Just a couple of minutes before i started writing this, the "Time Travels" title reminded me that a lot of time has passed from the last time i visited my empty blog. However sad and ironic that may sound, but it wont change the fact that time is flying and how. I dont mind it though, because i started my year flying (literally) and i guess nothing is going to change it throughout 2011.
Recently i completed a journey that i had been longing to undertake for a very long time. In the superficial sense of it, it was just a week's holiday to Bangalore, and people may take it just like that. But what i experienced was far from it. When i was a kid, i used to think of the time when i would be able to compete with my father. Well not as much as competing with him but at least finding out why he is a better man than I. Well finding this was easy. Just give the SSB (Services Selection Board). Right? Well partly. It wasnt a piece of cake. First give the CDS (Common Defence Services) exam whose center is allocated to some distant corner of India, then clear the exam despite of sleeping through half of it (try giving an exam after a night-train-journey), have patience to await the results and a call letter, then get a suitable date for the SSB so that you wont miss a semester exam (or a friend's birthday!) and you have your SSB experience. After all that hype, it had to be now or never.
My SSB center was Bangalore. "Thank god its Bangalore, because of the weather and pubs" was what i said to Nitish when we both read our letters. Later i would realise that not only was i not going to enjoy either the pubs or the weather but also the bed bugs, the food and the water there too. Let me not give the wrong impression. The stay in Bangalore was truly enjoyable inspite of the above mentioned things.
The first day...
I arrived in the morning and whiled my time away till the reporting time which was at 1500 hrs. The use of 24 hour clock feels apt here! Well little did i know that that was the last time i would consciously be aware of the time because after the first day, time was not allowed to be saddled on my puny wrist. The bus ride gave us little time to discuss anything. Next, everyone was herded into the reception seating area where we were supposed to fill the PIQ (Personal Information Questionnaire) forms. What we did not know was that the rejection process was going to start straight away. This meant that whoever amongst us did not have the required documents were supposed to go back home right then. This was unjust in two ways. Firstly the smallest of deviations from the paper they wanted was a no-no and people didn't have train tickets to go back home!
The PIQ session lasted till 2030 hrs by which time we were ready to drop dead. Not just because we were exhausted and starved but also because of the amount of time we waited doing nothing. Let me add that during my stay the only thing i hated was the 'wait'. The wait for the officers to come, wait for the food to be served, wait for the guy to come out of the loo,wait for beds to be alloted, wait for the interview to start, wait, wait, wait. I guess 'waiting' in line or more correctly having patience is part of joining the armed forces.
After being fed and watered, we were ready to relax. Not yet though (We werent completely relaxed untill day 5). The thought of waking up at 0330 hrs stirred us up, not to forget the bed bugs. Still, most of the 95 slept knowing that tomorrow will be a tough day and that they might have to visit the station again if the screening didn't go well.
Writing about the whole SSB experience at one go won't do justice to it, so i'll walk you through it one day at a time. There is so much to say about each day but i'll end ' Day 1 ' with the thing i learned that day;
"always carry your original documents and never sleep bare chested on a bug infested bed!"
The PIQ session lasted till 2030 hrs by which time we were ready to drop dead. Not just because we were exhausted and starved but also because of the amount of time we waited doing nothing. Let me add that during my stay the only thing i hated was the 'wait'. The wait for the officers to come, wait for the food to be served, wait for the guy to come out of the loo,wait for beds to be alloted, wait for the interview to start, wait, wait, wait. I guess 'waiting' in line or more correctly having patience is part of joining the armed forces.
After being fed and watered, we were ready to relax. Not yet though (We werent completely relaxed untill day 5). The thought of waking up at 0330 hrs stirred us up, not to forget the bed bugs. Still, most of the 95 slept knowing that tomorrow will be a tough day and that they might have to visit the station again if the screening didn't go well.
Writing about the whole SSB experience at one go won't do justice to it, so i'll walk you through it one day at a time. There is so much to say about each day but i'll end ' Day 1 ' with the thing i learned that day;
"always carry your original documents and never sleep bare chested on a bug infested bed!"
