IDHAR UDHAR KI BAAT 113- COURSEMATES. Brig PS Gothra (Retd)

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“Khalse, I am so handsome, you are so ugly and still I never dated a girl?” Asked my coursemate dragging me in front of a mirror on hearing my sexploits. 

People may call it body shaming but such name calling is common among the course mates.


Course mates are the only people on Earth who can insult you, analyse you, expose you and still hug you later without losing a drop of love.


Because they have seen you all naked. The Academy strips you down—physically, mentally, emotionally—and these fellows are standing right next to you during every fall in, punishment, drill, heartbreak,  boxing bout, and the tiring tactical exercises.


“Oye, bakwaas band kar ,” Will be said by your course mate when you try to hide yourself behind chikni angrezi picked  in your unit. Or when you pretend to be elegant, refined, polished by putting on classy clothes chosen by your sophisticated wife. Because they have seen the seams of safety pins which held your clothes intact in the Academy


Meeting a coursemate feels like meeting a sibling. A delicious warmth spreads inside, like someone just switched on the geyser in your heart.

Rank dissolves, protocol evaporates, and you instantly become the same cadet whose PT shoes always smelled.


Course mates also bring problems. Legendary problems. Sometimes a coursemate will call you after 15 years and say, “Brother, I need small help.”

That “small help” can range from arranging a helicopter to covering up a fiasco with his wife. Someone may even knock at midnight to borrow a condom.

  Another problem? A single mistake of yours spreads across the entire batch. You can change units, change cities. But one silly incident from the academy will follow you. A course mate’s memory is a permanent cloud storage.


Also, when you serve long enough, you see the painful part—some coursemates are not there anymore. Every reunion has empty chairs. You smile, you laugh, but inside, you salute. And suddenly the bond feels even more sacred.


You meet them after years, and the conversation begins from mid-sentence, as if it was paused yesterday.


And the best part? They’re the only people who can give you honest feedback without sugar-coating. 

Yet, some coursemates can also push limits.  They come asking for repeatedly  unreasonable favours. Some assume life-long obligations. You may avoid them for a while… but rejecting them outright? Almost impossible. Because deep inside, you know, once upon a time, you were both young men carrying the same rifle, running the same x-country, punished for each other’s mistakes and dreamed of wearing the same uniform. And you also know some coursemates will become your pall bearers.

Standing in front of the mirror I replied, “Brother, God felt pity. Someone had to balance your arrogance.”


We laughed & hugged. And the years rolled back.


Note:- My modern military thriller *'FORTRESS BREAKERS'* has been published on Kindle only. 


A one line review by a reader is *If you love razor - edge tension, battlefield realism, and pulse pounding twists- this story will grip you till the last.*

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