The second day of Prince Charles and Camilla the Duchess of Cornwall’s tour of India comprised of a visit to the Indian Military Academy, IMA Dehradun. The royal couple were all suited and booted as they stepped into this prestigious academy. They were certainly excited to see the marvelous infrastructure of the academy, and were amazed to see the future officers of the Indian Army, whose courage and valor has been always unmatched.
The visit to the academy began with a tour of the academy, which was followed by an exhibition of horsemanship. This exhibition particularly was a delight as it brought a smile on the duchess’ face. She was impressed by the way the riders while racing across the field used lances, swords and bayonets to spear the on ground targets. This show was put up by the gentlemen cadets of the IMA, Dehradun which portrayed how well they are trained and the excellent exhibition of the horsemanship spoke about the tough and up to the mark standard of efficient training schedule the gentlemen cadets are put through before they turn into an able officer in the Indian Army.
The duchess was particularly impressed by Anant Rajpurohid, 21, who showed off his riding skills in an activity called tent pegging. He used a lance to spear a foam target, and then dropped it to grab a sword stuck in the ground which he used to stab another peg before picking up a bayonet to hit a final target. The duchess even complimented Anant by saying that He appeared very natural while doing the show, and questioned him about the time he took to get trained like this.
Prince Charles was particularly interested in knowing about the daily routine of the cadets and asked them about the drills, sports and holidays etc. He also observed that the cadets came from diverse backgrounds and thus asked them about their native places as well. Duchess Camilla kept on admiring the equestrian wing.
The Royal couple was also taken to the Vikram Batra Mess where the Prince interacted with the Gentlemen Cadets of IMA as well as the Rashtriya Indian Military College (RIMC), another premier military training school set up by the British in 1922. IMA Commandant Lt. Gen. Manvendra Singh, while welcoming the Prince, stressed that his visit would further strengthen the historic and strong bonds between the two nations who also shared high military values.
Prince Charles was presented with the photos of the iconic institutions of the IMA and RIMC as well as a silver plaque as memento. He presented the IMA Commandant with a shining sword. Meanwhile, Duchess Camilla was apprised of the relief works carried out by the NGOs during the mid-June natural catastrophe and their further plans to rehabilitate the victims.
The Indian Military Academy, Dehradun (also known as IMA) is the officer training Academy of the Indian Army. IMA was established in 1932. It is indeed one of the most prestigious institutions of the world, and the making of an army officer takes place here.
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Tashi Mishra, Editorial TeamShe is a defense aspirant from Varanasi completed her BCA. She has attended SSB Interview at 1 AFSB Dehradoon and has more SSB coming up. She is confident about joining Defence Forces one day. Here, she is sharing her views and experience. Mail us to join our editorial team now.
