JAI HIND, in the real sense

The new season of JAI HIND launches on the 26th of January 2011 and it is a show unlike any that has ever been made on the Indian armed forces. Shoting for this show has taught me a lot of things and I want to share my most important learning and observations with you.

The forces keep to themselves in India as they must. They need to maintain a high level of discipline, keep the troops and officers highly motivated, undergo regular and rigorous training and stay in a state of physical and mental alertness. This requires a great deal of planning and a great deal of commitment. Remember in battle you can only make one mistake, there are no second chances and the responsibility at the end of the day is the freedom and security of our Nation. These men shoulder shoulder that responsibility and they do it with pride. They are fully aware that they put their life on the line for our safety and defense and the least we owe them is our respect.

In ‘JAI HIND’ our attempt is to show you that this responsibility is not taken lightly. ‘JAI HIND’ takes a peek into what is the role of a particular unit of the armed forces in peace and in battle. Our crew spends some time with the unit to see what a soldiers life is like. We try and accurately potray what these men have to go through to stay in readiness for battle. Every where you go you see the sign ‘The more you sweat in peace, the less you bleed in war’ and these men and women sweat on a daily basis. The attention to detail, level of training and pure physical and mental endurance required to do what they do make the job of a soldier possibly the hardest job in the country today. The men and women who do this hard job are aware of this and it is a pleasure to see these people go about their business.

Being corporate trainers Mayur and myself have noticed this:

a. People from the forces smile more than people in any other profession.
b. People from the forces are fitter than people in any other profession.
c. People from the forces have a ‘can do’ attitude.
d. People from the forces confront a problem and immediately start working on a solution, they do not sit and complain or get overwhelmed by it.
e. People from the forces are neater, cleaner and healthier than people in any other profession.
f. People from the forces live big, carry themselves with pride and can always be spotted in a crowd.

There are always exceptions to every rule of course but my statements above are by large accurate. I come from a proud military family, I have had at least one or more family member involved in every war in the 20th century where Indians played a part. Be it world war I, world war II, and every battler we have fought as INDIA. My attempt to join the NDA (National Defense Acamdemy) failed due to very poor eyesight and the only thing I felt at the time was huge disappointment and a sense of letting my country down because of my weakness. I wanted to be one of these people, I wanted to serve my nation, be the best I could and that’s what the forces do to a person. They make you the best that you can be. You carry yourself with pride and push every limit be it physical or mental on a daily basis. You have people under your command willing to put their lives on the line at one word from you just like you are willing to do the same when you get your orders. This ensures that IF and WHEN an Indian soldier goes into battle, nothing stands between execution of his duty, not even himself.

People mostly hear about the armed forces in the media when things go wrong. A majority of the news carried in the media is about some oversight or lapse on the part of the armed forces but there is another side too. The armed forces are a huge institution and there will always be a few mistakes made when we are talking about such large numbers. Let us not focus on the mistakes alone for we do a great disservice to the vast, almost absolute majority of the bright and good men and women by belittling their work. They are the proud, they are the strong and they are the brave.

We sleep well at night knowing our safety, our freedom, our very nation is safe thanks to these people. Honor them. For they deserve it more than anyone else. They live by a code of honor. They live in dignity and the Chetwode Oath describes well the values they take into battle.

"The safety, honour and welfare of your country come first, always and every time.

The honour, welfare and comfort of the men you command come next.

Your own ease, comfort and safety come last, always and every time."

These are the sons and daughters of our soil who defend their mother land and when you honor them, you honor India itself. JAI HIND.