Best Dayz Of my Life. Part 2: My SSB at Varanasi

My SSB date and NIIT joining dates were clashing but I knew what was more important for me. I asked for a 10 day stay from the recruiters but while asking for the stay I told them the truth that I was to go for SSB. that was a mistake as This gave them the hint that my priority was somewhere else. Anyways the day went good. The whole next day went in all the preparations and packing.

Then came the day of 19^th September. It was my reservation from dehradun at 08.00 pm that day. It was raining heavily since morning and I was praying to kanha to stop the rain as I was afraid of cancellation of train.

At 08.00pm I reached dehradun railway station with Papa. As we were entering the gate an old man with all the looks of a villain came to us and said, “andar jaakar koi faida nahi..sab trains cancel hai….he he he he.”

I was shocked but more than that I wanted to kill that man for the way he laughed. I said to lord kanha “bhagwan ji help… and after that take all the teeth of this old man.”

I was damn scared. My hands were shivering and I was continuously praying. And then came a ray of hope. A bus was going to Haridwar from where it was possible to catch the train to Varanasi. But there were limited seats in the bus. I managed to get in and got a seat at the back. Later on I realized that my seat was giving me the enjoyment of ‘WATER KINGDOM’. It was an AC bus so all the rain water gathered in the AC cooler was falling over my head every time the brakes were applied. All wet I reached Haridwar and got the train. Once the train started moving I was relaxed. The journey to Varanasi gave me shivers initially but later on it was normal.. nothing special happned. On 20^th evening we reached Varanasi- the ancient city of India.

Next day I was to begin the journey to my dream job…. SSB.

DAY 1: 21^ST SEPTEMBER

At the reporting time I reached at the point where all the candidates coming for SSB were to assemble. When I reached there, there were about 80-90 gals… tall, short, fatso, slim, smart and sexy to behenji and champu type…. Gals of all categories were there. I was preparing myself for the tough competition. After 5 min. a girl came to me and asked “u r here for ssb na?”

I noticed her.. When I looked at her face the first word that came to my mind was INNOCENT. She was wearing a suit and dupatta, wid a long choti at the back… I replied “yes”. After few seconds I asked her “I am mansi…. whats your name?” actually she was so sweet and innocent looking that I could not resist myself from asking her name. she replied “I am megha.”

Shortly after our intro all d galz got a call from the Air Force representative. He checked our documents and our luggage was taken in a truck and we, gals got into a bus. Everyone was a stranger to me. I was damn nervous. I closed my eyes and focused on my capability. As our bus entered into the selection board.. I experienced a different feeling… a feeling that cannot be described in words. We were taken to a big hall. We took our seats and then came an Air Force officer…. He introduced himself to all the girls. He was our DSO… the lucky officer who was responsible for the custody of all the girls!!

I was listening to his every word carefully when his one of the sentences broke my heart, “…..all the candidates have to deposit their cellphones with us.. till you are at the selection board no cameras, no pagers, no cellphones.” I thought “oh god ji… without cellphone!!” but that time my eyes were only on 1 thing.. GETTING RECOMMENDED so I prepared myself to live without my cellphone. All the girls were given their identification numbers which are called as chest numbers.. I was chest no.15. After a little refreshment came the time of our first test- SCREENING TEST. My mind was all full of tension and nervousness. A lady made the entry into the hall. She was Dr. Mala…. Our psychologist. She was a soft spoken lady wid an over-white complexion. Her eyes resemble that of a cat that’s why when I saw her for the first time a song started in my background- billo rani kaho to abhi.. errrrrr..wait..usme jaan dene wali koi baat nahi thi.

She took our verbal-non verbal tests. They were easy so I was relaxed regarding them. Then came the turn of picture perception test. A blurred picture was shown to us where a girl at the center was getting senti and 3-4 women were pampering her and we were to write a story over it. Later on, candidates in a group of 12 were to undergo a GD regarding the story.

