Guruswamy moved on to the next soldier, Mahesh. Mahesh gazed straight ahead, though he was filled with trepidation. There was always something scary about standing next to a recruit who was being punished. On the one hand, one had to stare straight ahead and pretend to be completely oblivious to what was going on; on the other, through the corner of one's eye one could get tantalizing and terrifying glimpses of the torments of one's fellow recruit.
But Guruswamy merely tugged perfunctorily at Mahesh's belt. "Polish the buckle more brightly tomorrow, " he said gruffly.
"Ha sahib," cried out Mahesh gratefully.
But he was being too sanguine if he thought he would get off so lightly. It was all part of Guruswamy's strategy to vary the torments he would visit on his recruits, and Mahesh was going to get the "beret treatment." The recruits all wore dark blue berets. And Guruswamy and Jayachandra incessantly lectured the recruits on the correct way to wear those berets. They had to rest exactly so; only so much of the forehead had to show, etc. etc. And the excuse of adjusting a beret, always provided the NCOs a good excuse to thump, clout, and cuff their recruit's heads. With the flat of his palm, Guruswamy thumped heavily down on Mahesh's skull. The Tamilian winced slightly under the force of the blows, and his dark eyes welled up with tears.
"Tug this lower in future, " screeched Guruswamy yanking the beret forward.
"Ha sahib," cried Mahesh.
"_f_u_c_k_ing oolo. This is not the way I taught you to wear the beret. Pay attention banchooth." With this parting pleasantry, Guruswamy thumped Mahesh's head yet again.
"Ha sahib," the youth cried out.
While Guruwamy was proceeding down the first row. Jayachandra was proceeding down the back row. As the senior NCO, only Guruswamy could assign punishment drill, and his bumboy Akhtar accompanied him scribbling down the names of the recruits who earned punishment drill in addition to the blow or twisted ear, or smacked face that they earned at that moment.
None of the recruits escaped punishment this first inspection. Even if they were perfectly dressed, the NCOs made a point of punishing them all to make them more attentive to their uniforms. This mass punishment would continue for a whole week and then lighten up some. The logic was that in these early days, recruits needed to be terrorized, so they would learn to bond together against their common enemy the harrassing NCOs and would also learn group discipline.