I was happy, the judgment day had arrived. I was anxious but also a bit disoriented, so was everyone in that room, all 32 of us. Every peacock in that room was persuaded to believe that his own tail was the finest in the world. But nothing, absolutely nothing, could have pacified them. Everybody had his own reasons to choose things but reserved his comments till somebody else expressed his own. It was the room where future budding officers of the Indian Army were about to make the most crucial decision of their career before passing out of their Training Academy.

Let us have a deeper look into the various obvious and not-too-obvious reasons behind the curtain which play a deciding role in an individual’s mind, before he puts his foot down.

The most sought after arm is the Armoured Corps. People still hold the illusion that it is a ‘royal corps’ and people live king-size life there; little do they know that RR is a constant haunting ghost and CI capsule is given to Armoured Corps also. People in this arm are stylish either by nature or by trend and similar is the case with people who opt for it. But the seats are limited and people opting for it are in excess. Many hearts are broken.

Artillery is viewed as a safe passage by those people who are from humanities or commerce background as they can’t opt for technical arms. The Corps of Artillery is like a life saving drug to them. It has got considerable number of seats and generally people who have first love with Artillery, are able to make it. The added advantage of Artillery is that School of Artillery is in Deolali, which is a very scenic place. It is very near to Bombay and Pune, so alumni of NDA can revive their contacts.

Signals and Engineers are for the people who belong to the generation next. Those people who think that they can go through complex circuits and sophisticated machinery opt for them. People with this mind-set generally go for EME. Otherwise, people who have love for mechanical transport opt for it. They dream of all sorts of vehicles right from motorcycle to four-ton and beyond. They like the smell of diesel and petrol and the fluorescent colour of grease and engine oil.

The latest heartthrob is Mechanised Infantry. Some are seen writing Mechanised Infantry outside their doors and inside their rooms. It is like a gamble, because if they choose Mechanised Infantry, their choice is bound to be infantry and most of them get infantry and then pray to God that their unit get converted into Mechanised Infantry.

Army Supply Corps and Army Ordnance Corps are also very much in demand. There is an open competition. People opt for it not because of parental claim but because of parental pressure, atleast people say so. But it really needs lot of courage and conviction to guard their honesty and integrity against all odds. People who have fire and revolutionary feeling in them and a desire to purify the system opt for ASC and AOC.

People who have detective imagination and creative thinking are generally seen going for the Intelligence Corps. The seekers of this corps are not in large number. Only the die-hard kind of people opt for this corps. People having inquisitive tendencies are best suited for the job.

After all the confusion, they have to fill three choices in order of their preferences. Everybody hopes for the best and he thinks that he is also prepared for the worst. The excitement builds up more as the de-classification day arrives. Before that rumour market is already hot and busy. But some people are very calm and composed not because they have a strong control over their feeling but because they claim what their father had chosen. This particular group always remains slightly indifferent towards the training activities as its members think that they will have ample opportunities to prove their worth once they join their arm or service.

After the declassification, the rumour market is left high and dry. People can be seen congratulating and consoling each other. Now, they are busy again in gaining knowledge about the arm which they get. People who have been casualties are made to believe that grass is equally green on their side also and they also pretend to believe the same.

After the most wanted break when young officers join their respective units, they all are enlightened that how accurately they have been wrong in listing the advantages and disadvantages of their arm or service. Very soon they realise that every unit in Indian Army is equally good, every arm is equally important and their perception changes with time for better.