Trip to NDA, khadakwasla Pune

 We had been waiting soooo long for this opportunity .....  the chance of visiting the National Defence Academy at Khadakwasla, Pune. My father's NDA course Silver jubilee function was being organised in the second week of Dec 2022, though two years late due to CoVID induced delay.

10th-11th December 2022 -

      We travelled to Delhi from Dehradun by road on 10th Dec. The next day we had an early morning flight. The desire of seeing the NDA was the only motivation that egged us to wake up so early. We reached Pune at noon from where we went to our hotel. We were welcomed with my father's coursemates hooting and shouting in excitement. Then we changed and took a nap until it was time for the course get together dinner. I was able to meet and make many new friends at this dinner; and the special thing about Army children is that they mix up really quickly. The night ended late while we jived at the DJ's music, and finally left the hotel late. 

12th December -

The next day, all of us (approx 100 people) set off for the NDA where wreath laying ceremony was held for the course martyrs in various Indian defence services operations. After the ceremony, we went for high tea which was followed by a presentation on my father's fallen comrades and a motivational speech for children to join the NDA. We then proceeded for the course lunch after which we left for the hotel. 

On the same night, we had our silver jubilee dinner at an officer's institute. The DJ was so good there that I forgot the dinner completely as I was engrossed in dancing with like minded people dancing away to amazing music, while also forging some beautiful friendships. We left the institute at 0100 in the morning and finally reached our hotel at 0200 . Everyone just dropped into their beds and dozed off immediately.

13th December 

We had to wake up early for the NDA darshan. We saw the Naval training area and the Army training teams; sadly we couldn't see the Air force training camp because we were running short on time. I was even able to spot deers, langurs and ducks near the training areas. We visited the squadron where our father spent his three years  while training at NDA and was pleasantly surprised. Later we headed for lunch at "Gole market" where we heartily ate aloo paranthas and noodles with Manchurian. This also used to be the favourite place of my father and his course mates, catering to their daily needs and also filling their tummies. We clicked many photographs, picked up some souvenirs and departed for our hotel. Our flight for Delhi was late at night. We had checked out of the hotel, so we spent some hours at my father's course-mate house in Pune city. There, I was able to meet a friend of mine after 3 years since Mhow days.

We arrived at Delhi airport around 11p.m and reached our guest rooms at 12a.m. I was hoping that the time could stop so that we wouldn't be able to get back to our normal lives, but obviously that wasn't possible. We drove back to Dehradun the next day at noon and now we're back to the ol' lifestyle. 

I enjoyed this trip a lot and I was deeply grateful to my father for taking us to Pune and reliving his memories with us. 








 

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