He went on issuing me item after item and it became a big heap which
consisted of nearly 30-35 items namely – green uniforms, green cap, jungle hat,
dungaree, socks, PT short, chappal, boots, gum boots, shirts, big haversack,
small haversack, belt, sling, shoulders, cane, badge, mess tin, mug, etc. etc.
All these items were packed in a wooden box and cotton bag. I returned to the
barrack and I was asked to occupy one of the iron cots. Thereafter immediately
I was taken to military barber without any delay and my consent he cleaned my
head except a tiny hair bunch on or tuft in the middle and top of the head.
When tonsure was complete I returned to my barrack again. By the time I made
the arrangement of my articles and took bath. I heard the blowing of begule and
noticed one thing that the jawans outside of barracks stood wherever
they were till the blowing was over.
After some time a whistle blew
loudly intermittently and all jawans (Jawan means a Soldier)
in my barrack came out
quickly. stood in line in the open space in front of the barrack. The Hawaldar
( means a Sergeant) shouted – “Attention” – and all
stood in the attention position,.
Nobody was speaking and complete calm prevailed. He started calling name
after name with number of the jawan. Every jawan responded loudly his
presence in attention position. At the last he announced thus – “Raoji Sadashiv
Sawdekar joined army as Sepoy and his number is 4533502”.
After distributing the Dak they were ordered to disperse. I was
told that it was roll call and it was held daily at a particular time before
dinner. In roll call each jawan’s attendance was ensured, next day’s
works and duties were announced. After roll call, letters received for jawans
were handed over to the concerned jawans.
Langer – common mess for taking meals was nearby. All jawans
started going to Langer with mess tin, mug and spoon. I too joined them
in line. Food consisted two chapattis, a fistful rice, vegetable and curry of
pulses. It was a good dish. Being the first day, first meal and that being so
nice, I remembered my mother, her plight, my family members and their
condition. I said to myself – “Mother, I know today
you will neither eat nor sleep. I have taken this job to fulfill my
ambition. Help me to achieve it”.
There were several barracks in which jawans were staying. Our
barrack was quite long and beds were arranged in two rows facing each other. My
immediate occupant was Yadav Sakharam Ranshringare from Solapur who had joined
much before me. He gave me elementary information. He told –
“We were in platoon no. 1. There
were 52 Sepoys and I was the last. All Sepoys in this platoon were educated.
Such was not the case in any other platoon. Our training was to begin within a
week. In organizational set up first was Section, then Platoon, then Company
which consisted of three Platoons. After Company there were Battalions,
Brigade, Regiment and lastly there was Army. The hierarchy was in four
categories – Ordinary Ranks - ORs, NCOs (Non Commissioned Officers), JCOs
(Junior Commissioned Officers), and COs (Commissioned Officers). Then were
Lance Naik, Naik, and Hawaldar, the JCOs or Jamadar, Subhedar and Subhedar
Major.
After the JCOs came Commissioned Officers starting from Second
Lieutenant then Lieutenant then Captain, Major, Colonel, Brigadier, Major
General, Lt. General and then General (Chief of the Army). This camp was known
as Koregaon Line. Koregaon was a small village in Pune district where Mahar
soldiers fought with British Army against the Peshwa and defeated them. The
British government erected a pillar- memorial for the Mahar soldiers in their
memory and names of those Mahar soldiers who were killed. engraved on the memorial pillar, which was
our Mahar regiment’s insignia on caps with “Koregaon” letters. The battle was
fought some time in 1818.
Our platoon Hawaldar was Mr. Sonawane. Commanding Officer of the centre
was Col. Ghashiram”.
He gave me this information within 4-5 minutes. It was new and strange
information. Now I wanted to write a letter to my brother and mother. I just
finished one and second was half through. Suddenly barrack lights went off. My
friend told that sentry on duty would not allow lights on after 10 PM.
That being my first day and first night I could not sleep. Although all
comforts – unknown to me till date – were available for me. Hustle, bustle,
noise of walking, preparation etc. etc. made me conscious of
the surroundings. It was 4 AM and all jawans were getting ready
for
P.TS. (Physical Training) parade. My friend Ranshringare asked me to get
ready before the lance naik section leader – who was called “Ustadji”
blew his whistle.
Now I had become a military jawan
from today, always to be called by my army number 4533502!
Total period of our training was six months and trained recruits were
required to take oath in the ceremonial parade known as ‘Kasam Parade”.
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