Summer Camp at Bhonsala Military School

47th Personality Development Course at Bhonsala Military School (BMS),Nashik 

Recently Bhonsala military school had conducted a personality development camp (PDC course) for boys the age of 12-14. Years for 14 days. The Selection was announced in April first week. This blog recounts my experience in the camp.

Before the Camp

  

I did not want to go to the camp at first because I thought it would ruin my summer holidays .I was eventually convinced by my parents to go the camp. They convinced me by telling me that if I would go the camp I would get a gaming mouse.I also had my cousins attending the camp with me. I was scared of washing my clothes by myself, lack of hot water for bathing and getting bullied by children.

The day before the Camp

I had to go to the camp on 14^th April, leaving my family and electronics for 14 days. I was crying because I would miss my parents and my brother a lot. My maternal grandparents also came to drop me. That day I had pizza for dinner and had ice cream after I ate the pizza. Least I could have to cheer me up for days ahead!

The 1st day of the Camp

Today I had to leave my parents for 14 days and was alone for 14 days. I cried a lot in the morning .Kids had to be dropped between 10-1 pm. My parents dropped me in the afternoon after an early lunch at McDonald's. Parents were also given meal coupons so all of us could have lunch together in mess where I would be getting our meals during the camp. There was a session organized for parents where they were informed about the schedule and rules. In the camp, I found me and my 2 cousins were NOT in the same dormitory as it was allocated based on last name and my last name is not the same as theirs. I was allocated Platoon 2. Before the camp, we were told that parents can call the school in evening hours and speak to the children. However during the briefing session to the parents, they were informed that the first phone call would be undertaken only after 10 days of the camp. So, I would be literally out of communication with my parents for 10 days!

Dormitory

We had a medium sized closet to put our stuff. Each bed had a fan whose direction could be adjusted. There were large windows for ventilation. We had 2 Indian toilets and 1 western toilet without any faucet. My room was at the 3rd floor which means I had to climb a lot .There were 18 beds in a dormitory out of which 14 were occupied. So each platoon had 2 dormitories. There was a water cooler for drinking water which was very cold. So I always got a sore throat drinking the water. It was not RO drinking  water  like at home so I did not like the taste of the water. Luckily I had glucose so when I added it to the water, the water tasted a bit better.

Closet allocated to each student

Bunk beds in Dormitory

Common area for bath

Wash basins

The BMS instructors then gave us 2 pairs of light blue sports shorts and shirts, 1 cap and 2 pair of white socks .Every kid is allocated a chest number which we have to wear at all times and becomes your identity. I then had to go for a haircut and had to get a military cut .I then took a bath in chilling cold water even though outside temperature was 40 degree centigrade. My parents stayed with me till 6 o clock and arranged my closet. After my parents left we had to go to the mess where we were served food. After Dinner, we were introduced to instructors and briefed about rules. Then we went to our bhavan and had our roll call. Roll call is a lineup of students by platoon, where every kid’s presence is checked. This used to take place multiple times during the day. In evening roll call next day’s timetable and schedule is announced. We slept at 10 Pm. I and many other kids cried a lot and I was sleepless the first night

Schedule at PDC

                                                                                                                                                                            

Day 2 of the camp

To wake us up in the morning, BMS started playing music at 5 am we had to get ready in 45 minutes .If we did not wake up by the music, sir woke us up by banging sticks on the bed .Since I was not used to waking up at 5 am I slept 15 minutes more and was jumped up when stick banged on my bed .Then I changed my clothes to the uniform for the day. If  there was no horse riding during the session, we had to wear blue T shirt and shorts while if we had Horse riding we had to wear white T shirt and black trouser and black shorts for remaining period. Soon as I got ready we had to fall in .A “fall in “is like a time when we have to assemble in 5 lines.

Roll Call

We would get punished   if we did not come in time. Punishments include mountain pose, push-ups, duck walk and tank pose, the most painful pose.

Tank Punishment

Morning routine before breakfast

Then all the platoons assembled in a common ground. There BMS played Vandey Matram .We also had to run 2 rounds around the ground for warm-up. We had physical training for the 1st period. Since our teacher was absent that day we had our relay with platoon 1.We wrecked platoon 1 in that race. Then we had drill. In drill we were taught how to march properly and the different types of marches. Next  we had self defense .Self defense was a combination of martial arts like karate and taekwondo .In the 1st class  we were shown the pouching position and basics of self defense. This was followed by swimming. The swimming pool was very far away (500 mt) .We was sorted as swimmers and non swimmers’ based on our own admission. I am a non swimmer. Due to lack of time the non swimmers were sitting and learning to shake their leg. We were restricted to wimp in one lane.

