” The scariest thing about being a forces kid was saying bye to dad…
" The scariest thing about being a forces kid was saying bye to dad once his chutti (leave) was over with a fear that he might not come back. I remember crying in the bathroom because I didn't want my mom to think I was weak! After all I was a gunner's daughter! But the best memories were receiving his letters! I still have all the letters my dad wrote to me while he was posted in field. The artillery insignia on the paper addressed to 56 APO, the letters which looked more like DOs, would make my day, week, month! "
-Proud Daughter of a Gunner
“Defence kids lead the most paradoxical lives. We’re known to be outgoing and immune to change…
"Defence kids lead the mo
st paradoxical lives. We’re known to be outgoing and immune to change, but we’re raised in extremely sheltered environments.
Sheltered environments.
Environment. Where one evening, you’re at home having dinner with Dad’s colleague and the very next morning you get to know of his death in an air crash. From a smiling face last night you see his wife overcome with grief and how in the face of all of this, she clears SSB and decides to join the Air Force.
Sheltered environment, because the Air Force base is the safest yet, the most dangerous place.
We can pack boxes and move base to new unknown places at the drop of a hat but even these unexplored lands have the same old cantonments and a known culture and system to fall back upon.
Ironical, yet similar."
- Proud daughter of an airforce veteran
“A lot of people say that the primary difference between army kids and other kids …
"A lot of people say that the primary difference between army kids and other kids is discipline and confidence. That's grossly generalized and not completely true. I've seen a lot of undisciplined army kids and vice versa. According to me, the biggest difference I see between them is that sense of belonging. Army kids thrive on the adventure that their nomadic life gives them. For us, an impendingtransfer to a new station was a feeling words couldn't describe. New friends, new house, new neighbors, new roads to remember, new school, new uniform, new teachers - still makes me smile. Even though after I started college I've been in one city for the past 8 years now, deep down I still crave for the sight of packed steel trunks, mess ka khaana in those typical casseroles, train journeys etc.
Civilian kids, however, are brimming with that sense of belonging. The fact that they know their city inside out, the fact that they were all witnesses to the development of their city to how it has become now, having studied in their respective Alma maters for a full 12 years, the fact that they locally defend their city. Being proud of their city. That's a nice feeling too."
- Proud daughter of an infantryman.
” My father was a part of the contingent performing peacekeeping operations in Sri Lanka and my mother…
" My father was
a part of the contingent performing peacekeeping operations in Sri Lanka and my mother was living in Allahabad at that time with the regimental family. My mother was 7 months into her pregnancy.
Unfortunately there was one casualty from our regiment, the regiment ladies did not tell my mother about it to save her the anxiety. Mom could sense something was not right and thought the worst of the situation and wanted to go with ladies to see the body.
The stress caused baby trouble. The Gynecologist told her there was no heartbeat and no movement and that the foetus had to be removed as it could poison her. She went to a private hospital too to get it doubly checked. Same opinion.
This was their first child. The baby was technically dead for two days.
My mom was 21 and my dad was 28.
My dad was obviously not reachable and was at that very point, in an intensive operation, which was successful.
He won a gallantry award for it.
On the third day she went to get the baby removed.
But,
I was back. The faintest heartbeat was present.
They say that I am lucky for my dad, but I think it is the other way around."
- Proud daughter of a Gunner.
” The most awkward question for me has always been “which state are you from?….
" The most awkward
question for me has always been “which state are you from?” the standard answer to which has always been “Dad’s in the army “. Of nearly twenty years of my existence I have spent not more than six years with my father, making the forces as much responsible for my upbringing as my parents, and it is the best kind of upbringing that a child can dream of. It amuses me to no end when I see the baffled looks on the faces of my civilian friends when I easily connect with another army kid I've just met, and how our eyes light up at the mention of places like Mhow, Wellington, Mamun which most people probably don't even know exists. After so many postings and shiftings, I think we have more trunks to pack things in, than the things to pack in them. In the era of mobile phones, a chitthi from some god forsaken place near the border from my father any day beats the ping of a WhatsApp message and yes, in the army we still write letters. Every time I feel homesick in college I go to the nearby Tambaram Cantt and roll around on a fauji bench in a fauji park and I am at ease. Nothing makes me puff up my chest with pride than seeing my father in his uniform, of all his clothes his combats are my favorite and will remain so. It is strange how after nearly twenty years of thorough and regular practice my heart sinks like a battle worn ship every time my father leaves for another field posting. "
- Proud daughter of an infantryman
"People think we lead crazy lives because we keep moving from one place to another. Some think we don't get to enjoy as much. But I've experienced so many different cultures, even mastered different languages throughout these postings and formed bonds that keep getting stronger. ...And if this is really the crazy life, then I wouldn't do anything in the world to change it. Ever."