(1 Nov ‘09)
We had to drive up from
Kondwa Gate because the Pashan Gate area of Pune is so crowded that it’s
difficult to drive from there.The traffic signs were intriguing: wildlife gets
right of way, horses get right of way and cadets get right of way. On no campus
have I seen students getting such importance. Here, from day one, each cadet is
treated like a future general, future chief/officer/leader/soldier. Each cadet
has earned his place there on pure merit. Each moment of his day is seriously
tracked. No privacy: not even whilst bathing. How much he sleeps, when he eats,
his rest hours, study hours, punishments, talents, are monitored, measured.
1500 cadets, with individual attention!
The perks are: a well-furnished ‘cabin’, good food, uniforms, books,
shoes, satchel, cycle, everything he needs, for free. He gets a college
education without paying fees. Once he’s selected as a cadet, his parents don’t
need to spend anything on him.
The price? Very hard work. Physical, mental. Punishments and penalties
are severe. There’s a reason for that: these guys have to be ready to face The
Enemy. Who isn’t going to be kind, who might do anything including plucking out
eyes. One of the ex-soldiers I was with said, “In NDA, one never squeals.”
Telling phrase. It told me more: our soldiers, whichever their stream,
whichever their regiment or unit, whichever part of the country they may come
from or caste they belong to, however difficult the situation, even if their
lives depended upon it, do not let the country down.
Ragging is a part of education here. The ex-cadets I was with have been
through what in the civilian world is considered ‘torture’. Carrying backpacks
filled with stones, with a cycle on the shoulders, a rifle in the hands,
running for long hours in the hot sun isn’t considered o-mi-god. It’s to be
done and completed, else another round awaits him. One told me how his senior
made him do push ups on the tarred, gravelly road with the above mentioned
gear. When the tar got hot and he raised his palms, the senior stepped on them.
There were blisters that happened next day. No whimpering, no sympathy, it’s a
soldier’s life. (We, who sit at our computers enjoying freedom of speech and
keyboard, owe much to the guys in Siachen, in the East). The Cradle of Leaders
isn’t meant for those who can’t take it. There’s an aptitude test that sifts
them before they get there.
The idea is not to romanticize ragging as it exists in its ugly forms in
other institutions. The difference between these cadets and their civilian
counterparts is the nature of the profession. A college student doesn’t need to
roll, bareback on the road in the afternoon sun… and roll again… and again
before class or to lunch. A soldier needs to toughen up not just the physique,
but the soul and the spirit as well. I have no doubt many a cadet has spend
three miserable years there only to graduate at the end of it all with moist
eyes, steeped in nostalgia.
Of the fun ragging, this example amused me: after so much exercise and
games, the lads are extremely hungry (6-egg omelettes are the norm _ as
appetizers). One prefect told a junior that if he wanted something to eat, he’d
have to get under the table and ‘do miaow-miaow’. The senior would snap, “What
do you want?” and he’d plead for “bread/water” and then be given the same. Ego
is one thing that gets properly destroyed right in the beginning. It’s Service
before Self: the lesson sinks in pretty fast.
The level of discipline … if we could imbibe even a fraction of it,
India would be Country Number One in the world. No cadet is allowed to walk if
he’s alone. He has to run or jog. Remember, he’s watched, observed all the
time. Either he’s on a cycle, or in a ‘squad’ or running. When he enters the
Mess, when he eats the course, when he finishes, everything. Everything is
timed. Indeed, everything is done the same way, right from greeting seniors and
guests to tying shoe-laces. It becomes a habit to do the right thing, even when
not watched.
Quality doesn’t happen only in the military. If we are to see our
country prosper, we need to make sure that our great institutions don’t dilute
their standards. We need to fiercely protect our IITs, IIMs, the National Law
School of India at B’lore. All of us can’t part of them -- I couldn’t. But
those are the products that set the standards we must follow. In Goa, we have
the NIO, other places, like Bareilly have the IVRI (Indian Veterinary Research
Institute), Hyderabad and Jodhpur have the ICRISAT (for research in the
semi-arid tropics) and CAZRI (for research in the arid zone), Bangalore has the
Institute of Science, Delhi the AIIMS. These institutes give us the real
leaders of the future. They may be unsung, but they’re the real leaders
nevertheless.
Closer home, we must identify and nurture gifted children. As we have
NGOs and trusts for the ‘differently abled’, we need some that will promote
exceptional talent, for that, too, is ‘differently abled’ at the other end of
the spectrum. We need to give them, as well as normal, average children, the
best we can offer. For selfish reasons, because therein lies our own future.
Which means our kindergartens, primary schools, secondary schools, too, must be
as good … or at least strive to be …as the best anywhere. We parents need to
fight for quality. Not the highest fees, not the fanciest uniforms, but the
knowledge and how it is imparted, suited for the profession or stream one has
chosen.
How do we begin? By demanding good teachers and by giving them the
respect they deserve.
@@@@@
No comments:
Post a Comment