My first day at LBSNAA Mussoorie

My first day at LBSNAA was very overwhelming.

I am recalling my day when I joined the foundation course in 2017. It was August 28, 2017... I started from Dehradun (which I had reached previous night) in the morning around 9 am. I reached within an hour or so. On the way, I took a wrong route somehow in the winding serpentine roads to Mussoorie.

When I reached near the Academy, I found out that all the Officer Trainees, OTs, had to get our ID cards at the Charleville bookstore outside the Academy gates. Then, we proceeded inside to do basic joining formalities in the beautiful halls of LBSNAA. It was exciting to see so many excited and confused faces at the same time ;) (including self). It did not matter whether you were IAS, IPS, IRS, IFS..You were just all together in this beautiful journey now..I was walking around, not familiar, but eerily feeling super comfortable in a new place. The campus is beautiful indeed!


The first thing after getting IDs and finishing basic joining formalities is to that we go to our room assignments. These assignments are somewhat mysterious to start with. We are given a code, ‘K-305′. Initially, no one gets it. But after asking around, I found out that it meant ‘Kaveri’ hostel, room no. 305. I had to follow a small path that took us to the beautiful hostels that became home for months to come. Then, I was greeted later in the evening by my roommate, who was such a great guy! They become your close friends soon.

After settling down, it was already evening time. I headed to the sports complex and the infamous Ganga Dhaba. There is also another Pooja Dhaba, which I like more..After meeting more batchmates there (whose names were becoming impossible to remember), I headed back to the room and finished the unpacking. It was evening and decided to head to the officers’ mess, where I was greeted by amazing views..

Next day was to start early. Met some familiar and unfamiliar faces and stayed out in the campus just talking late night.

It was a surreal experience, something that I had wanted for 2 years suddenly comes true. Then I was just there, physically experiencing it all! It was a fantastic first day!