From my very childhood I was excited about Indian Armed forces and dreamed to be an officer in Indian Armed Forces. But till my PG, I have concentrated on studies and forgot about my dream. One day I saw the advertisement for opening in Indian Navy Executive branch as an IT Officer. IT being my core specialization, I was excited and applied for the same. I was sure that I will be shortlisted as I have good percentages in my Graduation. But something gone wrong and I was not called, hey wait, finally I have got the call letter for attending SSB(Service Selection Board) interview at NSB(Naval Selection Board) Coimbatore for the batch stating Dec 2012. My interview date was 5th Nov 2012.
The Journey to NSB Coimbatore:
I have booked all my tickets just after getting the call letter, but I don’t get a confirmed ticket. But I managed to get a ticket in Sleeper class and started my journey. I was filled with a lot of encouragements and excitements regarding the toughest selection process of our country. My train was late for about 1:30 Hr and after a tiring journey I finally reached Coimbatore Junction around 2: O’Clock on 4th Nov 2012. The station and the place both are new to me and to be truthful, I was also a bit feared, as I was travelling alone for the first time in my life for more than 2000Kms. After getting out of the station, I searched for the MCO (Movement Control Office). It was just outside of the station near the Clock room. I had already completed my research on the place and I found a good and affordable lodge just in front of the railway station. I relaxed a bit and go out for some shopping and watched television. I have slept early, to get up early in the morning. I loved the city very much and I will write more about my experience at Coimbatore in a separate article.
Finally the day I waited so long has come, 5th Nov 2012. I left my lodge and reached at the MCO well before the time and we had the reporting time at 6 O’Clock. To my surprise, soon a lot of crowd with lot of luggage gathered at the MCO. I think the call up letter was issued to more than 200 candidates, but around 80-90 candidates reported on the day. The representative of the Indian Navy reached at the MCO at 5:30 AM(before reporting time) as they have limited buses and call letter was issues to more than 200 candidates. We have asked to take out our call letters and we moved to the bus with all our luggage. We were moved to the SSB in batches and all the candidates were reached within 6:30 AM. At the first sight you can know that it was a defense base and the first thing we saw was the daily drill class of the officers posted. It was a proud feeling standing at one of our Military establishments.
Reporting Day(Screening):
The first thing we were asked to do is to change to formal and were our shoes. No casual were or jeans allowed and chappals or sandals are strictly prohibited.We all changed our dress, switched off the mobile and were asked to proceed for reporting. President of the board welcomed us and briefed us about the procedures, rules and regulations to be followed. We were asked to introduce ourselves and were divided in two groups, freshers and repeaters. We have the reporting and screening on the same day. The repeaters batch were send for back ground verification and we proceed for chest number allocation. I was in the freshers group and I was allotted chest no 11.
After chest no allocation we proceed for the certificate verification and all our certificates were verified. After certificate verification only 87 candidates left including repeaters. We were then proceed for breakfast and the menu was simply delicious, bread, butter, egg, veg chop and tea. We all had a quick breakfast as there was limited time. After completing our breakfast we proceed to the testing room and given with our batch no and various forms(identification, and Travel Allowance form). We were then briefed about the intelligence test and given the instruction cum practice booklet. There will be two tests for verbal and non verbal reasoning. We were given 19 minutes and 22 minutes respectively for verbal and non verbal section containing 45 questions each. The questions are simple and became more complex as we proceed. Due to limited time I was not able to answer all the questions and we have ended with one part of the screening. Do not concentrate more on the question which answer is unknown to you as there is very very limited time to attempt. try to attempt as many questions you can as there is no negative marking. One more point, the questions are objective and no OMR sheet is there, that means you can change your response in the answer sheet.
PPDT(Picture Perception and Description Test):
Then comes the PPDT(Picture Perception and Description Test). We have given a hazy picture, which shows 3 people in a happy mood. We have given 1 min to mark the characters, gender, mood and the action. Then we have given 3 minutes to complete the story. After the test we were divided into groups for the group discussion. Our group discussion went good and I tried to keep my points. After group discussion we found a concluding story and this was the end of our discussion.
Then we have a delicious launch and waited in the hall. After half an hour the psychologist came with the results. The heart bit increases suddenly and the result came out. Only 19 candidates were retained for second phase out of 87. I have not been selected and we the screened out people were send back to the station.
I will try my level best next time by rectifying my mistakes. I have already the call letter for the SSC(LOG) branch for the batch of June 2013 and the SSB date is 15th Apr 2013 at 33SSB Bhopal.