Conquering Adversity: Inspirational Journey of an Army Officer

This IS NOT about Capt GR Gopinath’s life. Every now and then during my career counseling sessions guiding people for their second career, I come across people with inspiring stories. Here is one such story.

Recently I watched the Tamil movie Soorarai Potru which depicted the journey of Capt GR Gopinath, the trailblazing entrepreneur and CEO of Air Deccan. Since the movie was highly dramatized, I followed it up by reading Simply Fly written by Capt Gopinath himself. I was introduced to his amazing journey of his life.

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And now let me introduce one such person to you, Maj JV, Shaurya Chakra.

Born to a humble family in a tribal area of Maharashtra around Nandurbar, JV did his schooling from his village. To make ends meet he started working very early in life after school as a Newspaper distribution boy, helped giving cable connections for satellite TV, ran a STD phone booth, and also worked as a Bus conductor in a private travel agency. Alongside he kept his school grades up and even did wonderfully well in NCC too.

In his Class XI , he went for a recruitment rally and was selected for Soldier GD. The poor boy did not know the difference between a soldier entry or an Officer entry. He called up his NCC Commander, to declare the good news of his selection into soldier category. The officer asked him, “Where are you now?”, he replied, “At the Recruitment Rally Sir”. The officer calmly replied, “Do you see any Officers there?”, he said “Yes”. The Officer asked him to hand over the phone to the Recruitment Officer. They conversed for a few minutes. Then the Recruitment Officer took out his application and tore it off. He told him to go and report to his NCC Officer. Dejected, JV later met his own NCC Officer who told him – “You are meant to be an Officer and not a Soldier”.

Like Capt GR Gopinath, JV he too wanted to see the world beyond Nandurbar. He joined BSc Microbiology and again showed his prowess in NCC. He did so well that he was selected to represent Maharashtra in Republic Day Parade. Because of the prolonged absence from college he was unable to complete the lab work and so he was forced to shift to BA English. While doing his college work, he used to go to Pune and work in call centers to make ends meet. Since his English was not proficient, he was only able to get into a local Call Center. He got trained in English and got trained for getting into the Armed Forces as well. His evenings were all spent in preparing for exams and interviews. The NCC had inspired him to a life in the Army. His officers in NCC used to motivate him.

After a year in the local call centers, he graduated to a MNC Call center where he was able to pick up better English. That inspired him to prepare for SSB. He passed his NCC ‘C’ Certificate. He started going for SSB and each time he used to get rejected for some reason or the other. Every time he went for the SSB he had to quit the job he had, because they never gave him leave of absence. And each time he got rejected he searched and got a job in another Call center. Yet he kept on preparing for the SSB. By this time he had grown in his profession in the call center and was getting decently paid too. He completed his graduation and went for the final fifth attempt SSB. He knew he would get rejected and was preparing to move to the next better job. However, to his sweet surprise he got selected in his last and final attempt. He was not able to believe it. He had indeed made it. Thereafter there was no looking back. He joined the Officers Training Academy for a Short Service Commission.

During his Army Career, he always stood for truth and justice throughout his career. He is well respected by his troops. His gallantry has been recognized in action in J&K where he was awarded Shaurya Chakra for conspicuous bravery.

Today he has completed ten years of service. As his tenure of duty in the Army is coming to a close as a Short Service Commission officer, he  is looking forward to giving back to the area where he was nurtured. Major JV has dreams of starting a school to help the tribal children, create ventures to ensure a good livelihood for many in that area. All I can say is that I see a resemblance of Capt GR Gopinath in him. There is a fire that is burning bright in his belly. Let us all pray and hope that JV achieves what he has set his sights on. I hope many children will be inspired by the never say die attitude of this valiant son of the soil soldier. Little setbacks are nothing if you focus on the life ahead of passion.

I wish JV the absolute best. Go forth and conquer the world Major JV. Let us see another Capt GR Gopinath emerge in this country.