C Shivakumar @ CHENNAI:
Twenty-four-year-old Stanzin Tsangyang travelled from the remote mountains of Zanskar to Chennai to begin a journey that few in her home district had taken before. On Saturday, she became the first officer from Zanskar district in Ladakh to be commissioned into the Indian Army.
Her parents, Tundup Tsering, a teacher, and Rigzin Ladol, travelled from Ladakh to witness the passing-out parade at the Officers Training Academy. Dressed in traditional attire, they stood proudly alongside their daughter and relatives after the ceremony.
“There was no one to guide us to join the Army in our district,” Stanzin rued, pointing to the lack of an established pathway for young people in the region aspiring to become officers.
“This is our first time in Chennai and it is all because of our daughter. I am proud she is contributing to the nation,” her father said. Stanzin left home at a young age to study at Lamdon Model School in Leh, spending nearly 14 years in a hostel away from her family. Her academic performance lead her to Tezpur University in Assam, where she studied mechanical engineering.
It was at university that she joined the National Cadet Corps. “I came to know through the NCC that I could join the Army as an officer,” she said.
The transition from a remote Himalayan district to military training in Chennai was demanding. “The road was filled with challenges, sacrifices and moments of doubt, and the resilience instilled by the mountains kept me moving forward,” she said.
For Lieutenant Shivam Ahlawat, Saturday’s commissioning represented something different: the continuation of a military legacy spanning five generations and more than 140 years. Joining Skinner’s Horse, he follows relatives who served in conflicts ranging from the battlefields of France and Flanders to China, Italy, Goa, Kargil and counter-insurgency operations in northeast India. The family hopes its extraordinary record, spanning two World Wars, Independence and several major military operations, will eventually be recognised by the Guinness World Records.
For Ritika Dubey of Gorakhpur, meanwhile, the significance was personal in another way. She is the first member of her family to pursue a career in the armed forces. Among the locals, it was 22-year-old MR Ruswanth from Theni district who donned his olive green as 25 members of his family visited OTA parade ground.
The latest batch at the Officers Training Academy included 313 men and 29 women commissioned into various arms and services. Seventeen cadets from friendly foreign countries — seven men and 10 women from Seychelles, Tanzania, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Eswatini, Bhutan and Lesotho — also completed their training. The parade was reviewed by Chief of Naval staff Admiral Krishna Swaminathan.
Addressing the cadets, Swaminathan said technology can give you information, speed and precision, but it certainly cannot replace wisdom. "Do not outsource your thinking to an algorithm. Because, ultimately, the decisive advantage will belong to the one that
out-thinks the adversary," he said.
The admiral said that tomorrow’s wars will demand the combined strength of all Services and all domains. "Irrespective of the colour of our uniforms, we must train together, operate together, and when called upon to do so, prevail together," he said.