 Morning classes were followed by breakfast. We had 40 minutes for it.  For breakfast we had to assemble near the mess and were separated in Vegetarians and non vegetarians. The people who were veg generally got fruit cake and the people who were non veg got eggs.

After we had breakfast we went to our lectures. Our first lecture was Marathi. Living in Bangalore, I did not know Marathi. We had to introduce our selves .Since I did not know Marathi I had to introduce myself in Hindi. After Marathi we had English lecture where we had to introduce ourselves .Living in a metropolitan town my English grammar was near perfect. However, kids coming from Nashik and Pune struggled with English. Grammar of the instructor was not proper.  Then we had art and craft classes, followed by music. In music we were taught the song Ho Jao Taiyaar Saathiyo. In between lectures, we were given nimbu pani and had a break for 10 minutes.

Routine after morning classes

After classes, we had lunch. We assembled in front of the mess. Then we went to the mess

Before we started eating we had to say a prayer. Food was given in a buffet. However additional servings were given on the table. The food was ok and I was missing my parents a lot. Then we had a 1 Hour 15 minutes break. I took a bath because I was sweating but the water was freezing cold even on a hot day.  After I took a bath I rested for some time

At 3 pm. we had a fall in for tea. Sometimes we were late because everyone was not used to being on time. In tea-time we had a cream roll and some super hot tea.

After tea we had Weapon training(WT).We were taught about the parts of the gun and the principles of a gun which is shoot to kill and “HAT” operation(holding aiming trigger operation).Despite Weapon training happening every day, we were allowed to fire just 5 rounds during the entire camp. After WT we had Yoga. In yoga they taught us the yoga mantras and some basic asanas. After yoga we had games .We had volleyball. There we first did warm-up and were taught about the rules of volleyball and how to play a basic volleyball game. After games we had horse riding. In horse riding they taught us about the riding equipment and the horse. In later classes all we did was riding the horse when another person was controlling it by walking next to it.  All the periods for the day ended at 5 pm.

After that we rested for a while and had a fall in to the movie hall (also called the Moonje hall because the founder of the school BS Moonje .They told us about the history of the school and told us about the life story of Chandrshekar Azad. The life story was interesting .Then we went to mess for dinner.

Once again we had to assemble in front of the mess. Before we started eating food we had to tell the prayer. The food was served like a buffet. We had like a dal for eating roti which had a vegetable mixed in It .We also had a separate dal for eating rice. We were not allowed to leave food which was a bit tough for me. Somehow I managed to gulp my food down.  Then we had to go to the bhavan for rest. I took a bath and washed my clothes while others were playing Uno. Some people did not bath at all because they were tired. But I took a bath because my father told me hygiene was very important in a military camp and that if I did not take a bath I would get infections. After that we had our roll call in which we got next day’s timetable and schedule. After that I went directly to sleep while the others were washing the clothes because I finished washing my clothes earlier and I was very tired. I cried in the night and was remembering my parents. I was having difficulty making friends due to the fact I could not speak Marathi. Around 90% of the children were either from Maharasthra or knew marathi due to Maharashtra being their home state.

Day 3 onwards

Most of the schedule and periods were the same. Most of the days were same.

The food in the mess was not great. Lunch and Dinner served a Pulse with some vegetable in it, roti and rice with Arhar(toor) dal. I figured out there was milk available in the mess at breakfast and dinner.

Our instructors were repeatedly warning us to keep quiet in the mess but no one listened. In response to this, our instructors gave us a punishment to do duck walk, mountain pose, and other painful poses and positions. After this incident we learned not to talk in the mess. In drill we were learning to march properly and in SD we learnt different types of kicks and punches. I was scared of riding a horse thinking we had to ride the horses completely on our own. But all we did was do 2-3 rounds of walking the horse when someone was controlling it. This was not even proper horse riding. In swimming we just had to take rounds of a super small lane. In PT we did some mass PT exercises and other exercise.

