THE REPUBLIC DAY CAMP IN A NUTSHELL

By Sharanya Sundar

sharanya.sundar

Just got done with my school tests, extremely busy with having to complete my drawing book to show it to my teacher, super excited about the new cast of ‘The Eternals’ but then, heyyy! Here I am making efforts to write about my journey into being what many cadets including me only dreamt of until not so long back.

The Republic Day Camp – 2019

RDC stands for Republic Day Camp, which is conducted in Delhi stretched for a period of about 30 days in the month of January. It is an amalgamation of the NCC cadets from all over India, bringing together the diverse culture, heritage and language with the prime motto being ‘Unity and Discipline’. The cadets of every directorate are scrutinised, tested, trained and prepared for the various levels of competition with the ultimate goal of winning the prestigious Best Directorate trophy, which accounts the culmination of the various camps for the particular year. It is the dream of every cadet to be a part of this elite contingent of 106, and they long for their ranks to turn golden.

Golden Sargent Rank

My journey started in the assembly hall in my school, 2 years ago when the 13 year old me was super impressed about the announcement that was made regarding a golden cadet who won a medal and was talking about how cool NCC is and how she is cool because she is in NCC and everything. It changed me from ‘prayer hall is a place where students are forcibly made to sit and get roasted under the sun’ to ‘prayer hall is a place where students are told about cool things to do in life AND forcibly made to sit and get roasted under the sun’. I should also give credits to one of my classmates who brought forms for the two of us to fill, in order to join ncc

If my life was a book, it would have had chapters of me dancing, fan girl Tom Holland and lots of Harry Potter, but I started a new chapter of being someone who no one in my family knows about,

Ever since we started showing signs of being potential RDC aspirants we were asked to slowly and steadily start preparing with the bits and pieces of knowledge we had about it, we grew into being fully immersed into this dog race. All of this was put into test in the very first camp we got to attend. Even though I got through that camp, I consider my performance overall below my potential. And that marked the on set of the fire of doing something I couldn’t do my best in. I sat day in and day out studying for it and working my ass

Now, after a gap of about 3 months, I walked into the campsite with full josh and confidence to do the best thing I could. I soon was moulded into a girl who would top all the papers in the Best Cadet competition, who would be one of the most enthusiastic participants in any group discussion and who used to end up dozing off in between NIAP practises due to lack of sleep. ( I have to mention the fact that I sucked at the art of firing so much. But I could just compensate that in other events to a certain level ). I sailed through the PRE IGC camps successfully. off, forgoing the happinesses that a 14 year old would look for.

Now, after a gap of about 3 months, I walked into the campsite with full josh and confidence to do the best thing I could. I soon was moulded into a girl who would top all the papers in the Best Cadet competition, who would be one of the most enthusiastic participants in any group discussion and who used to end up dozing off in between NIAP practises due to lack of sleep. ( I have to mention the fact that I sucked at the art of firing so much. But I could just compensate that in other events to a certain level ). I sailed through the PRE IGC camps successfully.

One of the awesome stuff we get to do in camps. Firing.

Another memorable part of the journey was the day I was presented the silver medal in the Inter Group Competitions – Republic Day Camp – ( it kinda seems to be cool now to me, but back then I remember calling up my senior and crying about not getting the gold)

Me receiving the Silver Medal in the Best Cadet competition, JD/JW Army Category

My name appeared in the selection lists of the Pre RDC camps, but I was a deserter those days, not able to get along with a lot of people and not able to stand the pace. Of all the things I had to worry about, the one that always topped the list was that I was the only representative of my institution at that point of time. By the end of PRE RDC 3, the final list of the selected cadets for RDC came out. We all were bundles of nerves back then, I still remember. But then yayyy, I was one among the 107 to go to Delhi, but was devastated to know that I couldn’t make it as a Best Cadet. It was the thing that meant the most to me to such an extent that I could substitute Republic Day Camp with Best Cadet Gold Medal, but nah. I at least ended up being the first loser, on a very optimistic note.

And hence, my days in Delhi didn’t mean as much as it had to mean to me. I just hardly managed to survive through the tough cold days, with a lot more of ups and downs in the 30 days we spent. We had a very tedious routine based on the events we were a part of. There were a couple of ‘chosen ones’ from every directorate who got to march in the Republic Day Parade, on Rajpath. And there were other ‘cool asses’ who got to be a part of the Guard of Honour given to various VIPs. And then there were JWs like me who got to spend most of the time in the barrack. (Well, not like we wanted to stay back. We just couldn’t be a part of any of the cool stuff) All we had to do is clean up all the mess in the living area, make all the beds of all the busy people, water the plants, sweep the outer part of the barrack, paint on walls, paint the floor with red oxide, gossip, fight, while away time and eat all the extra refreshments. (And of course, become a bloated sausage in the course of time) The one person who was with me right from the very 1st camp was Garima Bhutra, or I should say Golden Corporal Garima Bhutra. Fighting and annoying her was the 4th major thing I did in Delhi. (Well, the 1st place was for the various cultural competitions we were a part of, the second major thing was annoying our seniors and the third was doing our line areas

The outer and inner view of the barrack of the Karnataka and Goa directorate

Drill practice

The highlights of Delhi for me was that I got to meet a lot of amazing dignitaries, the Prime Minister, Vice President, Chief of all the three Armed forces, the Defence minister and Sports Minister are a few to name. Also, the directorate that I belong to banged the Prime Minster’s banner and was presented the best directorate trophy after 14 long years. This way, RDC was an eventful journey.

PM Narendra Modi presenting the Best Directorate Trophy to the DDG of Karnataka and Goa Directorate

Soon after I came back to Bangalore, to my school after the 10 camps I attended, I expected to live a life where I could walk on air. I don’t like being pessimistic, but that was not kinda what happened. Moreover, I was made to write all my papers for the annual examination, made to miss one of my family functions and asked to prepare for my certificate examination. (Every teen has her own complaints after all)

What I brought back home with me after RDC are a lot experiences, knowledge about community living, stress and time management, significance of staying away from parental supervision and massive memories with my friends. Breaking down all the reasons for me not getting selected as the BC, the one main reason is that the Republic Day Camp was always inside the closed doors, locked deep inside. And hence, just so that my juniors don’t have to go through what I had to go through, I try my best in passing on whatever I know, and try to keep the legacy continued.

Thank You

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