I was good in GD but there many other gals were also good in GD. During the GD, all the girls spoke their story and 11 out of the 12 girls concluded with the same conclusion that life of the girl in the picture has undergone some tragedy. Everyone is consoling her and telling her to move forward. But one girl told an entirely a different story that hailing from a very poor background she has managed to win a gold in Olympics due to her sheer hardwork and after winning the medal as she came to her village everyone is hugging her, appreciating her and seeing this she got senti. Well all the readers, U wanna know who the girl was?? It was none other than Chest No. 15.. Mansi Jain.

After 1 hour results were announced of the screening test. Those who qualify were to stay for next 4 daz.. rest were supposed to leave. Out of 90 girls, 46 were told to stand in a different group. I was among that group. We all were confused whether we were selected or rejected. The officer telling the result said “you all have passed the test.” All selected galz made the hoo haa noises. I was so happy to pass the test. Now all tension and nervousness was away. That day only all the 46 girls were given new chest nos. which were our identity for the next 4 daz. I was Chest No. 8 now. The same day our other written tests like TAT, WAT, SRT, SD were taken. It all took 4 hours. All the 46 galz were damn tired by then. I tried to convey positive meaning in whatever I wrote. As the tests were over all the galz were divided into a group of 9. I with my huge bag entered into the room where other 8 girls were present. All 8 strangers were to live together for next 4 daz. In all the four daz we 9 girls built a special bond between us.

Chest no.1 – Meenu- She was a cute specso and possessed a worth appreciable dressing sense. i found her matured of all with good understanding and intelligent mind

Chest no.2- Asha- Purely a maharashtrian girl who was very fond of using the word ‘like’ in her sentences.

Chest no. 3- Chaya- Yaar, I really fell in love with her eyes. they were so beautiful. she was the other matured girl in our group like talk less, listen more!!

Chest no.4- Anjum- She was the quietest of all. Very serious and a keen observer type. The thing I liked in her most was her daily beauty routine consisting of applying 5-6 lotions one after the other, that too in the same sequence daily.

Chest no. 5- Aniketa- Words are too less to describe her. I shared a strong bond with her. She was so caring towards me similar to an elder sister. Very religious as she was knowing almost all the bhajans and mantras.

Chest no. 6- Jhanavi- She was a totally bindass gujarati girl. I really liked her. She was bold, confident.

Chest no.7- Megha- My another bestie with aniketa in the group. The same INNOCENT girl. And in 4 days I really found her Innocent with a sort of purity of thoughts. She was really too good.

Chest No.9- Deepmala @ Deepu.. she was the bachcha of our group. Daz why I named her deepu.

Everyone was damn tired so after formal intro all the galz went to bed.

DAY 2: 22^nd SEPTEMBER

All the girls got up at 4 as 6 was the reporting time. After the breakfast our DSO came on his royal enfield. He came and stood infornt of us. “So ladies, had a good sleep yesterday?”

“Yes sir”, all 46 candidates replied.

“Any mosquitoes?”

“No sir”, All lied.. in fact there were mosquitoes everywhere in the room, in the store, even in the washroom…

Then he started giving instructions for the tests further.

On day 2 our group went through group discussion- it was good for me as I  gave the chance to speak and also spoke out my views in a good manner

Group planning exercise- where I got drastically confused but thanks to kanha all the tubelights of my brain lightened up altogether.

Progressive tasks- this is one of the task where evry candidate has the chance to come into the notice of the GTOs. I did my best in it. It was really a fun to carry heavy loads, jumping over logs of wood, climbing over heights…

Half group tasks- this is the short version of Progressive tasks. I loved this task coz this one was the first task where I got hurt. I was sitting over a log at a height of 6 -7 foot, lost my balance and landed down.

I remember while going back to our rooms all covered wid mud and sweat, we girls saw an army bus standing in the premises of the board with a dashing, handsome officer standing infront of it. All the girls reacted in the same way, “shit yaar, wrong timing!! I am lukin so shabby and dirty. And that officer is lukin here only” as if that officer was to select a girl for himself

After the tasks, we were free for the rest of the day. We went to a nearby mall, went to McD where I saw a girl with the best smile of the world. IN fact.. megha also liked her smile,

At night after the usual chatar-patar we all fell asleep.

