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The world on the other side of the Academy walls is a world apart. Once you are in, the Army strips you of your current personality and issues you a new one! One of the first things that is inculcated in you, is respect for your female comrades.

The gender code during training is strict, to say the least. Despite this, there is plenty of good humour and comradery among the two sexes. But that doesn’t mean there’s no competition.

Female cadets aim to one-up their male counterparts constantly, and the men fiercely fight for their pride. However, his ego took a beating, that fateful summer day, when he toppled over and dislocated his knee in the final mile of the cross country run (Complete Military Camouflage and Kit). Each step onwards sent him back to the ground. They were running as a unit, and he was leading the pack till then. Alisha came up and grabbed his backpack. He vehemently protested at first, but three more painful steps, and he relented.

Damn Knee.

Together, they hobbled down the jungle track, the GPS said they had only half a mile to go. He then handed over his Automatic rifle too, and they made a dash for it, managing a respectable 2nd place.

He spent a fortnight in the military hospital. He was fixed in a week, but his bruised ego hadn’t healed. And just when he thought things couldn’t get worse, along came Alisha, with a sprained neck. She was assigned the bed next to his!

He tried to give her the cold shoulder at first, so they spent the first day in silence, eating and watching TV, in silence. The next day, she asked if he wanted to play table-tennis. He murmured, and she did away with the pleasant courtesies and took the tone of a school teacher. All he remembers after that, is something about teamwork, and cooperation, and going to hell. The last part was addressed to him.

After that, both mellowed down, and the rest of the military hospital days were spent pleasantly. Not love at first sight maybe, but through the Morning Drills, swimming competitions, shooting exercises and pass-out-parades, they grew fond of each other.

Now came the tough part. Keeping the relationship going. Luckily, she was posted in Delhi, not a world away from where he was. He managed to sneak away during weekends, or she came visiting during annual leave.

It was a rocky road, but the view was terrific!

His thoughts were interrupted by Pramod. ” I’ll be back, I’m gonna take a leak.” and he started to make his way down the hillock. Maybe I should follow him and give him a scare, he thought. Would be funny to watch him spoil his new jungle boots! But he dropped the idea. Pramod was a vengeful soul, his payback would be dangerous!

Continued here

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