Hey, my name is KARTIK LAKHE, a guy from the heart of our country, Nagpur, Maharashtra (to be more specific, a typical Marathi guy), I belong to a completely civilian background and always had a dream to break this tradition and be the first officer in my entire family. I recently cracked the SSB interview in 3rd attempt from 33 ssb Bhopal (NDA 143) which was my last attempt too, After 2 consecutive conference out (33 Bhopal and 24 Bangalore), I realized there was something that was going wrong, I just figured out where I went wrong by self-evaluation and tried to eradicate those mistakes, all it takes is determination and consistent dedicated efforts to be successful (you all won’t believe, I have practised about 300 TAT stories!!).
I reported on 18th of AUGUST 2019 outside Bhopal jn. Platform no. 6, since I was a repeater of 33 ssb, so, it was nothing new for me, so I was expecting around 50 reported candidates but in actual it was 71!. The bus came and took all of us to the selection centre, sultania infantry lines, Bhopal, then the basic documents checkup started, and after which we were alloted our accommodations! The next day was the screening, since I was a “screened-in” candidate for TES-41 and was screened in, in 40 out of 390, so I was kind of free regarding screening, because in NDA entry screening is comparatively easy, so did the OIR well and had a great PPDT as I had practised it many times.
The calling out of screened in candidates started and 35 of us got screened in out of 71. It was a great feeling because of a step ahead towards the dream of that “+” sign!
From the next morning, the psych tests were to be conducted, I made new friends and had a great time with them, in the psych tests, I did all 12 TAT, all 60 WAT and 56 SRT, after which I was satisfied for my work!
After the psych tests, I came to know that my personal interview was on the same day after 2 hours, I was kinda stressed but yeah, then relaxed myself, went for the interview. My interview was taken by the deputy president of 33 ssb, he was a very nice person, the interview lasted for about 1.2 hrs and I had a great conversation with him, then the only thought in my mind was to do good in GTO because that is all I have in my hands right now!
I woke up early the next day and got ready for the GTO day 1. I took everyone from the centre to the GTO ground because I was a 33 Bhopal repeater and knew everything about it, so the GTO tasks went well, we were able to solve all 4 PGTs, and all 35 were divided into 4 subgroups and I was a part of 1st group. Again I was satisfied for my deeds in GTO day 1 and went back to centre and relaxed for a while, the next day was our GTO 2 with only 2 tasks left that were the IO and FGT, since I am a footballer, so I had good physical fitness and stamina, so I did 15 IOs without any problem.
We were free by 11.00 that day and we had planned to go outside and visit Bhopal and went outside because the next day I might be going back home! So enjoyed a lot that day with TGC entry seniors.
The next day was the conference! And it is really a scary thing for everyone (only repeaters will understand this).
So the closing address was conducted and after which the conference started, my chest number was 10, so my turn came, I went inside and was asked to sit down with some normal questions about the stay, performance, food and where did I visited in last 5 days, I answered them properly and after which I was asked to leave, the last thing I said was, “have a good day sir!” And left the conference hall, we had a lunch break after which the results were to be announced!
Because of tension, I didn’t eat anything and went for the final results, we all settled down in the hall, and the officer came to announce the final result, he started telling the chest number of successful candidates, my adrenaline level was at its top and just then he said “chest number 10” and from that particular moment, my life changed!!
I bet, once you will feel that moment, you can’t even imagine how it feels!
So that was my experience that literally changed my life forever!
Even I have faced worst scenarios in my past that you all can’t even imagine, all I’ll advise, just go on trying without any hesitation and see how things change!
Never ever depend on luck, it can make things worse, just dominate your hard work over luck, because of this, I never got screened out!
Just don’t think about the results, just go on doing well and enjoying each and every test in the SSB.
Once you clear this process, you will realize how perfect and beautiful the selection system is, even in the country of 1.29 billion people, it still works efficiently to give future officers. The Indian armed forces is still a department in India of which we all are proud of.
Everything will go right, be positive and go on!
At last,
” It’s not you, who chooses the uniform,
It’s the uniform that chooses you!! ” All the best to everyone
