I recall my first Diwali at NDA. The year
was 1969. 42nd course had joined NDA on June 13 of that year. Diwali
duly arrived in November (or thereabouts…).
My cabin (room) was on the first floor second on
the right from the central landing. First on the left was that of Arun
Khetarpal. My cabin was flanked by that of two Nigerian naval cadets – lanky
guys with an accent.
I had not officially left the confines of
NDA since joining. On Diwali day, 1969, I applied for liberty and got it. I was
off to Pune after breakfast. I had some friends there; when I left, as I was to
realize only later, I made the cardinal mistake (?) of leaving the venation
blinds open on a Diwali day.
On my return late evening I found my cabin
in a shambles. The ‘seventh heaven’ was lying outside on the floor. The kit bag
corner was a mixture of burnt remains of my kit bag and contents, foam, water
and much more.
As dusk fell, I was told, and crackers were
being burst one errant ‘rocket’ seemed to have found its way from the out side
into my kit bag through the open venation blind - a bulls eye. When fire and
smoke were detected there was panic amongst the few who had gathered in front
of the locked cabin. That is when the Nigerian cadets put their best foot
forward. Acting in unison, I was narrated, they brought down the heaven and
with one climbing on top of the other, the shorter (6’ 2” I think) of the two
was inside in a jiffy. Fire equipment et al as rehearsed were passed into my
cabin, and potential widespread damage was arrested.
I heard different versions of the incident
and smiled. A lot of guys patted me on my back for taking all this in without a
tinge of sadness. Thankfully, my bed was undamaged and I slept well that night.
Next day there was an inquiry which concluded that my venation blind was
faulty. I was told to give a list of all equipment / kit I had lost in the
fire. Now can you ask for more than a brand new set of equipment and kit
re-issued towards the end of the first term when you could, with your eyes
closed, recognize all your squadron mates?
