I Had 12 Days Of Freedom With No Internet Access At SSB Bhopal

I Had 12 Days Of Freedom With No Internet Access At SSB Bhopal
-Ambika Bhan (Athena)
To begin with a paradox, that I am posting this article on WordPress (internet) and that I work for a company that is based wholly on the viral content floating the internet. So while 19 Nov 2015 came as the most important day of my life I never knew that it would reveal to me this magical experience.
As I had it, the still calmness of the military cantt was the first thing that took me over at ssb Bhopal more than that it was the zero contact to the chaotic city that left me spellbound. Nostalgia engulfed me as remembered my childhood in open spaces of Himachal and the long playful jogs through those terrains and fields. We were asked to submit our phones which was enough of a heartbreak for everybody. My sneaking away and not submitting it was aptly punished by the God .
I broke my phone accidentally.
So that was the end of my dear Microsoft Lumia.
Anyways as the days of Psych test , GTO, Interview proceeded I started realizing the absolute increase in my levels of focus towards the tests, towards making relationships with the people around me, towards becoming everyone’s favorite, making them laugh till they rolled on the floor, taking care of them. I purposely decided not to call my parents for all those 5 days. And the sense of freedom that it brought to me … no unending , piling email, no whats app beeps, no Facebook notifications… everything was so liberating.
I didn’t need to go to Himalyas to get a feel of heaven , to take sanyas .. I had my nirvana right there. And for the first time in so many years I discovered BOREDOM. Yes ! That feeling we had in those lazy Sunday afternoons when we were kids , or that feeling when in dark wintry nights electricity went off and we had nothing to do than sitting around the fire watching the sparkles rising and dancing to the puffs that our mother blew over it. Yes that exact BOREDOM.
So we were there in the barracks , with “Nothing To Do” and yes no arm length crutches like mobiles that even didn’t let us remember the meaning of being bored. And then like I had always been .. I went up and picked up that basketball. Played in that court, getting my hands all dirty and clothes all sweaty , and in running like some 7 year old around without a care in the world . And that’s when I knew whats freedom.
I knew what’s freedom when I met my childhood version there.. dancing in madness in rooms, playing pranks on everyone. I got scolded from almost everyone at the centre from the GTO to the mess wale bhaiyya , the phone operator and the gatesman but I took home a crazy me, a reclaimed me and yes …
A YES FROM THE INDIAN ARMY SAYING … “YOU HAVE IT IN YOU”.
The day of the conference was one hell eventful. Recommended for the Indian Army I was and that meant another week or so of staying in the cantt for a detailed medical examination. On the coinsistent pleads of my parents to whom I broke the good news I bought a phone for 900 bucks, which I now lovingly call ‘my dbba phone’. It somehow did bring a smile to my face thinking that maybe I will land up in Officers Training Academy as it felt like an intuition to get rid of the habit of smartphones.
At the end of those 12 days here I am and I tell you I checked on to my Facebook and was overwhelmed with 250+ notifications, 60+ messages and 55+ friend requests. Partly due to this absence and partly of all the congratulatory messages that pored in. Here I am back in this maddenning crowd and I am hating every bit of it and so badly I wanna return to that aura again.
All I wanna say is Shut It Out Guys … Get Bored … Get Innovative … Get Healthy
p.s- Counting days to go to ssb Allahabad
P.p.s- I didn’t get my phone repaired and neither bought a new one
‪#‎IndiaArmy‬
‪#‎SSBBhopal‬
‪#‎Nostalgia‬