Self belief, EXISTENT !!!!..... ITC 2025.

 Launch~ The finale, January 26, 2025. 

We launched to the final day of ITC with the least score. Unaware of what lied ahead of us, but what we ventured either ways. 

Synchronised dance? 

One of the most thrilling films that captured the difficulties of tank warfare during The Second World War was the 2019 Russian film T34. In the film, 4 captured Russian soldiers were tasked to repair a captured T34 (Which was one of the most agile tanks then). They did repair the tank bearing the gruesome challenges that come with being a prisoner at a German concentration camp. After the rebuild, The Germans demanded a demonstration of the tank's performance. The 4 captured Russians displayed exuberant tank maneuvers. Which surprised and impressed the German commander to an extent where fear instilled upon him. Forcing him to order the camp be filled with land mines as he foresaw an escape. 

Having just half an hour's practice the previous day, we felt like those helpless and despaired Russians. 

But, as we stood in formation we felt T34's blood pass through our veins as Tank Karna was built on T72's chassis (T72 the grandson of T34). As our drill contingent commander commanded the tank (The troop) to march, we marched as the deep history of Karna unfolded before our eyes with Swan Lake's chorus( a 1877 Russian ballet music) being played in the background. Cinematic? Yes it was. Pride made us bag our first victory in ITC. Our victory made our puny opponents fear the troop they once neglected. Having won the first event of January 26th, we set the ball rolling. There was no turning back now. 

Karna's drill contingent in action.

Group task groupism?

After drill came group task, the first year cadets were sent on a secret task whereas the second and the third year cadets battelled it out intellectually. Solving logical reasoning questions under bright flashy lights aimed at our eyes distorting our vision, fused with blasting music intended to distract us. Right or wrong, under those challenging circumstances we took inspiration from the uniform we wore i.e., The uniform of The Commandos - Combats. 

We were the last ones to finish the test. Apart from not getting any points at all!  We did collect some good negative marking along the way. We were agitated and disappointed, but unaware that the first year cadets had our back.

Their secret task was to create a tower with just newspapers. Every senior cadet was astound (Including me) when we witnessed our juniors capabilities. What they created was a meticulous tower which was a staggering 10 feet tall. The tower was not inferior to an engineering marvel. It not only surprised our NCC officer but also received envy from the competition as well. The tower symbolized Karna's thirst for victory. As the opponent troops looked up at our tower, the tower not only crushed their work but, their sprits as well. The icing on the cake? an uncontrolled chant of the mighty Karna tank "KARNA KARNA KARNA!!".

The Tower of pride

Left Right Left, Left Right BOOOOM !!!

Next up we had an obstacle course task. The plot was that every troop member (Commando) was captured by the enemy. But, one commando escaped. Sticking to the principle of No man left behind, The escaped commando was tasked help us escape captivity. By leading us through a mine field as we were blind folded and were mere using our listening skills to navigate. It is not as easy as it seems, our listening skills were put to the real test as we had to tune to our commando's voice in an array of voices. It was like trying to find a needle in a haystack, the only difference was that a haystack was not filled with land mines. Eventually, we did safely cross the mine field !! With a few casualties. :) 

Mine field, The escaped commando's point of view. 

Coordinated Cultural Chaos. 

After a few more tasks, we went on to the cultural competitions. For the cultural competition we rebranded ourselves as ' Tarushi's Angels' named after our troop leader. With a spectacular combination of theatrics, parodic classical lyrics and with our ginormous choir we aced the singing competition as the judges were taken aback by the creative side of parody. The parody was not written by the Yogaraj Bhat but my very own junior. Not over a hefty paycheck but, over a steaming cup of tea. That cup of tea produced lyrics for a 5 minute performance.  As for dancing, we danced with the power of the Karna tank, strong yet clueless as though the tank was blinded with smoke. Somehow, we managed to bag second place in dance for an impromptu performance with an easy 1st in singing. 

The School Assembly.

