SSB Interviews; Hindered Views

Almost all of us might have seen the advertisement, “Join Indian army, be the master of your destiny, have an adventurous life” etc. The general perception of people is that if it’s armed forces, it’s a synonym of discipline. There is no denial that the Indian Military has stalwarts to the Indian people’s faiths. But the pastures which we feel are green enough; also have many a dry patch.

But what’s wrong with the forces then? The selection procedure for soldier level entries in class four and class three has nothing wrong in it, or at the least that’s out of the writer’s purview, but the gateway of entry for commissioned officers cadre finds itself in a dilapidated stand, definitely not in a good stead. As I myself had experience of giving the SSB interviews twice, I had met many veterans of the SSB interview also. There are many a flak in the selection process of armed forces which appear to be sinking the ship of armed forces.

It is well said that change is the only constant. But after giving the SSB interview, one will demystify his previous notions. The test papers which are given to the interview candidates date back to the time of independence, or god knows if they are even older than that. One can easily figure that out from the condition of them. The papers have now de- chlorinated and have thus have acquired a pale yellow colour, with withering, frail edges.

But one thing can be said for sure, that the Armed forces people love their assets. How is that? Because just at the beginning of the tests, candidates are instructed not to scribble or make stray marks on the paper (because those paper will still be used by some generations, I conjecture). And there might not be a single SSB coaching left in the country which does not have copies of the psychological test papers, which are actually illegal to possess.

Secondly, there are a series of psychological tests, which require on the spot sentence framing, reflecting the inside of a person’s psychology. But the real interviewees already have the sentences fed into their brains through a proper coaching class.

Does that mean I’ll get into armed forces if I am good enough to acknowledge all the tests previously? Well, you’ll almost be there, unless you don’t find a person at the medical check-up who’s a hard nut to crack, often demanding rewards for letting you into the forces. And that’s not all, some of the the belligerent and arrogant fellows from the Army schools or XYZ defence schools will be sure enough to claim there spot, as if in a legacy which actually turns out to be true.

There's also a feature of Pilot aptitude battery tests, in which the  people with high piloting aptitudes and the people with high approaches both get through, since if they don’t have the aptitude, the invigilator is always there to fly them through their difficult times. Thus they make the pilots who’ll fly the Sukhois or the Rafale Dassault in the near future.

Fourthly, they have group tasks, which end up being acting tasks, after a lot many days of coaching. It is really hard to find the friend you made back in the candidates hostel who actually turns out to be an Oscar winning actor, and sails his way out, without remembering your name too! Only the personal interviews have their essence in the full six day drama. Sometimes you get a senior, experienced person of the post of major general, while at other times you will have to satisfy a wing commander, who can turn out to be an asinine, as was in my case, who made me wait for 7.5 hours for an interview, and left just by asking how my lunch was.

Apart from these, the SSB interviews conducted by the Service Selection Boards can be a good all expenses paid trip by government to some interview location. And for the candidates with no backing from the relatives in defence, keep your fingers crossed, join a coaching class and may be that you become the next certified actor by the Board. 

::The first photo is of Robert Lockhardt, the first Army chief of Independent India. 

The Emotional Side

“There’ll be no sunlight if I lose you baby, There’ll be no clear skies if I lose you baby....Don’t just say goodbye”

Heard that song by Bruno Mars? It has a lot of relevance when we find someone who’s really complement to our soul and thinking. It can be anyone, or anything we find peace at, whom we feel a part of ourselves. I here share a utopian story preconceived in my and minds of many more, which goes as : The events fell in like a lace of festoons, with strange heavenly beads spread all across. Firstly what fascinated me in that ‘Complementary Soul’ (I’ll prefer calling it CS) was her cultural richness that turned out to be magnetic to my thoughts. Indians are actually obsessed with culture you see. Whether it be shown in the festivities they jolly or at religious places, cultural richness makes Indian people more Indian, complete. I too believed in culture then, now which I have underpinned through a richer experience.

 So, I got charmed by the CS when she drew the first rangoli by herself. It is said that politeness is an ornament of women, and now I was seeing what I had heard from my elders. The utopian image of any cultured lass was so fitting into her material body; I could hardly mark out any difference. Then at another instance when I savoured some Indian dishes made by her, the words ‘this person is so me’ echoed, now with a sound greater than a sonic boom. I know that the CS too might have thought the same, but never expressed. 

We spent days with our families together, shared laughs together, and the life in this microcosm became a universe to me. Even after returning from the vacations we had, this small town had its indelible mark on my itinerary. From a dot on the map, suddenly it became one of the dots needed in my life. Until now, I imagined myself to be a strong person emotionally, but these times proved the power emotions had. It’s also a believed notion that when emotional side increases the rational side in the brain cells decreases, hence I made myself possessed by her, and her thoughts only, like a peacock that danced only when her memories poured.

Diamond cuts diamond, gold melts gold. Hence in our case too, it was culture only I guess, that could not tolerate a tryst between us. Being from two families with their own dignity and stature in the society, even the thought of getting along together for the rest of our lives seemed to be excruciating. Hence without even saying it to each other, we sensed it not to be poetic breaking the family traditions and hence to continue with the values we’d been imbibed with from our conceptions in human forms, humane to the culture. When we were forced by morals to sift, it was painful. I felt the skies drawing near, close enough to crush me by their invisible force. What would one feel like if a person lost his body part, or to say the very soul, I could have explained it then. I felt that emotions were stronger but the overpowering of the culture over emotions was inevitable. The macrocosm remained unchanged, but these instances brought about a change in the world of my imagination. I started thinking life more as a liability than as an asset. It was as if we were straightjacketed by the despotic tenets enshrined by our ancestors, unintelligible ideally in the present times.

I woke up to realise that it was all dream and nothing like this ever happened in reality. Well, whatever it was, now if anyone asked me the order of strengths among culture, you and emotions, the culture weighs down the other two. This one dream changed my intuitions about emotionality and actually how human this character is, often slipping in revolt to the traditions, leaving the decisions on the shoulders of pitiable minds.

P.S. I really love traditional Indian food, especially 'Chaklis'.