NCC camp, Tenga Valley (1)

This story is in continuation of my previous story titled Selection for camp: Last 20

The sunglass wearing bus driver, drove like a maniac, as he navigated the severe turns on our way from Tezpur (Assam) to a town in Arunachal Pradesh (don’t remember the name now). The happiness that came out from getting to come out through the guarded gate of the school was intoxicating, more so, as only a few of us did so as the rest of the school carried out their mundane activities.
We were going to attend the ‘All India NCC camp, TENGA Valley, Arunachal Pradesh’ and get to spend approximately 14 days out of the school, away from those regular PTs, classes, uniforms, and the teachers and seniors.

We finally reached an army camp, and busied ourselves like hungry wolves in an army canteen, before sweeping down on the CSD canteen, nearby. Buses were rare in those parts, primarily occupied by the army, buses dint look feasible in that region. Signposts with quotes like ‘Speed Thrills But kills’ and ‘be gentle on the curves’ looked like ghost sign posts meant for none. After a night’s stay at the ‘barracks’ made of tin, we were shifted to our destination in a now decommissioned variant of the army truck called Shaktiman. We reached the camp site, after nightfall. The gurgling of a hilly river somewhere in the dark greeted us, as we climbed down the truck along with our respective ‘kit bags’. Our team from the school included:

A Non commissioned officer, who came with us from school and
some students from class IX, that included me. Will try recollecting their names: (kindly remind me if I missed out some)
Hemanta Kalita (3369)
Kingshuk Raktim (3345)
Anjit Logun (3292)
Kaushik Kiran Gogoi (3262)
Deepjyoti Pegu (3382)
Hirak Jyoti Bora (3367)
Samirul Hussain (3269?)
Amit Pandey (3292)
Safiqul Islam
ME

An initial fall in happened, as we stood in formation alongside several other teams hailing from different regions of the country. The gathering was presided over by a burly looking, foul mouthed NCO, who briefed us about the ‘RULES’ and primarily emphasized on the ‘NOT TO Dos’. We found shelter in one of the barracks alongside the river, which was partially occupied by NCC Orissa team, accompanied by their NCO. We occupied the empty beds on the other half of the room. At sharp 10pm, the Orissa team switched off the bulbs on their side of the world, while passing us a glance to do the same in our part of the world.

It was difficult for me to gauge, what was bothering the Orissa team that night as we chatted away much after the 10pm deadline. After all we had come out of the hostel after so long and for so short a time! Perhaps they could never understand the joy and excitement. Most them used to stay with their families unlike us, and that probably explains their ignorance. They were all of college going age and looked taller than us. We were in IXth. Our NCO wasn’t there. He was probably enjoying his freedom in his own ways, wasting away in some corner. The Orissa team confronted us, spearheaded by their NCO, pointing out our lack of discipline.
Now there are several concrete truths about SSGians, and one of them was their pride. We blasted them off their ass, as teams from other regions (esp. the NCC team from other parts of Assam came by, who we had already befriended during the short fall in).
The next morning, we got up quite late, as we found neatly folded beds on the other side. Though neat, each bed was dressed differently from the other. I smiled at the sight and went out after giving a loud wake up call for my friends. I stepped out and saw the river, flowing precariously close by. The sight was rather inviting, as the sunlight gleamed on its water. As I looked on the other side, I saw figures in a fall in, at the central fall in place in the middle. They were attending PT. I looked on the other side and I cared the least. Soon Kingshuk came out followed by others, and we started to plan our day, as if we were on a holiday! To be continued…