On 29 January NCC cadet Sparsha Mathani received the All India Best Cadet gold medal in the senior wing army from PM Narendra Modi at the NCC felicitation function as part of the 63rd Republic Day.

Sparsha, a B.Tech (Information Technology) second year student at SRM University, Chennai, in a conversation with Covai Post said, “The moment will always stay in my memory. My mother relived the moment from 1990 when she also got the Best Cadet award.”

“The best thing was I made my parents really proud. As far as my future goal is concerned, I want to become a fighter pilot in the Indian Air Force.”

On the same day, Yash Pratap Singh received the All India Best Cadet silver medal in the senior division army wing from Major General J.S. Sandhu (Additional Directorate General of NCC).

Yash, a B.Tech (Computer Science and Engineering) student at SRM University, Chennai, said, “My goal is to become an officer in the Indian Army and thereby fulfil my objective of becoming an efficient and trained human resource for my country.”

The journey for these two champs was not easy. After both of them got selected from Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, and Andaman and Nicobar Directorate as main representatives, they underwent rigorous training.

Yash tells about their training, “Our training routine was quite hectic; we had hardly 4-5 hours of sleep a day.

From 5 – 8 am we had firing practice which is one of the most important events in the Best Cadet competition, followed by drill till 11 am. We had Best Cadet classes from 11 am to 2 pm with G.K. quizzes, group discussion, extempore, personal interview training, etc. After lunch break, we had drama practice and then flag area competition practice from 5 – 7 pm. After dinner we had group dance and group song practice from 7.30 pm to 11 pm, and then lights off.”