In Pursuit of a Dream ..Contd...

At around one thirty I go searching for the Board that says all candidates assemble here. As I approach the bench there is a vision of India Integrated. We are there in all our shades and languages and big back packs and the common dream of serving the Nation. A guard comes to guide us to the bus that will take us to the selection facility. The mighty green bus was full of men with long faces, the guys who were rejected in their first day filtering of the five day selection process. Seeing them there was this tiny pinch, will I come back in one day. The dream was there always, but wasn't it long since I had given up. Wasn't it almost three years now since I am holding a desk job and a comfortable income that was showing in my well endowed body. When the guys unloaded their luggage from up the bus, they obviously wanted to help the women load their luggage, and then there was this huge thunder. "You are going to be Officers, you load your own luggage. Men clear out now itself." with this command the North Indian tree climbers immediately jumped on to the top of the Bus and loaded all the luggage.

The moment we enter the facility, we are already treated like officers. The guards are all courteous, the officers are all strict and disciplinarians. That is some amount of positive thinking,even before the testing procedure started they are treating all the fifty odd candidates as officers. After the filling of some forms, we move to our respective room assignments. These spaces already have ladies assigned to help you with your laundry and ironing! At ring of bell we walk towards this dining hall were meals would be served precisely for some 30 minutes. We move in our own relaxed manner, and again there is the disciplining shout to walk faster and straighter and the sort. By the time the testing procedure start next morning our variety of walks has become a uniform kind of march, be it between halls or even to the loo.