Soldier's Brats'

Navneet Kaur Dhillon, crowned the latest beauty of the Nation at the Ponds Femina Miss India (PFMI) 2013 is a Soldier’s Brat. Closely followed by Sobhita Dhulipala from Visakhapatnam, adjudged the first runner-up, also a Naval offspring. Year after year, the beauty pageant has been dominated by adolescents’ having Defense backgrounds. The list is very long (we may have missed a few), but it includes Priyanka Chopra (Army), Lara Dutta (Air Force), Celina Jaitly (Army), Neha Dhupia (Navy), Sushmita Sen (Air Force), Pooja Batra (Army), Gul Panag (Army), Manpreet Brar (Army), Nikita Anand (Army), Ankita Shorey (Army), Kanishtha Dhankar (Navy), Hasleen Kaur (Army). Bollywood has many notables such as Anushka Sharma, Chritangda Singh, Shiney Ahuja (oops..), Ranvijay Singh, Akshay Kumar (not many that he is son of an Army officer late Hari Om Bhatia). These hellions have not only dominated the glamour world, some the other achievers include

Ajay Banga, President and CEO of Master Card.

Arnab Goswami, everyone knows him.

Jeev Milkha Singh, the first Indian professional golfer to become a member of the European Tour.

Nirupama Rao, she is the Indian Ambassador to USA.

Renuka Chowdary, Politician.

Sister Nirmala, who succeeded Mother Teresa.

So, what is that they imbibe in their childhood which the others miss out? Many say it is there upbringing which gives them an upper edge. Looking gorgeous has nothing to do with ancestry; but it’s the other attributes that makes the difference.

Discipline  -   Acclimatization in a soldierly environment permeates discipline in them. If you were to ask a hundred parents to describe their motives and methods of discipline, you might get a hundred different answers. But for a soldier and his family, it is simple - punctuality, obedience, respect for elders/superiors, conduct, sincerity, commitment and most important is to ‘understand limitations’.

Loyalty, Honesty and Integrity  -  Many would not be able to differentiate between the three, still this is the most powerful trio combo (like the Laxmi bomb of Diwali) which shapes their characters. It ain’t a gene in the semen or ova that gets genetically imprinted in them; rather it is in the atmosphere they breathe in every day.

Perseverance and Confidence  -  They learn the fact very early in life that diligence to hard work has no alternatives and detours. This gives them tenacity and endurance to face the world, and teaches them the seven stages of being successful – defining a goal, strong desire, building confidence, planning, cooperation, determination, and a fine execution.

Adaptability - Every 2-3 years leaving a place and migrating like nomads from one place to another is common acceptance for them. Leaving old friends, making new ones, from villages to metros, from Pathshala to Convents, from deserts to snow and from gulli danda to polo, is a spectrum of deprivations and opportunity that they get (depends of ones perspective). But, surly it evolves them from wag tailed fetus to a two legged mammal – adaption and survival. Separation from fathers makes them more responsible and gives them ability to take independent decisions, which most of us lack.

One can list a hundred other factors, if not more. Guess, they don’t learn to be successful, they just get the officer like qualities that their fathers live effortlessly with each day.