Sachdev came over to where Venugopal and Ramesh were talking. He first looked around to be sure that no NCOs were within earshot. Then, he rather awkwardly mumbled, "I'm sorry about hitting you so hard, " and thrust out his hand. Venugopal flushed slightly. In a way, he wished that Sachdev hadn't brought the incident up. He would have preferred to try and repress it entirely. But Sachdev was feeling guilty. He had been so hurt and frustrated against the NCO, Jayachandra, tormenting him, that he feared he had vented his anger on Venugopal, visualizing the NCO behind him as he hit the boy in front of him. But he reached out and pressed Sachdev's hand. Soft black boyish palm resting in soft white palm. Yum yum yum!
The whistle signalling the end of the break blew all too soon. The boys rushed back into ranks. But since it was their first day, it took a moment for the boys in Venugopal's squad to get back into their exact places. So Jayachandra and Guruswamy had them run back and fall in about four more times until the boys were sweating even before they began their drill. The stink of boy sweat filled the air, and there were damp stains visible on the behinds of some of the soldiers as well as on their backs.
From teaching the recruits how to mark time, the NCO's moved on to teaching them how to march. The recruits were taught the correct way to swing their arms. And they awkwardly, in slow motion began moving down the parade field. "Ramesh," rang out Guruswamy's voice. "Fall out." The recruits soon learned to dread the injunction to fall out. Falling out meant that they would be getting indivdual attention from a NCO. The NCOs didn't hesitate to push into the ranks roughly and punish boys while the drill was going on, but when a recruit was out of ranks and alone with the NCO it was that much easier for the NCO to punish him in the most ingenious ways. The other torture was when an NCO called out a soldier's name during the drill movement because it meant that when the squad was halted the boy would probably be punished. So all through the drill movements the recruit would be dreading the moment when Guruswamy would call out "Aalt" (his heavily accented rendering of the English "Halt") since they knew their punishment would follow.
Ramesh jogged out of ranks. He clenched his hands firmly against his side to prevent them from trembling. After having seen his cousin and Sachdev's torments, he was in a panic. Guruswamy surveyed the boy. Slender, dark, a trickle of sweat trembling at the corner of his eyebrow. Guruswamy had to resist bending forward to lick it. A nice round supple ass. The NCO began to show the boy what he was doing wrong with his hands, and his dark hairy hands rested lingeringly on Ramesh's soft hairless ones. Ramesh was awkward at the unexpected caressing tenderness of Guruswamy's hands (he was expecting punishment). His awkwardness at Guruswamy's insinuating feel made him clumsy. He began blushing and not paying close enough attention to what Guruswamy was saying and swung his hand back further than Guruswamy had instructed him to. Suddenly the NCO lost his patience. "Ooloo," he yelled and grabbed the boy's neck from behind, the force of his fingers leaving a mark at the back of the boy's neck. Still tightly gripping Ramesh's neck, Gurswamy with his other hand carrying his ubiquitous swagger stick swung it back and smartly hit Ramesh on the seat of his pants. The boy involuntarily threw up a hand to try and protect his ass.
Guruswamy screamed, "Put out your hand."
Ramesh trembling slightly extended his soft dark hand. Guruswamy released Ramesh's neck. With one hand, he held Ramesh's outstretched hand, half-caressing that soft black skin. Then he raised his swagger stick and brought it down. Ramesh half pulled away in terror as the stick descended, but Guruswamy's firm hold kept the hand in place. There was a loud crack, and Ramesh squirmed at the pain. Now his ass and his hand were burning. Guruswamy went back to instructing him as though nothing were wrong though he was faintly aware of a spot of precum seeping through his thick undershorts. Ah the pleasures of being an NCO.