Yet another day on the Equitation Lines. I'd, by then, mastered the art of clinging on to Babita as wisdom dictated that a fall could have lasting ramifications. On this particular day, our instructor was in a foul mood and he, thus, found nothing going right with anyone of us. As a part of disciplining us, he made us exchange horses which was sheer torture.
We're supposed to dismount from one side of the horse, go from under its belly and mount the next horse nearby. And this rigmarole continued for a while by the end of which I was sweating through all my pores. By my rotten luck, I was astride on Peter Saldhana's steed(Peter was about 6 ft tall and the stirrups were adjusted to suit his leg length). And no sooner had all of us mounted our horses, the instructor asked us to follow him on a cross country gallop!
It was about a half-an-hour's torture but by the end of it I'd earned my spurs! I knew it because whatever was left of my fear of riding was overcome then. I must have been a comical sight all through as I was clinging on to the horse's neck(as the stirrups were woefully out of reach!) and in the process, partially blinding the poor animal who kept raising its speed in sheer panic thanks to its temporary blindness! And all the while Peter was riding astride Babita, like a jockey, hooked on to the stirrups adjusted to my leg length!!
As we finally came to a halt back in the equestrian area, my breeches were torn and I'd a deep gash on my right thigh brought about by the constant rubbing of a buckle of the saddle. As usual practice, when we patted our horses 'good bye', I saw Babita giving me a long, hard look as if to say, "I wouldn't have harmed you, ever". The instructor, Iqbal Singh, insisted on my reporting to the Military Hospital forthwith but I'd have nothing to do with it as I was worried about the breakfast break being eaten away, which was unthinkable! This is essentially an NDA cadet's mentality - more about it some other time, perhaps!!
* * *
Horse riding, from then, had become a favourite outdoor for me and Babita had become an important part of my life as we understood each other perfectly during our subsequent outings.
Epilogue.
A few years later, when I was posted into the Directing Staff of the Academy, I'd gone to visit Babita at the Equitation Lines only to be told that she'd passed into the mist of time a few months before. I remember feeling sad for quite a while, thereafter! RIP Babita and I hope that you're happy wherever you are.
Iqbal Singh, by then a JCO, had a lot of nice words for yours truly and insisted on having a photograph of him and his family, with me.
We're supposed to dismount from one side of the horse, go from under its belly and mount the next horse nearby. And this rigmarole continued for a while by the end of which I was sweating through all my pores. By my rotten luck, I was astride on Peter Saldhana's steed(Peter was about 6 ft tall and the stirrups were adjusted to suit his leg length). And no sooner had all of us mounted our horses, the instructor asked us to follow him on a cross country gallop!
It was about a half-an-hour's torture but by the end of it I'd earned my spurs! I knew it because whatever was left of my fear of riding was overcome then. I must have been a comical sight all through as I was clinging on to the horse's neck(as the stirrups were woefully out of reach!) and in the process, partially blinding the poor animal who kept raising its speed in sheer panic thanks to its temporary blindness! And all the while Peter was riding astride Babita, like a jockey, hooked on to the stirrups adjusted to my leg length!!
As we finally came to a halt back in the equestrian area, my breeches were torn and I'd a deep gash on my right thigh brought about by the constant rubbing of a buckle of the saddle. As usual practice, when we patted our horses 'good bye', I saw Babita giving me a long, hard look as if to say, "I wouldn't have harmed you, ever". The instructor, Iqbal Singh, insisted on my reporting to the Military Hospital forthwith but I'd have nothing to do with it as I was worried about the breakfast break being eaten away, which was unthinkable! This is essentially an NDA cadet's mentality - more about it some other time, perhaps!!
* * *
Horse riding, from then, had become a favourite outdoor for me and Babita had become an important part of my life as we understood each other perfectly during our subsequent outings.
Epilogue.
A few years later, when I was posted into the Directing Staff of the Academy, I'd gone to visit Babita at the Equitation Lines only to be told that she'd passed into the mist of time a few months before. I remember feeling sad for quite a while, thereafter! RIP Babita and I hope that you're happy wherever you are.
Iqbal Singh, by then a JCO, had a lot of nice words for yours truly and insisted on having a photograph of him and his family, with me.
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