Experience of a lifetime

                                    Hyderabad diaries

Being a NCC cadet, we get lot of opportunities to explore our inner self as well as the outer world and one such opportunity came to me when I was selected for the Air Force Academy Attachment Camp 2010. I am an ex-cadet of NCC air wing, NER directorate and it was a very proud moment for me when I was selected as the only cadet to represent not only Assam but the entire North East India.

The camp was scheduled to be held from 22^nd October 2010 to 4^th Nov 2010. The excitement in me was bursting out as days passed by and the time came for bidding good bye to Guwahati. Before that I collected every pre requisite items such as new uniforms, mufti dress, boots, flying boots etc. from the unit and received many advices and Do’s and Don’ts from our instructors.

The journey to Secunderabad was quite long, it took three days to reach there, and believe me when I say there was a time in the journey when I just wanted to get out of the train anyhow. I and my instructor V.P.Singh sir reached Secunderabad at around 6 pm in the evening on 21^st October. We went to the MCO office for the necessary to be done. An army vehicle was already waiting to pick us and take to the camp site. Two more cadets were waiting there. Later on after having conversation I came to know that they were from West Bengal directorate. The three of us (cadets) were now taken to the transit camp site where a huge army NCC camp was being conducted. We were to spend our night there and the next day we would be taken to the Air Force Academy.

On 22^nd nov, after a briefing by the Deputy Director General of NCC, Andhra Pradesh directorate, we were taken to our destination, the one which we were longing to see since we joined NCC, the one where the finest air warriors of the world are created, the temple of discipline and knowledge – Air Force Academy, Hyderabad. We were allotted our tents. I have to share my tent with four other cadets from Bhopal, Coimbattore, Jaipur and Bangalore.

We had to follow a back breaking and super hectic routine for the next 14 days. Our daily routine included getting up at 4 am to the sound of air deafening alarm played on loud speakers by our camp instructors, which followed up with a health run covering a stetch of about 9 kms, then we got half an hour for nature’s call and getting ready for the drill, then breakfast and off to classes. We were giving lectures on a diverse topics ranging from Aero Engines to SSB interviews, History of IAF to the Latest weapons and missiles inculcated in IAF. We were made to visit various departments of the Academy such as Aero Medical Training Centre, Tettra School, Hangars where we saw shining Kiran Mark-1 aircrafts used for training of Fighter pilots, Helicopter unit  at Hakimpet air force station, transport air craft unit at Begumpet air force station etc etc….

One of the most enthralling day for us was when we were taken for the tour of Hyderabad city. Our sight-seeing included the mystic Goloconda Forts, The majestic Charminar, the charming and beautiful Lumbini Park and the Magnificient Birla Temple.

“Good times fly away fast “so was the case with me. The days at AFA went away so fast and time came for us to bid good bye. With heavy hearts we bade bye to each other with the promise to be in contact always and to organize a re-union where every one of us will come once again to relive those golden days that we spent together. I entered AFA empty handed but returned with pockets full of knowledge, love and amazing friends from each and every part of India.

I am and always will be indebted to my CO sir and instructors who believed in my capabilities and provided me such a chance to discover and expand myself.