Memories of the 80th Foundation Course

29th August….September….October…November…..December….10th ; Just 48 hours from now, we would be heading towards our respective academies….charting out new tracks and embarking on a new chapter in life. Brushing through the pages of the days that have gone by, we find that we have grown a lot, learnt a lot and bonded a lot….together.

Life is all about smiling and making others smile! And the best way to smile, they say, is to smile at yourself….there lies the strength of character and attitude. The times that we have spent together are unforgettable - whether its playing tic-tac-toe in the class, snoring in the Sampoornanand Auditorium, queuing up in the Mess, dancing in the OT lounge, doing PT in the chilly mornings in semi-sleep, complaining that ‘yahan ka system hi hai kharaab’ during the tea sessions or perhaps, having night-long gossip sessions with only owls and chaukidaars to keep you company.

Regular sessions apart, can we afford to forget the excitement during the trek as we snaked through the formidable mountains and braved chilly winds to reach the apparently unconquerable peaks (only to find scary skeletons and frozen bones, as in Roopkund!) or the excuses one made to go to the hardest routes (am talking about the study tours!); can the memories of the village visit where we came in touch with common people – the unsung, unclad and unheard voices of India, fade? Remember the white water rafting in the Ganges with a couple of rafts turning turtle and throwing our officer trainees right into the whirlpool (baap re baap!). I remember people on the ill-fated cruiser fearing to take bath for days after that incident. Even the editor of the House Journal had to call somebody for help, as he believed he would sink despite the life jacket on!

Moving further, we witnessed the academy inebriated with the flavour and spirit of nationalism on the India Day. One could see India in all its hues and shades, representing all parts of the country and all sections of people. Cuisines cutting across the country lay over the table and one had no clue where to begin from (though people realised only later that their taste buds were obliged from the cut in their salary!). The Fete also saw a riot of colours and exuberance in the air, with people shaking legs on the dance floor to unsuspecting people being handcuffed and packed off to the jail (including all our faculty members and our sweet Chief Guest, Ruskin Bond ji).

At this juncture, I on behalf of all the fellow Officer Trainees, extend a trunkful of thanks to our Director, the Faculty members, the Staff members and each one here in the Academy who made our stay a memorable experience and added the much-needed fervour & spark. The discipline in the academy taught us to be self-regulated officers, the tight schedule made us adept at handling things at short notice (particularly, groping for the syllabus at 11 pm, for the exam scheduled the next day!), the course made us realise the relevance of balancing our mental quotient with the physical stamina (with Ranaji’s prophetic words: people lose their health to make money and then lose their money to regain health!) and the interactions in the auditorium brought us in touch with wisdom bytes (and sometimes, making us learn how to sleep with our eyes open!)

We are moving towards our respective destinations and are in the process of getting separated from each other. It is indeed a poignant moment for all of us, as we cherish the good (and sometimes tough) times we spend together. We relish the magic in the environs of Mussoorie, the closeness between us (hmmm….), the majestic mountains and the untimely yet welcome rains. We relish the Mess food, not because it tastes very good but because we sat together and ate. We relish the Ganga Dhaba and cafeteria. We relish the Orkut sessions and movies (for our dil se spontaneous comments). We relish sitting at the back in the Auditorium and patao-ing Ashok for reasons so obvious. In short, we relish life!
Wherever we go, we are sure to leave a mark for ourselves; create a niche, however small it may be; track unbeaten paths and leave a blazing trail behind! Some of us would be KPS Gills and Kiran Bedis of tomorrow, or perhaps, J N Dixits and Seshans, or like people unknown who are fighting against all odds to reform, change and create the India of their dreams. Is it possible, some may wonder…? It certainly is…with formidable faith and a never-say-die attitude. As Rudyard Kipling says:

If you can keep your head when all about you

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you; …..

Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,

And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!

And the famous poet Iqbal says,

Sitaaron se aage jahaaN aur bhii hain….
tuu shahiin hai parwaaz hai kaam teraa

tere saamne aasmaaN aur bhii hain

(There are many a world beyond the stars;
You are the falcon, destined to fly high,
you have many more skies before you!)

More than good officers and rein-holders of the country, we need to be good human beings. Our pace of progress should not imply stamping other people. There are huge swathes of people who are looking up to us with bated breath and endless expectations. We need to learn to fly together. We also need to make sure that the boat doesn’t leave the shore until the last man gets in. Our struggle shall continue until the last girl in the queue gets her due…Wherever we go, whatever we do…lets pledge to contribute to Mother earth and our motherland more than what we inherited. Let’s be change agents of tomorrow, let’s learn to stand up and say no to the wrongs in the society. Let’s raise our voices and ourselves and answer to Tagore’s call of:

‘Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high……’

ZUHAIR BIN SAGHIR