Pune boy fulfils dream, will join NDA

City lad Pratik Yadav is all set to give up engineering as a career and enter the National Defence Academy (NDA). Shy and introvert, Yadav shaped his personality at Apex Careers, an academy which prepares students for careers in the defence forces.

The Services Selection Board (SSB) results were announced on Wednesday. A total of 477 students came in the merit list out of the 2 lakh who had appeared for the exam. Yadav, who is 354th in the merit list, cherished the dream to get into uniform as a child as his father was a sergeant in the Indian Air Force. Although he failed his first attempt, he tried again with the determination to succeed.

Yadav joined Sainik School, Satara, in standard VI where there was enough encouragement for him to pursue his dream. The academy is founded by Lt Col (retd) Pradeep Brahmankar, who knew he had to bring this promising lad out of his shell.

“Yadav was extremely shy. But he cooperated and worked hard to conquer his drawback, which is essential to get into the NDA. He started opening up through group discussions and interactions during the two months training,” said Brahmankar.

Another alumnus of Apex Careers, Kawarpal Singh, who was determined to join the NDA also cracked the exams, standing 186th on the merit list.