Pawan Kumar Singh from Bihar, C. Tirupathi from Pudukottai, S. Sindhu from Chennai (Teynampet) , Krishnakanth Sharma from Agra, R. Rajesh Kumar from Mannarkudi and A. Lavanya from Avadi in Chennai. What do they have in common? They are engineers, in their twenties, and aspire to join the defence services and have been preparing for this in a square-shaped room on a small lane in Muthapudupet, near the Indian Air Force (IAF) Station in Avadi.
It was here they underwent an intensive 15-day training programme, led by a couple, Colonel (retired) A. Jerome Alexander and his wife Lt. Colonel (retired) Rosaline Alexander, to take the Services Selection Board (SSB) interview, which is conducted at select centres in the country twice a year, in January and July.
The five-day Services Selection Board interview includes an intelligence test, a picture perception test, a situation reaction test and a self-description test.
“I am from interior Bihar and since my childhood, aspired to join the defence forces. It is this dream that has brought me all the way to Chennai, where engineering education is good and there is help to prepare for the armed forces,” said Pawan Kumar Singh.
Started four years ago, the Services Selection Board Coaching Institute, run by the couple in their single-storey house in Muthapudupet, is one of a few institutes in the neighbourhood that specialise in training that would enable joining the defence services. Most of these institutes in the locality are run by retired senior officers from all three wings of the armed forces and the coast guard.
“Unlike coaching classes for many competitive examinations, which can be handled by anyone, coaching for defence exams can be handled only by those who have served in the armed forces,” said Colonel (retd) Alexander.
In Tamil Nadu, only Chennai and Coimbatore have such specialised coaching institutes for defence services. In Chennai, Avadi seems to lend itself to running such specialised coaching institutes, as the neighbourhood has over 16 defence and related establishments where officers at various levels are employed. Many retired officers have settled in the neighbourhood.
