A heart-touching letter of an Army Brat

“I don’t think I ever completely unpacked in my life” An Army Brat

First things first, I’m a brat, No! that doesn’t mean that I am spoilt or an ill mannered child! I’m an ARMY BRAT, born,Raised and transferred!! And this attitude in me is only because I am an army brat. I am a proud member of this Army fraternity and today I would like to finally help my civilian friends and friends understand that my life is not just about moving from one station to another, or having a strict PT routine every morning or being on a holiday always!

What my Friends thought about my Fauji Dad

Out of the numerous funny anecdotes that I have in my big pitara, just like my Army Dad I’d like to start with this. One day my friend asked me,“Yaar tere Papa ke pass bahut sari AK 47 hogi, kabhi school leke aa “. I replied in the same excited tone “Tere Papa Bank Manager haina, pehle tu do char lakh rupey le ke aa”!!

Seriously, many of them used to feel that my dad carries a gun wherever he goes.

I’ve had my share of heart breaks

No wonder we bravely shift base every two to three years from one Army cantonment to another and sometimes to an SF accommodation without Dad when he’d be on field posting.. But leaving old friends is never easy, especially as you grow up! And not just friends, your Crush, whom who could never speak to, your home, your cantonment, your favorite hang out, your school, the list is long. Tearful goodbyes are the most difficult part of being an Army brat. You may have been a topper, a great public speaker but you couldn’t be a part of the School Student Council, as your father was due for posting.

Trust me, it’s tough no matter how strong it makes you eventually as you grow!

A true Sports Buff

Just like our fauji fathers, Army Brats are real sports buffs too. Be it badminton, golf, basketball, croquet (heard of it?), sports not only kept us occupied when we were young, in our own way we learned the meaning of team work, camaraderie, fair play and having fun since early.

It runs in the family man!

Manners maketh Man

Read ‘Manners maketh Brat’! Contrary to the name tag, brats are generally the most well mannered children. Wishing our elders (even the unknown ones), standing up while talking, being polite yet confident, having impeccable table manners, saying “please/sorry and thank you” come very naturally to us.

After all our dads are official gentlemen,you can trust their grooming blindly. We grow to be one too.

My vocabulary is inherited

Once again my civilian friends used to be lost, but what I hear is what I say. Words like dhai ton, good josh, Patti parade, fall-in, keen Kumar, Reece are new to them but this fauji lingo is imbibed in my heart.

Come over, I will tell you more! Just don’t roll your eyes.

Master of All

Swimming, horse-riding, rock-climbing, bungee-jumping, mountaineering and what not you name it, we’ve done it. My civilian friends can’t even think of trying one, but being an Army brat, I mastered all these activities pretty early in life! Thanks to all those postings from mountains to deserts to actually a happening area.

That is the best part of growing as an Army brat.

The most adjusting breed of kids

I used to find it strange and often annoying when my friends cribbed about the weather being too hot, their parents either being too interfering, not having the perfect house. I sometimes quite didn’t understand what the fuss was all about, all these issues were and still are alien to me. I would be most interested in reaching home and going for a dive! Com on I know what hardships truly mean and I have faced real crisis with my Mom many a times.

Next time think twice! Okay?

Home is where the Heart is, so we carry our home where ever we go

Yes, its a new place, a new house,but when all of us worked together to set it up , within a few days only the house became a Home. Mom puts her heart and soul into setting it up, each and every time. Even the bird cage and flower pots find their places to the smallest of spaces and us the Army Brats enjoy setting up our own room in our own style with little help from mom of-course! Also she proudly wears her silent ranks of being an Army wife

Each fauji quarter is the reflection of the fauji mom owning it

Others study geography, we do geography

There’s no denying that an army brat’s Geography will be way better than his counterparts. Well, you may score more in your exams, but you can’t match a brat’s knowledge when it comes to finding your way around or knowing about cities people may haven’t even heard of. Let me tell you about Khajuwala, no its not near Kabul, neither is it famous for kajus, it’s a border area in Rajasthan. After hours of traveling with sand dunes all around, we finally got to my father’s Army unitMy stories are endless, and I can narrate each one with equal pride and love, that’s because I love being a brat. Yes it was difficult being away from my father, not seeing him for months, praying hard everyday when he was in field, getting scared at every late night phone ring, living like nomads, having to think hard when someone asked, “Which place do you belong to”, but if given a choice, I would do it all over again. I’m proud of my Dad, and am thankful for the wonderful childhood he gave me, even when he wasn’t around. I wouldn’t trade this lifestyle for anything in the world.