"Fold your Seats"

 

 

"Someone taught me how to dance last night,What a mover he was!

And someone taught me how to do it rightWhat a groover he was!” 

  Tina Charles would croon, and we would swoon, no not because of the lyrics or the beats of the song per se, it was because, we were seated in the auditorium in NDA Khadakwasla with our seats folded, trying to balance our precious derriere on the edge of the seat. Even before a movie commenced we were enjoying the edge of the seat thrills, irrespective of the genre of the movie. In NDA, movie shows in the auditorium were an experience which had to be lived through to be understood. Although we had all been watching movies since the time we made our presence felt in this world, at first in our mother’s lap, as with no TV, social media and hardly any places to hang out, parents would invariably troop into a movie hall for an evening out. For me the real movie experience though commenced with “Haathi Mere Saathi”, Rajesh Khanna starrer Chinappa Devar film which had an elephant in the pivotal role apart from super star Rajesh Khanna and Tanuja. Supposedly a movie for children, as there were elephants playing football and performing all kinds of circus tricks, although it was a typical potboiler with an evil KN Singh shooting down the elephant and Rajesh Khanna avenging his murder.

Getting back to the NDA movie experience, Wednesdays were English movies and Saturday/Sunday Hindi movies, as that was the only source of entertainment, most of the cadets would be there, despite the hardships and the side effects. Dressed in our Muftis, we would march in squads (four or six cadets in a square or rectangle form) to the auditorium, knowing fully well what lay in store for us. Daredevilry was inculcated right here, with Cadet Sergeants, Battalion Cadet Adjutant/Academy Cadet Adjutant on the prowl and Drill instructors waiting in ambush…..we still dared. No wonder, in later years, the young commissioned officers faced the terrorists and the Pakis so nonchalantly. Having entered the auditorium, it was the same Tina Charles songs which would play ad nauseum, I am sure she was not aware that her songs were the rage in NDA. She may have come and performed live for us, if she were informed…may be. I always wondered that, was it because they did not have cassettes of any other songs or someone was excessively fond of Tina Charles. Anyway, the movie would finally commence and provide some respite for us, when we could seat ourselves more comfortably, seats restored, till it was interval, when the edge of the seat thrills would be back revisiting. Finally, once the movie ended, it was time for the sprint of our lives, but in perfect synchronisation which even synchronised swimmers would find difficult to emulate. Back in our squads of four or six, we were expected to take off for a “hell march” with our steps in synch and matching our strides from the auditorium to the Cadets Mess for our dinner.  The adversaries were all lined up located strategically to spring an ambush, were we to relax a wee bit in this sprint. The relaxation may not actually be there, but if the powers that be thought the effort was subpar then, the degree of difficulty would multiply, with a trip down to Khandwa Gate, which was just about a km added, sometimes the run would graduate to more meaningful exercises with moving on the haunches for some distance to improve our reflexes. Sometimes the sprinters would attempt a Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, by trying to outrun the sergeants or the Drill instructors, the odds though were heavily against succeeding, but that challenge itself was worth it. If you made it, you were a hero, if you got caught, well…just too bad! Finally, may be after about half an hour or so, we would land up at the Cadets Mess. Well, actually the whole exercise served as a perfect appetiser, for the meal which was gorged down hungrily.

 In NDA Wing Ghorpuri, it was “Saat saheliyan khadi khadi…” from Vidhaata Sanju baba starrer which was the only song which regaled us. As we were right in the middle of Pune, the movies were compulsory. The authorities felt we would surely jump the walls and proceed to MG road enact our own movies rather than watch these stupid potboilers. Some smart ones amongst did manage to do just that, but most of us were the average Joe types. Trainees and recruits were never supposed to be idle, as ‘Idle mind is a devil’s workshop’. We joined the Wing in the month of July, with Monsoons at its epitome; the open air auditorium was infested with gigantic mosquitoes, waiting in the wings and the rain capes provided them just the right vent to sneak in. We were issued the World War II DMP (Dimethyl Phthalate) oil, which was supposed to be mosquito repellent, unfortunately these pests had started to enjoy the aroma as they just went about relishing their favourite drink. Our rain capes, again WW II vintage, apart from increasing the weight did nothing to protect us from the torrential rains; rain water found its way through the arm cuts and through the opening for the neck and drenched us thoroughly. To top it all we had to suffer some of the most horrid boring movies.

At RIMC Dehradun, we got to watch 16 mm movies on the projector which was installed in the Bhagat Hall, then known as Convocation Hall. A fatso arrived in his car with the projector and the movie reels, generally we watched Laurel Hardy series of films, but occasionally we were shown some Westerns like, “My Name is Nobody” or even Hitchcock’s “Frenzy”. In senior terms we were permitted to go to Indian Military Academy to watch movies in Khetrapal auditorium. The only hitch was that 200 of us were packed into two Shaktimans (3 Ton lorry) like sardines and were almost suffocated by the time we reached IMA. But the movies were fun, as the auditorium was much better than our make-shift arrangement, where we had benches for seating. Moreover, we would march out just as the movies got over, we could overhear the Cadet Appointments getting on with the “fold your seats” routine…little realising…we too were destined to end up here itself on these very “folded seats” in due course.