Sunday, July 09, 2006

A Fortnight With NCC NAVY-Ka Hoi!!

Patience. That is the first thing that the camp taught us few who had braved all odds to attend the camp. Try filling a 25-liter water can from slow dripping taps in the Railway station with about 20 people standing behind and entreating with you to “get on with it”. By the time you get through that experience you are given a useful little lesson in Diplomacy too.

Well we boarded the train on the 29th of May. The train was where we were introduced to that glorious concept designed to keep you up part of the night i.e., the sentry concept. In spite of that the train journey was quite enjoyable. Everyone was in good spirits for we were all starting of on a big adventure. We arrived at Vizag on 30th May. Our barracks were situated at NAMAC.

The barracks were situated almost at the other end of the city and we had a pleasant enough ride on the canter. We cleaned up as best as we could and rushed off to Kailashgiri and Vivekananda Beach. These trips were hurried but greatly enjoyed for the first official day of the camp was just a night’s sleep away.

We were taken to the dockyard at Vizag the next day. After a short welcoming and introductory ceremony we were split into 2 groups and were sent off to visit the various work bays in the dockyard. The visits to the engine overhauling section, weapons and armaments section and the welding workshop were all quite memorable.

The most interesting parts of the visits to the dokyard were yet to come though. The viewing of the dry docking process was simply indescribable. To actually be left to ogle at all those hulls was pure wonder. We are still boys at heart and there were these huge toys to look at and maybe play with. Simply Awesome!

I have to admit though that the ship visit on INS RANVIJAY was incredibly eye-opening on a lot of counts not the least in terms of the fire power onboard and the trivia regarding the failure of the western armed forces’ spy network in determining the position of the helo hangar.The side trips to INS KURSURA(sub museum) and Vuda park were all good fun. The submarine visit onboard Sindhudhvaj and the viewing of the removal of the torpedoes from the subs were dreams come true for us.

The most informative part of the trip had to be the visit to INS EKSILA. This place is superbly managed and run. I would have loved to spend more time there especially as the instructors had a better idea of what we students were looking for. Well somewhere in between this somebody had the bright idea that we should start PT in Vizag itself and start we did. But I guess that is enough about Vizag for we have reached the end of the first leg of the camp. The trip to railway station was done in a different mood now.

But wait. The most fun was had in the barracks itself. You would think after being grilled hard for most of the day the cadets would be tired and ready to sleep. But that was not to be. There was more leg pulling and camaraderie there than anywhere else. Most friendships were sealed over a Chocobar.

Well after a wait of about 2 hours we were finally off on our second across the country train journey in 5 days. The guys knew what they were in for this time around. There was considerably less playfulness on this leg as compared to the previous one.

ONE’O Clock in the morning and you are unceremoniously woken up and told to get ready to disembark in 45 seconds in an hour’s time. And disembark in 45 seconds we did. I still can’t believe it, but we did work with a single-minded purpose. And just like that we had arrived at Lonavla in the middle of the night. Our barracks were situated in INS SHIVAJI(the foremost naval engineering college).

The first thing, the very first thing that strikes you about this place is the beauty. The second thing is the FOOD. This place is absolutely gorgeous and the food is out of this world (must have been all that hard work- but miraculously none of us put on any weight!!).

Life was pretty regular at Lonavla. You got up at 5.30 in the morning and got ready by 6.00. At which point of time you would either be taken away for drill or PT. You were free by 6.45 and the next muster would be at around 7.30. Then came the first small delight – Breakfast. After breakfast we went around to various departments and learnt whatever it was that naval engineers were supposed to learn, and after that came Lunch (and of course PUDDING!!). This was usually followed by a break for around an hour and then we would be off to treks to various points around the base. Once we return we have Snap Talks, Dinner and Cultural Events.

The treks were mild to start off with. But the one to LION’S POINT was something else. We are talking about a 14-kilometer trek (up and down with an hour’s gap in between). By the time we had gotten up to our destination we were plumb out of songs to sing but we were all in the warmest of spirits.

Next came the competitions. The trekking competition was along the same route as the one to Lion’s point, but somehow this time it seemed like we were going and going for a long time. PT was not exactly fun but it wasn’t bad. Drill led to absolute mortification for some but on the whole that was pretty easy. The really impressive ones were Firing and Cross-Country. Both them were real fun. Firing at that time and Cross-Country now in retrospect.

The other competitions were of course Technical Exams and Snap Talk. And after the competitions were all over we had practically come to the end of the serious part of the camp. The cultural program was well executed and well received too by the audience, comprising off the officer’s and their family stationed on the base.

The unwinding session on our last night at INS SHIVAJI was really hilarious. We were literally rolling on the ground back there. The next day at Kandala was pretty somber given we were all leaving for home. The last minute chikki shopping was really thrilling. But finally it was time for the last leg of our journey – The homebound one.

Well the train journey home was if not anything eventful. We were all boisterous and the trip came to an end just like that. I must say none of us were as glad to arrive at the end of the trip as we imagined to be. We bore it stoically though. And well I suppose we did learn a lot of virtues on this trip the foremost being DISCIPLINE.