A Hundred Years

100 years is a long time in the history of our young republic, but just a speck in the annals of our ancient civilisation. Human beings rarely live that long, so for almost all of us this was once in a lifetime opportunity to be a part of the grand celebrations. Rashtriya Indian Military College or RIMC for short turned 100 this 13th March, exactly a hundred years ago. Under the yoke of British colonialism, the British raised this institution on the lines of their Public schools as a feeder institution to their military academies. Obviously it was not out of any benevolence towards the natives, but this historic event had major ramifications in the history of Indian independence itself. 

Consequent to the glorious part played by British Indian Army in World War I, it was realised that Indians had to be inducted to officer their own Army. Although the first Indian ICS Officer Mr SatyendraNath Tagore joined as early as 1864, it took another half a century for the first batch of King's Commissioned Indian Officers to make forays in the Armed Forces. Field Marshal KM Cariappa, OBE was one amongst those. Ironically the first batch of officers who were sent to Sandhurst for pre commission training did not have very good results with only 15 of the 25 making the cut.  The advent of RIMC was a direct consequence of this and no less than the Prince of Wales, Prince Edward himself was here to inaugurate the College. Probably the blows part  was taken literally from his oft quoted speech regarding "the first few blows on the anvil of life which shaped human destiny....";  and ever since then we have been at the receiving end of blows, so much so we have just been blown over! But I dare say all those blows did work in transforming young gawky lads into some great leaders over the years.  Six Chiefs of services, Army Commanders and equivalents galore, galaxy of stars, Ambassadors, Governors, bureaucrats, mountaineers and some even in politics, from amongst a total of less than 5000 Cadets in the last century is no mean achievement. 

Gen VN Sharma, former COAS, nonagenarian, an epitome of grace and dignity, dwelled on these blows in his pep talk after the Boxing Finals. His pearls of wisdom on the blood and guts to tackle bullies in life echoed cutting across generations of Rimcollians.  On the next day, as the senior most Rimcollian present he marched smartly accompanied by the stick orderlies on to the War Memorial for the customary Wreath Laying, where his elder brother and India's first PVC Maj Somnath Sharma's name is also etched for his gallant action and supreme sacrifice while saving the Kashmir Valley in 1948. 

The Centenary Function was kickstarted by a soul stirring speech by the Chief Guest, His Excellency, the Governor of Uttarakhand, Lt Gen Gurmit Singh (Retd). He was lavish in his praise of the contribution of Rimcollians in nation building in general and the Armed Forces in particular.  The most awaited moment of all Reunions at RIMC is the "Mother of All" competitions, Inter Section Boxing Championship. In the evening, all the Rimcollians with their better halves in tow were seated alongside the cadets cheering for their respective sections. Every bout is a matter of life and death, the young cadets spar inside the ring, outside it is the Old Boys lustily cheering for them. It is a sight which has to be seen to be believed. The Centenary year belonged to the youngest section of the College, Chandraguptians stole a march over their compatriots by punching their way to glory and bagging the most coveted trophy. For us old timers, it was quite a surprise as during our times our section was more academically oriented, where most of the Medhavis (Class Toppers) would be Chandraguptians. The Centenary Boxing Championship win will be part of folk lore for future generations. 

Incidentally College reminds me of the many adventures that we bravely endured, in NDA and even later in the early years of service, there were times when some seniors would provoke us by calling RIMC a school like all the others. We just could not digest this downgrading of the status and contested, insisting that ours was a "College". After all the name itself was RIM College, so how could it be a school? All these fracas naturally resulted in the routine, "Get rolling!" A unique command which the cadets respond to in a reflex action by executing these continuous front rolls wherever they are in whichever attire they are; hopefully things are more of the same. These sessions did not dampen our spirits and we were always ready to take up cudgels on behalf of the status of the College always.

In a lighter vein,   it was the 'never say die' spirit of Rimcollians that forced even Corona to beat a retreat.  Getting back to the Centenary Event, the three days flew past, we were everywhere, in the Cricket and Hockey fields, Squash and Basket Ball courts matching our rusty skills with the Cadets; the Old Boys Teams were led by Young Octogenarians, Gen Jat Verma, ex Army Commander on the Cricket Field and Gen Yash Malhotra, ex Engineer-in-Chief. Naturally we, the Old Boys won. The cadets took it in their stride and indulged us old fogeys. 

While we enjoyed every moment of the three rejuvenating days, the ladies too had their share of fun, with most of them having given up on their spouses after all these years, they are aware when it comes to Rimcollians they are relegated in priority. They also bond together enjoying the bon homie and this 'thicker than blood' bond amongst these boys who simply refuse to grow up!