DAY 3: 23^RD SEPTEMBER

This day our command tasks, lecturette and interview were to take place. My command task went awesome. In lecturette, all the candidates before me got topics which were of my interest like politics, cricket, generation gap etc. but when my chance came I was to choose 1 out of the 3 topics and none of the topic was of my interest. I got education reforms or brain drain or single parenting.

I spoke about single parenting. Though it went not very good for me as I had expected but it was not very bad. Then came the time for interview. After a wait of 2 hours my turn came. I was interviewd by Wng Cdr Amarinder Gill. He was a gol man with a big moustache and heavy voice. I was not at all nervous as he interviewd me. My interview lasts for 1 hr 20 min where I was asked about my family, friends, all personal and professional matters, views about airforce etc. Honestly, I loved my interview.

After we were free we went to see Dabang. I really enjoyed that movie.

That night we all the girls talked about our personal lives. One by one evry girl narrated the story of her first affair or first crush.

Day 4: 24^TH SEPTEMBER: SECOND LAST DAY

That day our group was free as our tasks were over. Half of the day we kept on playing badminton, TT then we went to the Kashi temple.

In these four days we 9 girls of our group had becum like a family.. closely attached family. After 1 day we all were to get apart and we all were enjoying each and every moment. In the evening after having delicious dinner (food at selection board was always delicious.. the mess staff would serve ud with so love and care which added more to the taste of food.. adding to it, were the different cuisines that vary each day) all the girls of our group were sitting together when a girl from another group came and sat with us. She also was our good friend. Suddenly she said “I am getting so emotional today. Tomorrow we all will be going back homes… I will miss this place and it will be so sad when we will be giving our chests back to the authorities”

Listening to her words we all burst into laughter. She was confused and asked me why we were laughing. I controlled myself anyhow and said,”dumbo.. u will be asked to give your chest nos. only… not your chests”.. We all again laughed like mads. Few moments after our DSO came. He was a smart officer but one problem for everyone.. he was married!!

That was the last night we 9 girls were together. We talked till late night. About everything. Ranging from airforce to current affairs to non-veg talks. As we shifted to non-veg topics, anjum went to sleep.. everyone shared her knowledge except deepu coz she was d sweet bachcha of our group not knowing anything. Listening to everyone she ended up saying, “yaar, mujhe to kuch b nai pata tha…. Maine apni life mein kuch kiya hi nai.”

To which jhanavi said,” idiot… kuch karna nahi hai just increase ur awareness”

I don’t know why but everyone in my group except me was sure of my recommendation. But I was thinking that I wud nt get recommend so I packed my bag 1 day in advance.

DAY 5: 25^TH SEPTEMBER: THE CONFERENCE DAY

This was the day when tension was visible on my face. Air force was my dream and this was my last chance coz my parents were against it and I had promised dem that I wud nvr try for it in future. I was only praying to god. My conference went for approx. 2 min. whatever board president asked I answered confidently. After all candidates went for conference, DSO came wid the results. My heart was pounding fast. My fingers were clutched tightly, eyes were closed, body temperature was rising. He started announcing the recommended chest nos.  

Chest no.6… that was jhanavi

Chest no.8…. as I listened to it I opened my eyes. Initially, I thought that my ears have listened it wrong. But then deepu who was sitting by my side said “congrats mansi!!”

And my first reaction was :Shit..i got recommended…yuhhhhooooooo

As I stood up lakshya’s title song started in my background: lakshya to har haal mein paana hai

Oh god!! That was a wonderful feeling. My dream was to come true. I was so so so happy that tears came in my eyes. i felt how it feels when after putting your best sheer hard work you get the reward and I got the reward of my life. AIR FORCE- TOUCH THE SKY WITH GLORY. I was not getting how to celebrate the moment. I was happy, emotional, mad all at the same time.

So this was my journey to my recommendation. Wrote it in abit hurry but hope u will like it.. as always +ve and -ve comments are welcome.. next will be the medical and the final selection