PASAN PERIPHERY PUS

PASAN PERIPHERY PUS

“Pasan periphery pus”…….the most commonly heard phrase, if you may call it a phrase in the academy, some of you may be wondering what the hell is this? Is it a limerick or a nursery rhyme, with something to follow, well..it is just that and what follows is a take off by the juniors in the academy on a 10 odd kms casual run. This activity is normally carried out immediately after lunch to help our digestive tracts. Frankly in NDA, our digestive systems are totally at rest what with all these activities which follow almost all the meals, food automatically either travels into the intestines or simply finds the other easy way out by throwing up. The throwing up is a rare phenomenon though except when the running gives way to more interesting physical activities like rolling followed by something which the sadists had devised specially for such philanthropic deeds; ‘academy whiskey’, where you went around in circles fully stooped with a finger on the ground. It did deliver a kick but whether it was akin to whiskey which most of us did savour in later years or its more physical version in the derriere is anybody’s guess.

 Well Pasan actually is the Pashan Gate at the entrance to NDA, periphery was  a circuit normally utilised for punishment runs, the Restrictions, ETs and EDs;  the last word ‘pus’ does not have any connection with the medical term which results after a wound is infected and this gooey liquid forms the ‘creamy layer’. It stands for ‘push’. I am sure most of you would probably have guessed by now that the speaker of this phrase was a Bihari, no offence meant. We had two CSMs, cadet sergeant major who belonged to that part of the country. CSMs derive pleasure out of sending the squadron on these healthy pursuits on a regular basis. Apart from the PP, Pashan Periphery for short there were many others which could be an add on package or enjoyed independently depending on the mood of the CSM. The mood of His Majesty the CSM was dependent on a myriad of factors for which no differential equation could be devised for an accurate prediction. Of course the worst nightmares would come true when he was at the receiving end at the Squadron office for any omission or his phase tests results or simply because his cycle had a flat tyre. Well just about anything under the Sun, and then the degree of difficulty of these runs would multiply either by increasing the distance or by increasing the weight to be carried or by …you guessed it.. BOTH(!). So PP will have a 2475 or 3131 added to it or simply Karpa, Khandwa whatever. 2475 and 3131 were geographical features denoted by their height in feet above mean sea level, which had witnessed the cadets in all kinds of interesting positions scaling and descending them over the last 60 odd years. Karpa, not a distant cousin of the Tibetan monk ‘Karamapa’ it was also a feature which did not have a height which took the fancy of the cadets so it got stuck with the crappy name. Khandwa has nothing in common with the Railway junction in MP, where NDA special trains halted and scandalised the locals with the community bathing of cadets on the station using the hose pipes. Nothing unusual you would say , well the cadets stuck to the NDA norms of bathing in the nude even at these stations, so naturally, imagine, a train full of 17-18 year old youngsters indulging in fun and frolic on a railway station in full public view. Alas, these days, such pursuits have had to be shunned, as it would go “viral” and a lot of people will catch a terrible flu. Anyway NDA specials are something unique and have to be experienced…so let us get back to the Khandwa, which is the other gate in NDA. The Khandwa sprints were normally post movie shows from Ashoka pillar and were executed in squads of four or six in perfect harmony, i.e. in step. Needless to say these pre dinner appetisers did wonders to our palate.

We came across a number of landmarks en route while accomplishing these deeds, these landmarks were seemingly innocuous but had interesting nomenclature, so conical geographical features would normally be referred to by that part of female anatomy of the current Bollywood heroines, from Babita to Bipasha. Similarly the Equestrian Lines had an inverted horse shoe, which  too found resemblance with some other interesting anatomical part duly christened with those of the vamps of the day, Helen being the most prominent, and enriched our knowledge of anatomy in general. Without getting into the other aspects of academy general knowledge, suffice to say that colourful description of most of the landmarks in human anatomical terms would have done a budding doctor proud. Whether it was the Ashoka Pillar and its colour to the wind sock in the Air Force Training Team at Glider Dome, the cadets had discovered some unique relationship with human anatomy.

Any way getting back from the periphery to the original theme, the periphery itself, most of us did get to circumvent this stretch more often as it also doubled up as the route for  punishment run. The attire varied with the severity of the crime committed, with minor ones in relatively simple dungarees with ammunition boots and the deadlier ones in Field Service Marching Order, FSMO in short, with packs, water bottle and the 36 contents of the pack which included a change of dress, toilet kit complete and even a snake bite kit, all set to go to the battlefield. This periphery also made strange bedfellows, some were regulars and they generally became friends commonly referred to as ‘pals’ in the academy. The seniority principle was generally put aside for these friendships and were global in nature ie they transcended the squadron boundaries. They shared cigarettes (contraband) and even stood in for each other to bail them out at those odd hour reports. I had my tryst with the periphery too, its genesis is pretty interesting; in second term most of us were entrusted with the task of packing the breakfast for fourth termers as they had to get dressed for the service classes, in  the FSMO; the academy maintained the sanctity of the cadets mess by ensuring no FSMO variety moved anywhere near thus the cadets had to first change into uniform Khaki Drill (KDs) and then post breakfast get into the FSMO. Si here I was, packing breakfast, some toasts and a cutlet or two, tucking them in my handkerchief, blissfully unaware that the Adjt, Maj Daniels was watching me indulge in this activity. The moment I had finished and looked up, I saw him looking pretty amused, enquiring as to what was I up to. To which I very bravely responded that I was doing it for myself as I had to rush and will eat the same later. He was obviously aware of this practise of packing and was annoyed that I was not telling the truth. He immediately awarded me seven days restrictions. The silver lining to this was that the fourth termers in my squadron impressed by my not squealing went on to grant me the status of an ‘honorary pal’.

Getting back to the cross country runs, well, I got to participate in the inaugural Pune marathon, but I think I had had my share of running by the time we slow marched out on the tunes of ‘Auld lang syne’ and generally prefer the other modes of exercise. Though I still get nostalgic at the mention of periphery, Pashan Gate of course is the gateway to all those memories………