So we had been practicing the drill for quite some time now,
we had to perform this parade you see. And we had been sweating it out for a
full four days. Perhaps even more, five days. My god, that’s way too much even
considering the military standards. Anyway, the opening of the Athletics Meet
was supposed to have a synchronized parade by all the OTs. Now, given my short
stay at ITBP, I can say it with some confidence that it takes several months
for the steps to get synchronized. And this was a batch of 353. So honestly,
even a year wouldn’t suffice. But you can’t give away the legacy systems so we
would go on performing it irrespective of the quality at display. But in spite
of this ephemeral window of preparation, we did manage a decent show.
All the Counselor Groups were color coded and the result was
a beautiful rainbow revolution in the Polo ground. As these groups moved through the so called “best-track-ever”,
a dust storm engulfed the entire sitting stands where our guests were
struggling to see our display of hyper-entropy march past. As we settled down
in the middle of the ground, the horse contingent also followed pursuit but
then apparently one of the horses had diarrhea or something to that effect. The
amount of shit which came out equaled the quantum which we generally see on railway platforms. And meanwhile the Chief Guest
addressed this august gathering, we were struggling to breathe in this shit-flavored air.
And soon the meet was declared open by the respected Chief Guest
who BTW delivered a wonderfully balanced and sensible speech emphasizing essentially
on what our role as future public servants can be in promoting sports in our
respective jurisdictions. To read more about him and the Archery workshop he
conducted the previous day, CLICK HERE. There were numerous track and field
events lined up for the two day long extravaganza but we started with heats for
the most popular track event of 100m sprint. Suddenly most of the OTs changed
into their running gears and we could see everyone warming up with an intensity
which would have even made Bolt nervous.
Now, the issue was that the number of events was huge and
the people showing up for them were the same.
That also put a lot of pressure on the participants as there was no time
to rest their limbs in between the races. Perhaps this is one of the reasons
why the academy records are mostly long standing. Anyway, thanks to Ankita Sree
couple of records were broken indeed. Her brilliant display across the forum of
events was only surpassed by perhaps Dema and Kelzaang. Courtesy these two, so
much gold is going to Bhutan that it might eventually distort the market
equations there. It’s inspiring to see how determined and hardworking these
Bhutanese Officers are. They surely are doing a great job for their country.
Vince Lombardi once said “Winning isn’t everything but
wanting to win is”. And folks, that precisely was the spirit displayed by the
entire batch. There was immense participation in all the events and the number
of people trying it for the first time was indeed overwhelming. Moreover, the
number of people cheering them up was even larger. And I am sure, that
encouragement did make us run faster, jump higher and throw that ball further.
In other works, the support took out the best from us.
Another interesting development this time was OTs winning
the tug of war beating the Faculty team. It’s hard to believe that OTs had
never won but certainly this time around
we had a strong team courtesy the Incredible Hulk on our side. Plus, you know who was missing from the
faculty team. Both these factors resulted in the setting of a new record. The
faculty lost. And as if this was not enough, the Phase V officers also defeated
them. As Chandler would say, “Can it be more embarrassing?!”
Lastly, it was a great run of events and on a personal level too. I
remember in school I was not at all athletic and never got a medal in sports. I
always regretted that. Lately since I have been enjoying my new found love for
running, I decided to take part in all of the track events. Now the only
problem is that marathoners like to run in a rhythm and sprinting does not come
naturally to them. Still, I am more than glad that I managed to get two silver
medals for the 100m and 400m relay races. For some it might be just another
medal, for me, it was very special. Great going CG14-30!
With another round of parade followed by the prize
distribution, the meet was declared close. And we said our final goodbyes to
our beloved Polo Ground. Oh no wait, Penal PT abhi baki hai mere dost!
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