We were gentlemen once…and young..and slim also..Part I
Note: This blog is to meant to provide a first person view of the SSB procedure and should not be used as a coaching material
unless you really hate your life or want to lose your virginity the hard way.
Owing to an incredibly thick skin,
augmented by an impressive layer of fat, my guilt coefficient is somewhere
between that of Pritam and Ram Gopal Verma. Even so there are things I
sincerely regret; “Never ever go to the toilet immediately after a packet of
Haldiram’s Chatpata Chana” is
in fact my life’s motto that shall be passed on to the future generation along
with “Never watch a
Sajid Khan film” and “Never
spit paan out of a moving bus because that is when the stupid
police constable fellow will come between your paan and the road and
then you have to pay Rs. 500 else he will take you to jail”
But beyond the above mentioned
unfortunate encounters with the ungodly forces of nature, if I sincerely regret
anything, it would be not living my dream, which of course was to be a belly
dancer called Fifi Abdou. Bwahahaha.. No.. but I bet you pictured the
scene, now please slowly crawl to a corner and die quietly.
What I really wanted to do was join
the Indian Army thanks to this article
which played no small part in influencing me.
Anyways the point of this blog is not
to give gyaan but to recount the wonderful journey called the SSB or Services
Selection Board, which is a prerequisite for anyone who wants to join
the tri services as an officer. While the results of the selection process
board have been a personal tragedy the overall journey was fun and I would like
to share the experience for those who are curious.
Also while I was trying to condense
the whole experience down to just one blog, I felt that won't be doing justice
to anyone at all and so I have decided to do it parts covering all the days in
detail. Here is the first part, enjoy:
Part I:
Trivia:
You probably have a better chance of getting
into an IIM or IIT than getting into the Indian Military Academy. There are
only 250 seats and only one IMA.
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It’s often said that the toughest
entrance exam in India is that of the Indian Administrative Services. However,
even though I have not attended any IAS interviews, to the best of my
knowledge, there you don’t have to spend 5 days away from home in a completely
new and strange set up surrounded by 120 even stranger young men like you
learning early lessons in undercover warfare while combating bed bugs
(Bangalore board) or a firsthand feel of a world without women (Allahabad), or have to write at the rate of 2 million words per second for your psychological
evaluation under stress, or stand on a plank 10 feet AGL while screaming out the name of your favourite actress and
thanking God you are not a huge fan of ‘Kaviyoor Ponnamma’.
The first step to appear in an SSB is to clear the written test
(except the technical entries where a written is not required). There are
various entries but I will just concentrate on the one I cleared which is the Combined Defence Services exam.
You can look up the details in one of
the million websites dedicated to careers. For now let’s just say I applied and
cleared CDS.
Next step is the nail biting wait for
the call letter and the apprehensions about the various centers. There are 4
selection centers for the Indian Army and similar number of boards for the Navy
and Air Force. Since I appeared primarily for the Indian Army, all my centers
were Army boards but SSBs across the services tend to 95% similar with very
mild variations.
For the Indian Army there are 4
selection centers:
1. Selection Center East – Allahabad
(11SSB, 18SSB, 19SSB and 34SSB)
2. Selection Center Central – Bhopal (20
SSB, 21 SSB and 22 SSB)
3. Selection Center South – Bangalore (17
SSB and 24 SSB)
I have personally attended 11, 17 and
24 SSB and as such my observations involve mostly around Allahabad and
Bangalore.
cont'd
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