ME AND NDA

Jai Hind!! Im Bavani Shankar, Im a NDA-152 recommended candidate and am awaiting to join the academy by mid 2024. I just wanted to share how this journey started and how it is going.

INCEPTION:-

         Throughout my life I have been throughly fascinated by anything that involves me looking up! From birds to planets, from nebulas to quasars,I felt that I belonged somewhere amongst them.I felt that aircrafts were something that would help me achieve this dream. Naturally I grew closer to them and avidly followed them. I never dreamt of joining the armed forces as such. The love and respect for the forces were always there but I never pictured myself as a part of it. All of this was about to change!! As long as I could remember I wanted to be a pilot,to soar into the sky was a lifelong dream and now Im on the verge of achieving it... In my 9th grade I approached my father about this prospect of becoming a commercial pilot.I was lucky as to be blessed with parents who were so supportive to me and my passions.As time progressed it became clear that the financial requirements for my dream could be achieved but it would  put a huge strain on my family.I felt that my aspirations shouldnt come at the cost of my family's comfort.So I decided that I should look for a alternative which would be beneficial for both my family as well as my dream. I had a fair idea about Airforce and I knew that one can join Airforce and become a pilot. The first exam which introduced me to upsc was the AFCAT exam. I had no idea about NDA until my 12th grade. while researching about AFCAT I came to know about the NDA entry. When I came to know about it I had precisely 2 attempts left.

PREPARATION:-   

I was under the impression that I can clear the exam on my own without any coaching.[I was so wrong]. My father,being the visionary he is,knew that one requires some clarity and guidance about the exam which boasts of such breakneck competition. Thus my life changing stint with NDI began...

Initially we made our enquiry with two different coaching institutes which trains candidates for the exams. One is National Defence Institute while the other  I wouldnt name for privacy reasons.After the enquiry my family was convinced with the former institute and I too wanted to join this institute..,the reason being the way with which the faculty clarifed and explained about the examination.I do not hail from a defence background,as a layman,I was really pleased with the way they explained and I decided that this is the place for me [one of the best decisions I had made]. My parents were really supportive[I mentioned it before and I am mentioning it now as well], they did not object even when I took a break year after my school for my NDA exam,similarly the didnt object when I desired to join my institute. I first joined the online batch due to my board exams, when my boards got over I joined the classes directly. To be really honest, their online classes were the only online classes that I paid attention to... solely because of how interesting their way of teaching was.As I had mentioned earlier, I had 2 attempts of NDA left and my first attempt was on april 16 2023, my board exams concluded by march 23 2023. so I had roughly 25 days for actually focusing and preparing for NDA. My teachers gave me a lot of PYQs to prepare and motivated me to give my best with whatever time that was left.Alas, my best was not enough to clear the paper.Immediately after the announcement of results by UPSC, me and my teachers sprung into action and started my preparation for my last attempt of NDA.I regularly attended the classes and my teachers tirelessly educated me.The way the taught their respective subjects showed the ease and clarity they possessed regarding the same.I was throughly awestruck by the charisma and humour sense of my teachers and this in turn made me even more interested to study long hours.I never woke up at 4 in the morning to revise maths, I never mugged up the entire syllabus of history for the exam.As a matter of fact, if you use these kind of study methods, you will not be able to clear the exam. UPSC sets the paper in such a way that it tests the understanding of the subject rather than your memory power! So it is imperative that you use the available resources to improve your understanding and revise the things that you have learnt constantly over and over. Revision, to me , has more weightage than learning new things. say... 60% revision and 40% learning.The way the faculty taught me.. most of the time I will not be having any doubts but on the rare occasion of having one, they would ensure that it goes away.We had constant tests so as to keep ourselves updated about our progress.On september 3 2023,I gave my last shot at NDA.After the exams, I was confident of clearing the paper and actually scoring decently in the exam.After a few days the results were announced and thankfully I was also among the 7000 odd candidates who had cleared the written.The scenario in the institute as well as at home was one of jubilation.Around 4 months of preparations for an exam which has constant moodswings has paid off!! Now to the tricky part..

