It was a proud moment for the parents of 290 cadets who passed out from the 125th course of India’s prime defence institute, the National Defence Academy (NDA). After three years of rigorous training and hard work, these cadets were awarded a bachelor’s degree in the convocation ceremony held on Thursday.
Cadet Sonu Barak bagged the Chief of Naval Staff trophy for scoring the highest grades among students of all three streams -- science, computer science and social sciences. While Barak also won the Commandant’s silver medal for topping the science stream, cadet Karan Thukral got silver medal and Admiral’s Trophy for standing first in the computer science stream, and cadet Suraj Ithape bagged Commandant’s silver medal for standing first in social sciences stream.
Cadet Sonu Barak, who hails from Rohtak in Haryana says he got inspiration to join the armed forces from his father. Like his father Hansraj Barak, Sonu too wants to join the Indian Air Force.
“Once I join the Air Force, I will work hard to fulfill my dream of flying the Sukhoi.” Along with his father, batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar is also his role model. “I love cricket and Sachin is my hero. Incidentally, he played his last Ranji match in Rohtak.”
Unlike Sonu Barak, cadet Suraj Ithape is the first person from Ithape family to be joining the armed forces. Suraj hails from Chindawali village of Satara district and his father works as a development officer in a bank and mother is a housewife. He completed his education in Satara’s Sainik School and he got inspiration from his seniors who joined NDA.
“After standard X, my focus was clear. I wanted to join NDA. In my first attempt, I didn’t come in the merit list. The next six months I was at home and did not apply anywhere else. Finally I got through and I am very happy that I managed to complete this tough training,” Suraj said.
Suraj’s father Sanjay Ithape said, “Suraj was always good in studies and we all wanted him to pursue UPSC or MPSC, but did not want him to join the armed forces as we had little knowledge about it. Today we are extremely proud to see his achievement.”
For cadet Karan Thukral, last year had been pretty tough as he lost his father when he was in the 4th term of NDA. However, he did not lose his composure and manged to bag first prize in computer science. “It was a tough time for me when I lost my father. But because of the immense support from my batchmates, I could overcome all odds and achieve my goal. I wish my father was here to see me receiving this prize,” Karan said. He will join the Indian Army after he completes his training at the Indian Military Academy in Dehradun.
Total 290 cadets received a bachelor’s degree at the NDA on Thursday’s convocation. Out of these 290 cadets, 122 are from the science stream, 101 from computer science and 67 are from social sciences.
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