The yearning to serve the nation, a desire to improve the financial prospects of their families, a quest for glory and a wish to prove that girls are not inferior to boys in anything were among the many things that goaded young girls to participate in the three-day recruitment rally for women military police held at the Headquarters Recruiting Zone (Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand) in Lucknow earlier this week.
Vandana Yadav (18) was one of the 5,898 participants who had enrolled online for the recruitment rally (only 1,944 eventually appeared). A native of Ghazipur, she said the Army to her was a means to “earn for my parents a sense of pride”. She was encouraged to apply for the Army by a cousin who told her that she had the height, built and stamina to make it through. She was hesitant initially, but when her cousin told her, “If I can, why can’t you”, she decided to give it a go. Yadav cleared her class XII exams this year and has enrolled for a bachelor of arts programme. She has three elder sisters and a younger brother. The family’s only source of livelihood is the income from a small patch of farm land. Despite the small income, her parents ensured that she has everything required to have optimal fitness levels. Pomegranate juice, apples, gram, and green leafy vegetables were her staple diet, while rice was a strict 'no'. She says, “I will not step back from this quest. Everyone dies and is forgotten, but if you die for the nation, you live on forever.”
For 20-year-old Pratima (she uses just one name), also from Ghazipur, this was her second attempt. Last year, she could not clear the written exam. So, this year, her focus has been on brushing up her general knowledge and science while working on her speed at solving mathematics questions. Her father retired as a naik (corporal) from the Army and she has an elder brother who just got through the Army recruitment. While Pratima’s parents were supportive of her decision to join the Army, her brother tried to discourage her a couple of times. “It is not a job for women. It is too taxing”, he told her. “But I was not interested in knowing what he meant by taxing. I turned around and told him, 'If you can do it, so can I'”, she recalls.
“A passion for the Army courses through my blood,” she says. “This is the best way to serve the country. I will keep trying as long as I am of eligible age”, says Pratima, whose mother kept a bag filled with dry fruits just for her every morning as she returned from practice.
Anjana Negi (20) came for the recruitment rally with her elder sister, a B.Ed student from Pauri Garhwal (Uttarakhand). For Negi, every other profession pales in comparison to being in the Army. While her father retired from the Assam Rifles, it was her mother who was her staunchest ally, being her support when people around them said a girl would lose her looks and become too tough if she were to join the Army, and it would be difficult to find a suitable boy for her. “It is a person’s character that matters, and the Army builds your character”, Negi, a graduate student, says. In the last recruitment rally, Negi did poorly in running, which is a 1.6km course that must be completed in seven-and-a-half to eight minutes. To prepare for the next recruitment drive, she enrolled herself in an academy at Indore to improve her run time, and trained for four hours every day for three months. “Every time I would despair during the training, I would think of the many tears I had shed at my first failure,” she says. To her, serving the country does not mean just facing enemies at the border. “There are many internal enemies that need to be fought,” she says.
Meera Bisht from Champawat is not yet 18, but knows that serving the country means “doing the best of whatever one chooses to do.” She has seven siblings of which she is the second youngest. In her hometown, she runs a small shop that sells chowmein, a fast food that is her favourite. But when she started to train for the rally, she gave up eating it altogether. It is the first indulgence she will allow herself after the tests for the day are over.
For 20-year-old Lakshmi Bisht, who is pursuing a degree in commerce from Nainital, a natural inclination to sports pushed her to consider a career in the Army. She participates in athletic events and plays volleyball in college. The Army, to her, is the perfect means to satiate her thirst for adventure sports. Her point of reference is her uncle, a retired naib subedar. “The Army is not just any job. It makes you confident and builds leadership skills”, she says.
Participation in an army recruitment rally is a physical and mental challenge. Lakshmi, for instance, got up at 2:30am on the day of her test. By 4, she was at the AMC Centre and stadium, the gates of which were thrown open at 5am. After a long process of verification of documents, including domicile certificates, she had to wait for the fog to lift before the races could start. Long jumps and high jumps followed and then came the medical examination. The process stretched for the entire day.
Major General N.S. Rajpurohit, the additional director general of the zonal recruitment office, says a key message that needed to be sent out to all those aspiring for a career in the armed forces was that touts have no role to play in the recruitment process. “Even my child will not make it if is not qualified or competent. We have cameras recording every step of the process; there is complete transparency”.
For Rajpurohit, the recruitment responsibility is one which makes him feel he is doing a “great service.”
“It strikes me how much unemployment there is. Those who come here are filled with a zeal to serve not just the country, but to be of great help to their families. One aspirant told me how his biggest dream was to get his younger siblings a good education”.
The Major General himself is from a small village near Jodhpur, one which he describes as having “just eighty houses”.
“If I can make it to this high rank from such humble beginnings, there is no reason why others like me cannot”.
While the pandemic made this recruitment a big challenge, all possible precautions were taken. While COVID-19 negative certificate obtained within the last 48 hours were mandatory, for those who could not produce it, testing facilities were available at the site itself. Two ambulances were on standby while police women were stationed to help recruits.
Those who qualified the physical tests will now attend a written examination on April 25.
For Vandana, Pratima, Anjana, Meera and Lakshmi, it will be the fruition of a long cherished dream.