SSB INTERVIEW:-

My first preference is obviously to join the flying branch of IAF but this doesnt undermine the love and respect I have for the other branches of the armed forces.To be honest, at a point of time in your preparation everyone must have felt this thing. The thing being that " Oh god, I just want to join the forces no matter the stream I get" I also had the same feeling in me. Thus my preparations for SSB began.From my preparation and the guidance I received, one thing became evidently clear. One has to be honest and should never manipulate ones character.From what I have seen many candidates lack the understanding of what SSB is all about.I was also one among them, the guidance from my teachers helped me understand the basics of SSB and how to approach it.If you look closely the symbol for SSB is that of a weighing balance with a person in one end and OLQs in the other.This pictorial representation tells you all you need to know about SSB.SSB is not about who has the best rope tying skills or who has the best writing skills or who has good elocution. It is about your OLQs and how you bring them out.They have several batteries of tests with which the assess your OLQs.All of this was made clear by my revered teachers at the institute.To be really honest, I cant stress enough the fact that my parents, my teacher and my friends were so instrumental in my recommendation. Without them all of this would not be possible.I believe that there are certain things one has to come to term with in order to clear SSB. 1. No one is perfect. 2.You cant know everything in the world 3.Irregulaties is what defines your uniqueness. One who understands all of this has a better chance of clearing SSB!! If you try to fake your way through SSB, you will not go far. If you think that " my character is not good, what if Im not good enough to join the forces", my friend, everyone has thought about the same things.. If you think that you are not good enough, engage in self improvement and become good enough. The assessors will me more than happy to select candidates who have identified their shortcomings and are on the path of self imporvement.People think that SSB is something that is obscure.I thought the same, I had no prior knowledge about SSB. My teachers ensured that I am fully aware of the process and how things are done.This helped me a lot.OLQs are your savior and one cannot develop OLQs in a single day, some are acquired through prior experiences while other can be acquired through conscious efforts.Whatever it is that you lack,my friend, rest assured it can be developed... dont even think of fooling the assessors.