Before the final award ceremony, we had another sport, the sport of giants - tug of war. Tug of war acts as a filler competition which gives the judges time to tally the score. We waited in patience, aware that we were not going to win thanks to negative marking, we just enjoyed ourselves. Honestly speaking, we enjoyed the day to the fullest having no expectations of winning. Karna bashed the opponents in tug of war and it was a clean sweep. As tug of war concluded, we were a little anxious. Anxious enough we walked towards the auditorium unaware of the lurking danger ahead. 

In the auditorium, we sat not in silence but in utter chaos. As all the four troops felt good, felt brave and felt confident. Well, except Karna. Karna was creating the chaos by singing loud classical songs, fooling around with our tower and getting on the Judges' nerves. We were anxious, but anxiety turned to restlessness and hence chaos. We turned the competition into a fun ride. It felt good. It felt good not because we were fooling around but because we followed the essence of a competition.  

After much anticipation, the time arrived where the overall results were announced. We were made to stand with our troop members as though it were a school assembly. In the auditorium, it got serious for a moment. There it was, the final score sheet in the judge's hand. As we stood there sunk in anticipation, a drop of sweat rolled down my skull, I felt my heart beat. The suspense slowed time down significantly. Seconds turned into minutes and minutes to hours. As the drop dripped past my jaw we watched the judges roll their eyes as they stared their way through the contestants. We knew ...we knew it was a matter of mere seconds. As that drop succumbed to the floor accelerating to 9.8m/s and before it touched the floor, it was over…..

The ball had dropped, we secured fourth place in the competition.

Or did we ?

Bureaucratic Bungling.

Well, we technically did but there was a silver lining. Thanks to the bureaucratic weapon (Negative marking), the extensive use of negative marking was revealed to the judges. The judges stunned, decided to reveal the troop placing without including any negative marking before the final positions were announced. Well, guess what ? expectations lead to heartbreak. We knew our performances was excellent.

Moments before the judges announced the 4th position without negative marking, I looked back at Troop Karna. Were they anxious? One would like to think that they were. But, to my surprise they were not. The only anxious person in Karna was me. As i smiled my way through anxiety, I realised that Karna had no expectations at all. Coming to the finale, Karna was last in the grid. Our performance on 26th January was so significant that the other troops felt it, as it shook up the final grid. Giving us the second spot on the grid. Yes, From being 4th on the grid, our on-day performance resulted in a massive 2nd !!!. Second only to the team that led ITC since the very beginning (Without negative marking). 

Was the weapon of negative marking exploited? 
Yes, it were. The reason why the judges decided to reveal the grid spots without the negatives was because the negatives swapped the grid completely. 

In the end, Negative marking remained and resulted in the bottom two teams bagging 1st and 2nd in the final standing. The bottom team won The Inter Troop Competition 2025. 

Whereas, The top performing team pushed to 3rd with Karna pushed to last. Proving Murphy's law.

Post-Season.

Our worst nightmare had come true. Karna came last. But, we did not feel like it. At the end, we were having fun to an extent that we had forgotten about the competition. We were more thrilled about coming last than the winning team with their trophy. We celebrated our bond, We celebrated our hardships. We pierced the melancholic result as though it were a wall. A wall to an incoming tank. Tank Karna!!

Was it heart breaking? Arreyyy Bhai, Why will our hearts break ? After all, We did teach our opponents how to rule the grounds !!  

Troop Karna the moment we bagged 4th with it's custom made trophy.

Troop Karna as we sang hum honge kamyab 
[Confused judges smiling in the background]

Troop Karna exemplified the essence of a competition by considering It as Just a competition. 

Where the other troops regretted something, we did it too. "Why weren't we this thrilled from the start?" 

Where the other troops disliked the results, we did too. But, we decided to gift ourselves a trophy anyway. 

and, Where the other troops applauded, we did too. For, In the end, We are just tanks, 

WE ARE ARMOURDIANS. 

WE ARE ONE. 

WE ARE 1 KAR ARMD NCC 

As ITC 2025 concluded, Self belief shifted from "existent?" to "EXISTENT !!"

Cheers to the best troop, Troop Karna

Troop Karna, the winner of ITC 2025 Infinity.