The institute is controlled by faujis (military men) and they do not let you forget that ever! There was an elaborate 4 page minute by minute program pasted on the notice board, detailing the activities and classes we were to take part while we were stationed at the institute before moving to the mountains. Being a railwayman who has the importance of punctuality drilled into his consciousness, I was pretty cool with the timetable. However, I soon discovered to my horror that even if I reached the prescribed venue 5 minutes before the given time, I was late! All sort of comments were flying from the instructors, whistles were blowing and people were screaming at you in the hostel corridor-all asking you to 'fall in' immediately. I soon reconciled to the fact that right time to 'fall in' was 15 minutes before the published time. There were head counts all through the day to identify the missing trainees.
Soon we got divided into 'ropes' of 7-8 trainees each and were allocated a rope instructor to each rope. I got to become the leader of rope 11. For initial 3 days, trainees, mostly Ministry of Defence nominees, kept on reporting for the course and there were few changes in the ropes to accommodate all these men arriving late.
We were issued a whole lot of stuff ranging from snow boots, crampons, slings, ropes, helmet, carabiners, seat harness, gaiters, windproof suits, down feather jackets and sleeping bag, mess tin, mug, spoon and carrymat etc., along with a rucksack (around 55-60 ltr). I got some extra stuff for the rope, like rapelling jacket and mittens etc. We were taught how to pack a rucksack and soon we discovered that there was hardly any space for our personal stuff in that sack!
Soon we got divided into 'ropes' of 7-8 trainees each and were allocated a rope instructor to each rope. I got to become the leader of rope 11. For initial 3 days, trainees, mostly Ministry of Defence nominees, kept on reporting for the course and there were few changes in the ropes to accommodate all these men arriving late.
We were issued a whole lot of stuff ranging from snow boots, crampons, slings, ropes, helmet, carabiners, seat harness, gaiters, windproof suits, down feather jackets and sleeping bag, mess tin, mug, spoon and carrymat etc., along with a rucksack (around 55-60 ltr). I got some extra stuff for the rope, like rapelling jacket and mittens etc. We were taught how to pack a rucksack and soon we discovered that there was hardly any space for our personal stuff in that sack!
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