3 AFSB:-

I was alotted for my SSB at 3 AFSB Gandhinagar on Jan 15, My father accompanied me to Gandhinagar and booked a room and stayed there the entire 5 days. We had booked our flight strategically so as to be there by 13th and have a rest day on 14th inorder to be fresh while reporting on 15th.Things generally went our way but still we faced a lot of delays and unprecedented situations. It is my humble advise to you my friend, take in account of delays and your body need and book your mode of transport in such a way that even if things dont go your way, you would still be able to tackle them.It is better to be early than late.On the morning of 15th I reported at 0515 hours, my reporting time was 0630 hours , I was on the verge of getting frost bite, since I was born and broght up in Chennai, I am accustomed to warm weather.So again my friend, do take necessary precautions for your SSB, your health is of atmost importance as without it you will not be able to perform in SSBs.Before leaving kindly check the weather report, transport available, timings applicable.At 0535 hours we were routed into the board premises and I waved goodbye to my father. The previous night my teachers had called me and wished me luck, all of these thoughts were running in my head.2 of my friends got screened out, so the pressure of that was also weighing upon my head.I was thinking that "first get screened in, then you will have the oppurtunity to show your mettle",with the grace of god things went quite well,my PPDT story was good and I also did my narration part well.But during the GD we were just shouting and none of us had a meaningful conversation.I was a bit scared that what if the whole group gets washed out.I mean it is normal to think about all the possible outcomes in such an uncertain situation.Thank god I was screened in. The thing is they didnt tell that they were announcing the result for the screened in candidates, so we did not know whether we were screened in or not until we were informed in the gathering hall. 133 reported and 91 got screened in.We were really exited, "91 screened in, recommendations will be higher and more than 15", we couldnt be more wrong... anyways after the briefing we had our psych. I wrote all 12 TATs, around 56 WATs,39 SRTs and in my self description I made some errors, I didnt complete my enitre SD and I ran out of time.The reason being that, our psychologist asked us to write about our positives and negatives in our SD. I thought that her statement is completely justified, no one has an entirely rosy picture in reality. So it is imperative that you showcase both the sides. As I made a last minute, I ran out of time during my SD.After the psych test, I was a bit scared to be honest.. but I kept pushing, "Its ok Bavani, dont make anymore mistakes from now on , you can still pull this off"... Thus an eventful first day came to an end. I was alotted the chetak room with 9 of my friends. We quickly became buddies and started discussing about what next is to be done.As a South  Indian I did not have the kind of grasp over the hind language so as to engage in effective communication.Thankfully my friends made sure that I never felt left out from any conversation. They quickly translated stuff to me, also I have completed private hindi course so it was not that difficult to get accustomed to the language.We went for fall in, got the instructions for the next day and went to sleep. People who had interviews prepared for them and people who had GT also prepared for it.As some of us, including me had nothing for the next day, we were just sharing stories and were getting to know each other. The next day all the guys who had a free day assembled in the games room,we started playing table tennis, chess , cricket, basketball, volleyball and had a blast.DAY 3, I had my interview scheduled at 0830 hours, interview went smoothly and I was done for the day...the same game cycle continued and at night we had some light group discussion and prepared tactics for the next day of GT. DAY 4 GT was eventful, the excitement of PGT and the liveliness of group discussion stole the day.We retired to our room as happy candidates awaiting our conference the next day. By this time we had stong bonding amongst ourselves and had that camraderie amongst us. We went to sleep knowing full well that some of us will be the world's happiest people while the others not so much. DAY 5, after some briefing our conference procedure started. Since I was a bit old I got 84 as my chest number out of the 91 screened in. After much anticipation and a lot of waiting I was called to the conference hall. It was a simple conference and didnt even last 1 entire minute. I was appaled by the officers in their shiny uniform but still maintained my  calm and answered the questions appropriately. Now we wait..... We were asked to go for lunch and assemble at the briefing hall. After the closing address by the board president, the results were announced. Mine was the last chest number to be recommended that day and my joy knew no bounds.It was cut short by the sad faces of my friends[duality of SSB]. We had some documentations, I informed my parents , they were throughly elated and relieved to know about the successful culmination of my SSB. In total 12 candidates got recommended from the mammoth 91 screened ins!.. Thus this marked the conclusion of my stint with 3 AFSB.

Computerised Pilot Selection System (CPSS):-

I was alloted my CPSS on 27th Jan at 2 AFSB Mysore, CPSS was an eventful day, I had the rare oppurtunity to be part of a test that you can do only once in a lifetime.In the morning we had the cognitive ability test, which consists of reading basic cockpit instruments and some mathematical and reasoning ability. Out of the 40 odd people who reported there, all of us were able to pass the cognitive test in grade 1.

After a short break we were routed to the psychomotor skill testing hall AKA the cockpit simulator, instructions for 2 games were provided by the officer in charge, there were total 10 games which had 4 attempts each and the best of the 4 is considered as final by the computer itself. after another short break the results were announced, about 5-6 candidates didnt make the cut, thankfully I was one among the rest who were eligible for military aviation.This marked the conclusion of CPSS.

MEDICALS:-

I was asked to report to the Institute of Aerospace Medicine, Banglore for my medicals on 29th Jan .DAY 1 consisted of height, weight measurements, blood and urine test, ENT and a part of the eye checkup.DAY 2 consisted of the rest of eye checkup , human engineering, cardio, and X-Rays. DAY 3 consisted of dental and surgery. DAY 4 consisted of BP and heartrate checkup and we were done for the day. Day 5 was our medical conference... Out of the 40 odd candidates only 10 were announced medical fit, the rest were declared unfit pertaining to issues ranging from 2-3 kg overweight to disc in retina.Out of the 10 that were declared fit for armed forces only 5 were flying fit. Thank god I was one among the 5 aswell!! 

CONCLUSION:-

After going through all of this, one thing is now very clear in my mind... If I had given up midway just because I didnt finish my SD or just because I did not know the home state of our honourable President during my interview, then I would not have experienced all of these procedures.It is my humble request to you my friend... never give up, keep pushing till the end. I wish you all a successful SSB experience and a life less ordinary. I sincerely thank everyone of my friends, teachers , parents and innumerable others who have made this journey possible for me. JAI HIND!