Started from Anand Vihar Railway Station on 14^th may  , took leave from my work thanks to my manager at work who himself was an defence enthusiast but was not able to crack the SSB. Train – North East Express thanks to Indian Railways for a journey of 8 hours the train was delayed by 7.5 hours  not a bad start I said to myself  ;).reached at midnight stepped at the platform to find my wristwatch’s strap broken again I said to myself aren’t a bad start.

Day 1: Nothing special, the documents verified. We retired to our barracks 18SSB though the stalwarts and legends (repeaters) were giving the gyaan which many of my friends who had come earlier had suggested me to expect. Avoided it totally.

DAY 2: The Screening test took place. As a fresher, I was quiet nervous but yeah being from technical background OIR test ended out to be a cakewalk. I wrote a proper concise story with proper solution to the problem. But in the box given I made a major mistake where we needed to mark the emotions instead of marking the soldier positive I ended up marking him negative (-) I was in a state of shock when I recounted the horrifying mistake I’ve made. But bang onn !! my description of the story went like clockwork spot on and precise with a proper conclusion. And to my joy when the result came I was screened in. In fact 20 of us were screened in (Conclusion what matters the most is how you are able to describe things in the given time .written material doesn’t matter much if the description is nice and lucid).Then we had to fill in the PIQ form and other documents.Take copies of all your sports certificates that u have. I took my basketball, football and volleyball certificate’s from college days.

DAY 3:  Psychological test (The Trailblazers)  NO doubt it is the most important test. But I won’t write the whole thing cuz I’m sure each one of you knows the basic ritual. I’ll tell you what’s the basic decorum I followed “Quality over quantity “SRT and WAT were related to my PIQ more of technology that I follow and sports that I have played. Keep a positive theme overall. Blank TAT Story was related to a volleyball tournament which we won recently.

Day 4 and Day 5: GTO!!! The best thing about SSB is the Group Task Series ! The first task is Group Discussion. Listen more talk sense, give valid points  support valid points reinforce them, avoid altercations with other candidates and you’ll sail through smoothly . It does not matter how much you speak, the quality of what you speak matters the most.3-4 times will do the trick. For the group task if you have the leadership quality in you and the good problem solving capabilities you’ll naturally know how to tackle them. Enjoy the tasks and you will make it. GOR (Group obstacle race) Coming first is not the theme but moving together and helping each other is the purpose. Lecturette if you are sync with your group mates you’ll be comfortably able to speak to them as you stand there for your lecturette never look at the assessors. Be confident.. and this comes to you naturally if you are good friends with your batch mates. Camaraderie should run deep if you don’t have this basic OLQ I feel army is  not meant for u buddy.

Personal Interview: Took place on the fourth day after my GTO was over.The president of the board was my IO started off on a very casual note asking about myself and family .them  I was technically rogered, back to back rapid fires, regarding my educational qualification, my sports achievements, friends and family, and work. I was prepared about them repeaters had warned me about this (do keep a good knowledge about your loved ones, the sports you love playing your qualification I think self-awareness is much important after all general awareness is of no use if you are not aware about yourself).technically if you are the navigator of the interview its up to you how you guide the IO to your field of interest as IO is very formal.. my enthusiasm about sports and my family made him question me more about my sports achievements and family relations. Now the special thing that I faced in the interview was this- Next to my chair a small box was kept on a corner table .. he asked me to pick it up and open it .As I opened it I found many daily use items like paper pins paper clips, pen caps, needles, glue stick, bunch of  keys, he asked me to pick one item , I picked up the glue stick, he asked me what all ways except the basic purpose of sticking could I put this item in use in my day to day life. Yeah so I told him some 5-6 uses which I’m not able to recollect ..things like using it to jam doors using the cap to measure equal amounts of fluids, using the screw system employed in it to act as a levelling equipment , I technically nailed it , seeing my enthusiasm he asked me to pick up another item so I picked up the keys, again I was able to provide 4-5 uses. He seemed to be impressed finally I felt a moment of relief in the interview after all that rogering in the starting. He asked to me to stand up and leave and to my joy he said “God bless you my son” that was something I never expected.

Conference: Judgement Day Each one of us tidied up for the conference. We waited for our turns to come. My turn came. It was a pleasure seeing every officer suited up in their respective uniforms but I focused on my IO the president who sat in the middle. He asked me about ,my stay and accommodation’s , what I did and where all we went, I followed the basic decorum “All is well”, I told him that I made many new friends, he counter questioned me “making friends is some business of yours ??” my reply was “sir its not a business but it comes naturally to me and it is an ever growing family of mine which I nurture a lot”,

He seemed impressed next question “do you also remove people from your family of friends when you have a fight”, my answer “sir if I have a fight I try to reconcile quickly as I can’t stay aloof from my loved ones”, next question “chest no 1, 2 who came ahead of you gave so many suggestion for the betterment of the facility’s provided here how come you seem to be very satisfied ”(his voice became quite heavy this time, more to intimidate me), my reply , “Sir they(I took both their names) may have given some productive suggestions but I found no shortcomings , as the facility’s provided were up to the mark and I enjoyed my stay here”. He asked me to leave I said thank you and left. The lady Psychologist  came gave a  pep up speech and announced the result Chest No 3 was the first call .. stood up…. numb couldn’t feel much then she called another number chest no 9 . that’s all !! it was I felt sad cuz I met many gem of a people out there at the ssb who would’ve made it but fell short due to some or the other things, I felt sad for them. But to cheer up I recollected that it was 20th of may My mums birthday now I had two reasons to be happy.After all getting recommended on your moms birthday.. I couldn’t have been any more special for me.

Medicals went smooth was declared medically fit.im. Merit in AIR 61 Now I join OTA, Chennai in October. I wish all the defence enthusiasts all the very best and never ever give up chasing your dreams.

Nitin Jose

JAI HIND!!