It has produced some of India’s best known heroes, And continues to maintain the same high standards it set when it first opened. Mayank Singh spends a day at the IMA, Dehradun to get to grips with how boys transform into men entrusted with protecting the nation’s sovereignty.
The red and white facade of a timeless colonial building with long corridors greets me as I enter through the main gate. This is Chetwode Building; the heart of the Indian Military Academy (IMA) in Dehradun and it sits in the midst of green salubrious surroundings.
But a sudden shout of “Saavdhan Chal” from behind me, pierces the moment and I am passed by a group of young boys on cycles wearing colourful t-shirts. I say boys. The IMA calls them GCs or Gentlemen Cadets. Why? Because an officer or an officer in the making, is a gentleman, always.
Three GCs stand out. GC Shiladitya Singh Ranawat, GC Abhishek Chandra and GC Abhay Sharma. With their uniform crew cuts and similar t-shirts, they look the same. But their backgrounds and their place here at the academy couldn’t be more different.
GC Ranawat joined the academy just five days back. GC Chandra is a third termer (terms, as in semesters in university parlance) and is the Academy Cadet Adjutant (ACA); the senior most cadet of the academy. GC Sharma is also a third termer.
The task of the academy is to train the “Scholar Warrior”. And it does this from a crop of young men selected from around the country; making this one of the most varied 1,800 young men in any training institute in India.
Take GC Ranawat for instance. He completed Sociology Honours from Hindu College, Delhi and then decided to join the army. GC Sharma left his well-paying job as a marine engineer after sailing around the world for two years. He has a B.Tech degree in Marine Technology from BITS, Ranchi. What’s common to this varied bunch? All of them believe that the Army is a way of life; one which goes far beyond money and material gains.
And the IMA is an essential stepping stone to it. Just five days in, and GC Ranawat from Udaipur is already feeling the difference. “Right from the day I have reached here, I have been in a spin with every moment throwing its own novelties at me. I landed and the first thing that I ‘donned’, was the army crew cut. I am learning table manners and etiquette as well,” he says. Life is hard, but necessarily so. Cadets wake up at 4 am and lights are switched off by 10 pm, without fail or you have a punishment coming your way. Cadets are often out for days together in jungles, learning the nuances of explosives, ground tactics, men and leadership. Every term has a very scientifically planned training routine.
Intrinsic to the whole system are the “Drill Ustaads”; soldiers who double up as instructors for various disciplines ranging from marching to weapons to physical training. And they know what it takes to make a fine officer too.
As GC Sharma realises soon enough in the drill square. ‘Ek do teen, ek’ comes the shout from Havaldar Lokendra Singh. One of the most feared men in the academy, he belongs to that nervously admired creed of ‘Drill Ustaads’. Abhay stamps his leg and tries to hold his rifle in the correct position. Havaldar Singh spots the mistake and shouts tersely, ‘theek se’. GC Sharma spends the next 40 minutes doing the drill over and over and over again. Sweat soaking his unifom, but a smile on his face. He knows he deserves the punishment.
It is July and the rain makes things worse. But the academy never stops. The period of ground tactics is on in the outdoor exercise area with intermittent sounds of live bullets and explosives. Next is the period of Psychological warfare and GCs rush to their classes, on cycles, wearing raincoats.
But why go through all this? For what? Deputy Commandant and Chief Instructor Major General TS Gill explains, “We have the responsibility to take men into death and this we cannot do by force. It can only be done when we motivate them.” He knows what he is talking about. Over 50 years old, he still jumps out from airplanes 30,000 feet in the sky.
It’s not just the motivation that the academy provides. “Hailing from diverse backgrounds, they (the cadets) are anchored into a common bond of camaraderie, esprit-de-corps and team spirit. We train boys to be leaders of tomorrow and you can see this on the ground. Be it in Jammu and Kashmir, the North-east or any other area, it is the officers who lead their men,” says Col R Sachdeva.
And we can be sure GCs Ranawat and Sharma will uphold that tradition in their years of service beyond the IMA.
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