When Chennai girl Divya Ajith Kumar became the first lady cadet to bag the prestigious Sword of Honour from the Officers Training Academy (OTA) in 2010, little did she know she was inspiring girls across the nation. Renu Shekhawat from Rajastnan followed in her footsteps and joined the OTA last year. Like the 33 other lady cadets about to pass out of the academy this March, Renu hopes to bag top honours. The women will have to compete with 150 other gentlemen cadets including trainees from across the world.
Divya soon became Captain and was the first woman to lead a CRPF contingent at the 2015 Republic Day parade in the capital. “When I read in the newspaper about Divya’s achievement I decided to join the Army . Gender is no barrier here at the academy .We are all put through the same gruelling course,” says Renu.
Just last year, it was academy under officer M Anjana from Ernakulam who won the Sword of Honour. Anjana, 25, worked at a law firm after studying at the Government Law College in Mumbai. A trained Bharatnatyam dancer, she also holds a master’s degree in fine arts. She outclassed more than a hundred other male cadets to bag the credit for merit and overall performance after 48 weeks of gruelling training. The cadets are put through unforgiving physical tasks including route marches where they run for distances ranging from 20km to 40km through perilous terrain.
The trainees this year missed out on participating in the Chennai Marathon as they had just completed the mandatory 40km run the previous day at Hanumanthapura. Anjana was a podium finisher at the marathon when she was in Chennai undergoing training. Sahadev Rathore, who completed the run says, “It is the toughest of the endurance tests.”
Women match men in strength training and other physical tasks that include a 14-obstacle courses, to the point that one can hardly differentiate between men and women training at the academy . Age or marital status is no bar either as proven by 2015 `Veer Nari’ recipient Ruchi Verma who joined the academy after her husband Major Vineet Verma died in action in the insurgency-hit Balipara, Assam L in 2013.
The ‘veer nari’ title given to army widows wasn’t enough for Verma: She stepped out of the comforts of her home and virtually took over her husband’s duty to the nation. Last year, 24year old Ruchi was among the 185 cadets of OTA who were formally inducted as officers of the Indian Army . “My life has turned upside down since I joined the training academy, ” Ruchi had said after the piping ceremony that commissioned her as lieutenant. She hopes her six-year old son Akshat Verma will join the Army someday .
The trainees at the academy are looking forward to this year’s piping ceremony, to be held on March 12, where winners of top honours including gold, silver and bronze medals, and the coveted Sword of Honour will be announced. Women cadets stole the show last year where Anjana also won gold, while the bronze medal went to another lady cadet, Madhavi Rai.