The 7-Kerala Naval Unit of the National Cadet Corps (NCC) won a rare distinction this year when three of its cadets survived intense competition and pipped their peers at the national level to get selected to go abroad in youth exchange programmes.
Petty Officer Cadet Anna Joseph, a degree student of Sacred Heart College,
Thevara, was part of an Indian delegation of four NCC cadets — the other three from Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh — which visited Singapore from May 25 to June 10.
She recalls that the three-month selection to the Republic Day Camp (RDC) earlier this year really brought out the best in her.
At the RDC, the State directorate was adjudged overall fifth while the girl contingent of Kerala and Lakshadweep topped, winning a gold medal.
A test, group discussion and interview followed and she was handpicked to be one of the four youth ambassadors to fly to Singapore led by Commanding Officer Harish Saxena.
“The 10-day coaching in Delhi prior to the trip had us acquaint ourselves with etiquettes, manners and the like. Lieutenant General P.S. Bhalla, NCC Director General, also briefed us.
It was motivating to travel beyond the borders of the nation as its youth ambassador,” says the cadet.
During their Singapore sojourn, the youth delegation visited Changi naval base; explored the Army open house exhibition; interacted with student cadets from Australia, the United States, Hong Kong and New Zealand; tried their hands at adventure sports and met the Singapore student cadet corps chief.
Inspiring trip
“It was inspiring,” she sums it up. Cadet Joseph also sailed aboard a Royal Singapore Navy training ship, a corvette and a frigate. Understandable then that she aspires to have a career in the Navy.
Cadet Captain Irshad S.M. and Petty Officer Cadet Arun George, degree students at Maharaja’s College were part of a team of six student cadets — one each from Jammu and Kashmir and Orissa and two from Maharashtra — to sail on Coast Guard’s Offshore Patrol Vessel (OPV) Vijit to Mauritius, French Reunion Islands and the Seychelles.
They were selected for the voyage, which took place in April this year, at the all-India camp for naval cadets of the NCC held at Visakhapatnam late last year.
The month-long trip was nothing short of baptism by fire for Cadets Irshad and George.
“The sea was horrible and the boat rolled heavily, making us uneasy and sweat in fright. However, the overall experience was awesome as it was the first time I had set foot on foreign land.
With time, it felt good to do physical training (PT) on board a ship early morning. We also got to do four hours’ watch-keeping every day besides some firing practice.
The schedule let us have four days’ stay in each country we visited. In all, we spent 18 days at sea and 12 days on land,” says Irshad, who wants to enter the civil services.
His proud possession now is the ‘equator crossing certificate’ the cadets won after crossing the equator during the voyage.
Although he thoroughly enjoyed the voyage, the food served aboard and the turbulence of the sea which rocked the ship were a little off-putting for Cadet George.
He, however, liked being part of a blood donation campaign held during the voyage and plans to join the Navy.
NCC’s 7 Kerala Naval Unit is commanded by Captain George Abraham.
