it was so unfair!
As if the normal maths, science and humanities were not enough, there were workshop and engineering drawing classes. The workshop exposure included smithy, carpentry, casting and welding. Those of us who had ‘two left hands’ absolutely hated those classes. From the tyranny of the heavy subjects, the welcome relief would be the Hindi or foreign language classes or even the occasional bonanza of a self-study period.
The excruciating schedule had its periodic relief. The three-year stint at the NDA was divided into six terms of six months each. As each term ended, every cadet moved one rung up the ladder of seniority as long as he passed in all subjects. Then there would be a welcome break when one went back to be with family and friends in ‘civvies’. To keep track of how long the next break was, cadets used to follow a clock called DLTGH — Days Left To Go Home. You could find a small innocuous mention of that score in a corner of the blackboard in classrooms — a sort of truthful jungle telephone!
Even during each term, there were other avenues of relief. Visitors would come on Sundays. Among them, girls dressed in their Sunday best were always a sight for sore eyes! Some adventurous cadets would offer to be their local guides, hoping to get lucky and find a girlfriend to visit Pune on ‘liberty’. We were permitted two ‘liberties’ a month — commonly understood as an out pass! Cadets on liberty were always conspicuous in their blue blazers emblazoned with the impressive NDA crest on the pocket and the signature crew-cut.
The ‘sick bay’ was where cadets went for treatment for minor injuries and when indisposed. An ‘Attend C’ medical slip meant that one was exempted from attending any outdoor or indoor classes. It amounted to a virtual licence to relax in one’s cabin; naturally, everyone aspired to get one of those at least once during the three years. During our third term, it was not sheer coincidence that the sickness rate spiked when a young lady doctor was posted to the sick bay!
A solemn occasion etched in memory is the farewell accorded to the then Deputy Commandant, Brig Hoshiar Singh. In October 1962, he was sent away post-haste to fight the Chinese aggression. His parting words still ring in my ears. In the farewell speech, he said that he was happy to go because, as a soldier, the battlefield is where he belonged. The brave officer never returned.
At the end of it all, whenever we reminisce over our days at the NDA, there is a longing and a deep sense of gratitude. The Academy gave us many times more than the sweat and toil it imposed on us. We were soft clay when we entered but were forged into hard-as-nails, motivated young men in those formative years. More than anything else, it developed in us a ‘can-do’ attitude and confidence. It raised the ordinary to the above average and the high average ones to exceptional. All that showed and continues to show in the performance of ex-NDA officers in the three Services not only during peace and war, but also in the field of science and technology, arts, sports and various adventure activities.
The annals of Independent India’s military history are replete with accounts of outstanding leadership, heroism, valour and sacrifice of NDA alumni who continue to live by the NDA motto of ‘Service Before Self’.
As the National Defence Academy celebrates its 75 glorious years, all past and present alumni would silently rededicate themselves to serving the nation, which comes first, always and every time.
— The writer served as GOC, 15 Corps