In the free time some kids played UNO and played with suitcases by riding on them .However most of them bathed and washed their clothes in their free time.Only 1 person from my platoon went to the hospital because of a corn and came back. Kids usually took bath in the night and some kids took bath in the afternoon.

In the obstacle course we had obstacles like climbing a wall, rope swinging, rope climbing etc. We did this once during the stay.

We had guest lectures between 930 -1230. Topics included about fire fighting, first aid, hygiene etc. In the fire fighting lecture they told us the types of fires and what we should do if there was a fire.

Rope climbing

Day 8

The trip to Someshwar, Balaji and Ganesha temple

In the morning we were assembled in random pairs at 6 am. So I was with a completely random platoon mate. This was the first time we went outside the camp after being there for 8 days.  We were told that the walk will be of 4 km but we were surprised later that we walked 12 km. We had to walk 5 km to reach the 1^st temple. I was exhausted after I arrived at the first temple. I was so tired .My legs were aching badly. Then we had breakfast of vada pav without the pav. Then we did a 2 km trek to Balaji temple. The trek was uneven and tough. Midway I stepped into a puddle of black water by accident. My shoe was wet and a part of my socks got wet. A kid in my platoon fell into a gutter and got half wet. His shoe smelled of fungus  .Since then everyone called him fungus. After some time we had to walk 5 km to reach the Ganesha temple .My water was over and I was dehydrated by that time. Luckily I found water nearby and I refilled my bottles. After that we had a long 5 km walk. By the time we arrived back it was 10:50 am which is time for our nimbu paani break, after that we had a break for 1 and a half hours. Many people were usually lying in the bed and relaxing. After we ate food in the mess we again had a break. I relaxed and slept during the break. For the rest of the day, post 330 PM we had normal periods.

Day 9

Today we went to the Artillery camp at 930 am in bus provided by BMS. Before we went to the Artillery camp we had a 5.5 km cross country which started at 6 am and ended at 815 Am. We went on a route outside the campus. Out of which only 2 kms would be counted for position. I came 76^th out of 208 raamdandis in total. I was super tired running 5.5 km. After that we had pav bhaji.Then we boarded into buses and went to the artillery camp. First they showed us a video on how and why the artillery is the backbone of an army. Then we were shown different Artillery guns and told different facts about them. Then we were shown a parade and how Army marched. At the end we were shown a museum about the history of artillery and guns. For the rest of the day post lunch we had normal periods.

Day 12-13

By now most of us were homesick. We were now allowed to talk to our parents. Then we also had a tryout for dance. Since I was ridiculous at dance I did not get selected. I was happy as I did not like dancing. However some people were actually sad because they did not get selected. Later we learnt that between 6:30 to 8:15 pm the dancers had to go to dance practice but the non dancers could relax. That’s why we should never dance. And whoever was not selected  including those in dance were in music.We were allowed to call our parents in afternoon /evening hours for 6.5 minutes daily  from 11th day onwards of the camp.Phone used to get automatically disconnected after 6.5 minutes

Day 14 and 15(aka the last days)

I started my packing and had completed it. Now preparations were going in full swing. We were missing half the periods on the 14^th day for dance. Some people were also there to showcase activities like yoga, SD etc. We had a physical test in the morning in which we had to do sit-ups and push ups. After that we had music practice for everyone. We had dance practice in the afternoon for the dancers.In the evening we had the cultural program. Parents were allowed to visit their wards at 2 pm. All children were waiting restlessly to meet their parents after 14 days. BMS had a tradition in which a child could enter their parents name in a lucky draw as a chief guest. There were two chief guests  for  our cultural program- both were from Police services of Maharashtra. Each platoon had a different dance and song they had to present. At 10 pm we went to the mess to eat our food. Our platoon had a party in which everyone got their leftover snacks which they had brought from their houses. Sadly we had to close the party in 30 minutes because it was lights off.

We woke up at 5 Am on last day and changed into the BMS uniform. The kids who were not in any showcase (like me) had to sit in the hall to watch the show. We had the awards ceremony and the activity showcases like SD, yoga etc and a slideshow of the pictures in bhonsala. There was exhibition of Art and craft work we did.  We were handed over to our parents at 10 am.

  

The camp was an average camp according to me. I would recommend it to people who would want to be more physically fit and are adventurous.

Views: