The following interaction is with two members of C.L.A.W. (Conquer Land, Air, Water), Vivek Jacob and Kaushal Kashyap, former Indian Army Special Forces operative, C.L.A.W. is an initiative led by Major Vivek Jacob, aiming to empower individuals with disabilities through adventure sports and outdoor experiences. With a mission to redefine the perception of disabilities, C.L.A.W. focuses on building physical, mental, and emotional resilience. The organisation has helped many people overcome their limitations and realise their potential through its specialised training programs. The organisation’s efforts are supported by Royal Enfield, whose motorcycles play a crucial role in enhancing C.L.A.W.’s expeditions in tough terrains.
As told to Karan Ramgopal
Q: Can you give a brief about C.L.A.W.?
A: C.L.A.W. is basically a team of ex-special forces personnel from the Indian armed forces. We are a mix of the Indian Army special forces and the Navy. We have a vision where the skill sets, the mindset, and the experiences that we, as ex-special forces soldiers, get to experience across the elements of land, air, and water, across the entire spectrum of combat experience. So from there, when you’re operating on this cutting edge of life and death, there’s a new dimension or a new perspective to life itself that opens up. It probably happens to various newbies and things like that also, I don’t know. But when you are aware of the nature of your existence because you’re staring death in the face most of the time, or you are going into environments where either you are going to kill, or you are going to get killed. So your mind or your awareness is not floating around much in the past or the future, right? Your entire concentration, your focus, or your awareness is concentrated on the moment, into the now. So when you are here in this new space and you’re coming from a background of a certain kind of mindset, it’s a very penetrating mindset. So we are taught to be able to penetrate any target. We are taught how to analyse and penetrate and destroy any target of any nature, so it’s a kind of, you know, surgical kind of thought process which develops, combined with this dimension of awareness that you’re, you know, standing on the middle of life and death when you’re operating in this kind of situation, combined with the skill sets that you are taught while in the special forces, it becomes like a jackknife, like a key which can be applied not only to combat but can be very effectively and very happily applied in all sectors of human existence, including business. So, for example, everything is actually in the modern world, our very existence is operational. When you get up in the morning, you have certain targets, goals, and things to do in the day and life ahead, so the particular approach that how we approach situations, targets, goals, every day-to-day existence, state of being, etc., that can open up the awareness for what lies as a potential in all human beings so that they can experience their self, their capabilities, they can experience their potential, their potential can come into reality, and they can experience themselves even more. So that’s the core of it. So we had various models of applying these key combinations of our mindset, experience, and skill sets into various sectors of human endeavour, be it business or management, team building, or any form of processes and systems that can be applied there, especially for people who are at an individual level or organizationally looking to evolve. So that’s where we kind of come into play. And at the very baseline, the experience, skill sets, and mindset that we developed were essentially focused on destruction, into the energy of destruction, right? So, we kind of pulled that energy out from the direction of the lead of destruction and put it into the other half of the story – creation. So our mindset, experiences whatever we were able to develop and hold in the special forces during combat, all of that has been pulled back and now applied in the creative space of how to realise our inner potential or grow through outside experiences, so that’s the long and short of it. How we are doing this is by creating, especially designing certain programs. So we do certain programs that combine a variety of things. For example, we did Soul of Steel last year. We selected young people from around the country, people who had the capability, the potential, or rather the talent to be great in the mountainous terrain. About 1,400 people applied, and out of those, we shortlisted 21 participants and trained them in basic mountaineering, advanced mountaineering, search and rescue, survival skills, emergency medical response, unarmed combat, navigation, etc. So, a whole pool of skill sets combined with the whole team, a whole set of experiences and mindset discussions throughout two and a half months, and then we measured their physical evolution and their psychological evolution and the impact of that in their life ahead. So we kind of design programs like this.
We work a lot with people with disabilities, not from a philanthropic point of view, not from a charity point of view. We see a heck of a lot of potential, like immense intense potential, which lies behind disability. So, we work a lot, we bring people with various kinds of disabilities, we bring them into the environment that I’m talking about where there’s a mindset, experiences, skills being taught, a lot of adventure sports. We combine adventure sports into the whole framework. All the land, air, and water adventure sports like scuba diving, skydiving, mountaineering, trekking, etc., various kinds of adventure verticals we combine with our mindset, skill set, and experience training program because adventure itself is the closest you can come to a near-death experience. That was the main thing that gave us the cutting edge because we would be operating at this near-death experience most of the time. So you kind of, all the layers and layers of personality and conditioning which is there, which is limiting you actually from being yourself and realising your potential, all of that falls away in the face of death. Adventure sports are nice, you know, we can’t give you a weapon and send you hunting in the mountains, but we can, through adventures, bring you closer. That’s a very liberating experience. It kind of heals your brain, heals the way you perceive things in a very fast and very firm process.
Q: This is a workshop-based foundation where anyone from or not from the military can join and attend and work on their skills right?
A: We undertake missions where we are assisted by people, volunteers, who would like to come and join us in our journey and it is mostly led and commanded by our team of Special Forces guys who can be either from the Army or from the Navy as well. To attend the operations or the missions that we plan, they don’t have to be from the armed forces.
Q: Is C.L.A.W. a short form for something? Is it an acronym?
A: Yes. It is Conquer, Land, Air, Water.
Q: Can you tell me how the partnership with Royal Enfield came into being?
A: We have been doing a lot of such stuff over the past couple of years, and I got a call from Adarsh from Royal Enfield. He had heard a couple of talks that I’ve given here and there on social media, and we kind of connected in spirit. There was this potential; he called me up and said, you know, is there something that we can work on together because there’s a lot of synergies? Now, how does that synergy come into design and execution on the ground? So we had a kind of project like this. We have been thinking about it for a long time, where we can combine our special forces experience, training mindset, skill sets, etc., with various players in the adventure sports sector. We had this design, we discussed it, and everybody got the picture. You know, we kind of all saw the same thing, so it was a very smooth and instant alignment from the first call onward.
Q: Can you expand a little on the Unlimit initiative and what that means for you and Royal Enfield?
A: Unlimit as the word means is simply to let go of your limits or your presumed limits that you have over yourself. Life has this infinite set of possibilities and potential realities available at any given moment. Depending on your level of awareness, depending on your level of understanding of yourself, you can see those opportunities or potential realities in front of you and then depending on the way you are, you make your choices and you live your life and then you kind of suffer or enjoy the experience that you created for yourself, just to your awareness and your choices, right? So, essentially the logic is that if you expand your awareness, you go through certain processes, activities, certain environments, certain processes and environments, when you go through these certain processes and environments, it is purpose-designed to expand your awareness itself. So once your awareness expands, now you have the key to your own life in your own hands. You don’t need anybody to give you gyaan and to teach you that this week would be better for you or that week would be better for you and this is what you should do and shouldn’t do in life. Because your awareness has expanded to the design processes that are. Doing so, you will be the master of your destiny and not only will you be a master of your destiny but you will be able to make choices which are favourable to your peace of mind and evolution of yourself or realisation of yourself towards people. that and where we come under this particular vertical. So the experience that we have designed together or the process that we have designed to unlock you or unlimit you of your own perceived barriers in your mental conditioning and your mindset and your approach to yourself and the world around you. So the experiences that you go through will dissolve, they are designed to dissolve these perceptual barriers that you have within yourself and the moment those barriers are gone, you are, the difference between you and nature or you and existence itself, that’s the mind barrier. The mind barrier dissolves and you feel yourself as one therefore you are unlimited and you have the awareness to play whatever game it is that you wish to play.
Q: For Royal Enfield, adventure motorcycling is one of the fortes. So how does your vision and motorcycling, in this particular case, affect your participants mentally and physically, and what sort of impact are you seeing motorcycling having on them?
A: It’s an extreme route itself if you see the Himalayan region, that’s the focus area, right, both in the north and the northeast regions, and we are slowly developing it. When you go out into terrains like this, when you go out into the mountains, like I don’t want to get into too much mumbo jumbo, but it’s a scientific fact that these areas, Himalayan mountains, have a certain electromagnetic energy around them. It expands you, right? It naturally happens. So their focus was also the Himalayas at the core level, and our focus is also on the three elements of land and water, with the Himalayas being a key focus. When you go on a bike into this kind of space, into high altitude, into the mountains, you are at the mercy of the elements. You have a lot of people who will say you just have to sit on a bike and go for a ride, but it’s not easy at all, and I’m sure the public would say it like that. But when you sit on a bike and ride for hours, you enter a kind of closed state, a zen state, which is very similar to the state that special forces soldiers go into while in combat. There is no past, no future; it’s just the moment, and you are in flow. There’s no resistance to what is, and therefore you are completely aware. In that space of awareness, you’re very easily able to summarise what’s going on in your life and see things ahead.
Another aspect is the risk involved. Motorcycling exposes you to a certain amount of risk depending on your skill sets and those of others on the road. Especially when you go deep into the mountains, where you may not encounter much traffic, but you have the elements – altitude, for example. If you don’t know how to manage it, you could have a breakdown in the middle of nowhere and be left to fend for yourself for water and shelter. There is a solid amount of risk involved. Through this risk, there’s a beautiful merger of experiences – being able to penetrate the Himalayas on motorcycles and our experience of operating in these areas. I’ve been there for more than a decade; the members of my team have spent 20-25 years operating in these mountains with no backup. Our survival skill sets and our experience in the mountains – how things work there, how to walk, breathe, sleep, and eat – are vital. At a certain point, you can plan for many contingencies, but you will often face situations you didn’t plan for. Once you have the basic skill sets and a positive mindset, you become very aware of your mortality. This brings your focus back to the present moment. With expanded awareness and backed-up skill sets, you gain the confidence to plan expeditions on your own and take others with you. You learn how to plan bike expeditions, prepare your motorcycle, and what kind of kit to carry. You learn how to handle breakdowns and recoveries.
We also bring in the special forces element, teaching survival, emergency medical response, and self-defence. You learn how to survive if you’re stuck in a situation with nothing around you, how to help yourself or others if there’s an accident, and how to interact safely with animals like bears or leopards.
This creates a synergy where participants, ranging from ages 16 to 55-60, learn to explore the terrain on their bikes, being self-contained and self-sustained. They plan everything on their own and prepare for unforeseen contingencies, using their awareness to innovate and get out of situations they aren’t prepared for. This approach aims to create a new trend in adventure sports, specifically with Royal Enfield around motorcycling expeditions in this manner.
Q: At the core of C.L.A.W. is inclusivity and making sure that specially-abled people realise that their potential is far more than they know it is. So with this Unlimit initiative and especially with riding motorcycles, how are you ensuring that that continues even with this initiative?
A: You got it the other way around. It’s not C.L.A.W. helping people with disabilities to realise their potential. It is people with disabilities helping the able-bodied people who are part of these expeditions to realise their potential, not the other way around. In this particular recce expedition that we just executed in Natadeli, we had two people with disabilities, or specially-abled, whichever way you want to look at it. We had two gentlemen: one was a young man, 24 years old, with cerebral palsy. His body shakes a lot, and he has a loss of muscle control and things like that. The other guy was again a young man, about 21 or 22, who lost both his arms, from the elbows down, when he was 8 years old. Now, these two gentlemen, I spend a lot of time with them. For me, coming from the so-called other end of the ability spectrum — special forces are supposed to be like Superman or something – we are perceived to be at one end of the spectrum, and people with disabilities are perceived to be at the other end. Somewhere in between are the normal people who walk around and go to work. When we started working with people with disabilities, we saw such intense energy and a desire to live and get through all the obstacles they face. People around them cannot understand what an obstacle is for a person in a wheelchair, someone who is 100 per cent blind, or someone with cerebral palsy. A normal person might find it difficult to understand their obstacles. For example, people with disabilities have to figure out how to go to the bathroom, take a bath, wear clothes, and feed themselves from a very young age. These are things that normal people take for granted. Normal people worry about more complex issues like job problems or financial issues, while people who are wheelchair-bound face basic-level problems that are huge. They cannot sleep properly, eat properly, or look after themselves and constantly depend on others. Their life is an obstacle every waking moment. That’s why the rate of suicide is very high among those who suddenly become paralyzed. Almost 70 to 80 per cent desire to end their life. But once they have been rehabilitated and crossed that particular edge, their desire to live life despite everything often reverses. Their desire to experience life to its fullest starts to hold value. During our courses, able-bodied people learn the same things as people with disabilities. Everything is fine on land, but when we go diving, able-bodied people often have a fear or hesitation about diving in the open sea. But we have seen that 100 per cent of people with disabilities when they are on the boat and the first time going out to dive, cannot wait to get into the water, whether they know how to swim or not. They go diving and come out of the water after 45 minutes. I’ve seen these able-bodied people spellbound. Their perspective on life shifts, their fear vanishes, and they become filled with the energy of wanting to explore because they saw something they could not have imagined. So it unlocks them. It’s the other way around. People with disabilities, through their actions, show able-bodied people how they are in various environments, how they deal with obstacles and their mindset. Observers gain direct satisfaction and evolution from this experience.
Q: What does the selection process look like? Because you said that at one of your initiatives, there were 1400 people and that got down to 21. So what exactly happens in the selection process? And once you get selected, how does the rest of the thing pan out?
A: I will give you the broad picture. So first things first, special forces again, so everything we are just applying whatever we have learned, the system, the processes we have learned within our previous line of work, we are applying that into this field as well, including the selection process. In any process, the selection process is the most vital. For example, in the special forces, in the entire gamut of our spectrum of operations, you know, from the destruction of a particular target, the most important and foundational aspect of success in operations is the selection process. If you select the right person, everything else is in auto mode. So, in the selection process, we have a three-fold view of the participant. Firstly, we spread awareness, through efforts like this, of what we are doing right now. We spread awareness to potential people who would be interested in something like this. We send the right message across, so and so, this is what we are doing, this is why we are doing it, and this is what we hope to achieve. So when people see that and get interested, they apply. They are volunteers. In special forces, you have to volunteer. Similarly, in this process, the person has to volunteer to be part of it. From those volunteers, we will analyse their suitability for such a process. This suitability is assessed through three layers: physical, medical, and psychological. We conduct psychological and personality assessments. We study the psychology of the person, take interviews to understand the person’s background better, and then, depending on the kind of program we are running, we design certain physical tests to assess the suitability of the participant and how much value the person will be able to draw from this experience and add to it as they grow later in life.
Q: The Himalayan 450 seems perfect for this initiative. But can you tell me from your point of view why this is the perfect choice for what you’re trying to achieve?
A: Well, the first thing is the people behind the Himalayan 450. There are many motorcycle companies in the world today, especially in India, and what we’re doing has been around for a couple of years now. Many brands are aware of the kind of work we’re doing, but nobody has aligned with it. Royal Enfield, however, has energetically aligned with our vision. They just got it. That’s the first thing. When someone understands what you’re doing and aligns with it, everything falls into place.
The people behind Royal Enfield can envision the potential outcomes of a collaboration between an organisation like ours and Royal Enfield, and they understand the value it brings to the outside world. They get it, and we get it, so it’s a great match. If the people behind the machine are like that, then the machine is bound to perform as expected.
I’m not a bike enthusiast per se; I do love bikes and have a Royal Enfield myself, but I have other interests that excite me more, like skydiving. However, I understand the appeal. It’s the people behind the machine that gave me confidence. I saw their actions before I even saw the machine. When they decided to do something, they executed it with precision, like a special force. I was very impressed by their approach.
When I finally saw the machine and took it out on tough terrain at high altitudes, the bikes were relentlessly tested for hours each day over almost eight days. They performed flawlessly without any problems. I rode it myself, and it did exactly what it was designed to do.
Q: Can you tell me a little more about the human ability biomes and how they are working for you in the broader scheme of things?
A: So, the human ability biome is a crystallisation of our entire vision. Through all our processes, designs, events, whatever we do in terms of Soul of Steel, Unlimit, Operation Blue Freedom triple world records, grit courses, underwater diving courses, leadership – whatever we do is all designed to culminate in the creation of these human ability biomes. What is a human ability biome? A human ability biome is a purpose-designed ecosystem. It’s a purpose-designed ecosystem. It is the creation of all our efforts. Everything that C.L.A.W. Global is doing is directed towards the creation of human ability biomes. What is the biome? A biome is an ecosystem where a certain environment is created. Everything that is there in an environment around a human being – the place he stays, the food he eats, the water he drinks, the kind of people he interacts with, the activities that he is involved with, the learning value that he has there, and the opportunities that come to him in that environment. So, we have created an environment or simulated an environment where, when a human being comes in, he will learn to shed what is not him – his way of living that does not suit him, his way of thinking that may not suit him, his way of being that may not be suiting him, whatever it is. So that environment kind of cuts the fat out of your life. And what is left – that space which is left, in that space, you find yourself and you can be self-reliant in your evolution. You don’t need to go around reading 10,000 books, trying to meet 10,000 people, trying to get motivated from left, right, and centre, and trying to figure your own life out. You will have your level of awareness within you from which you can make your own choices.
So, the whole environment is specific. There are five verticals under the human ability biome. It’s the environment which is being created in a natural space – could be on an island, in the mountains, in the jungles, in the desert, wherever, right? But natural spaces. So, amid that nature, you are being provided with rehabilitation facilities for people with disabilities, from yogic practices to access to cutting-edge research facilities, researching various types of diseases and disabilities around the world, where you can have access to these various rehabilitative processes – number one. Number two, you have access to skill. Let’s say a person gets paralyzed in life for some reason – you know, he lost the use of his legs, but his hands are still working. Earlier, his profession required him to use his legs, but now he can’t be part of that profession because he’s lost his legs. So, we can retrain that person to use whatever he has, see what his natural talent is, and with the ability that he does have, align him with his natural talent and skill him so that he can get into an employment network where he earns his own money.
So there is rehabilitation, there is skill, there is education, there is employment, and there are adventure sports. So adventure sports is where this whole – like if you’re sitting in high altitude and you’re having, you know, these various, you know, herbal medicines out there, and you’re drinking tamale water and you’re breathing fresh air, your health is going to improve for sure, right? That’s the biggest parameter, right? And even your mindset, once you move out of the city and go into these natural spaces, a lot of, you know, unnecessary baggage that you’re carrying around in your head and are getting reminded of day in, day out, of your living – you kind of get away from all of that. So, there is some space left. In that space, you can have education, employment, and adventure sports. So, adventure sports is the place where you get exposure to cutting-edge thrills, near-death experiences, etc., which kind of accelerates the expansion of your self-awareness and your realisation that you’ve got it all under control – nothing to worry about. Right. So then you can start playing. Yeah. So that’s the entire ecosystem. As you know, it is not just for people with disabilities. We have a very keen interest in people with disabilities. So, like I said, I don’t approach the idea of disability or the disability sector from a point of view of pity or charity, or “we need to help them.” How I see it is, if you can learn how to fix something that’s broken, now you know how to make something new. So, when people with disabilities come to this kind of environment, the evolution that we see – the healing that we see in their body and in their mind and in their approach to life itself – is rapid, extremely rapid, and there is this 45-degree graph of evolution that shows when we do testing. Once your body is functioning better, once your mind is functioning better, your entire perception of life itself shifts and expands. Once that expands, it’s going to have a direct impact on your quality of life, on the kind of success that you’re achieving in your efforts, on the kind of relationships that you have with other people, and then it’s an upward spiral.
So, we are collecting data in the background – psychological data, physical data, various other health parameters – where we can track which kind of activity opened up or had what kind of an impact on this particular person while undergoing diving, while mountaineering, and more like that. So, over time, we believe that this data, when it comes together, will show a pattern. This pattern is basically what? How do you decode or unleash or release or realise the inner potential which is blind, latent – physical, mental, psychological. So, that’s the research aspect of what’s going on in the background, and this is what we do in every project of ours. So, why people with disabilities – because people with disabilities need it the most, and the amount of the spectrum of evolution which comes up in them is much larger, much wider than in an able-bodied person coming in. So, we’ve got more data points coming in. But able-bodied people also come in. For example, this expedition that we’ve done and many other diving expeditions, mountain expeditions that we’ve done, where we have these joint batches, the able-bodied people show a phenomenal – like their physical impact may not be as much as it is on a disabled person, but it’s worthy of taking notes on the entire spectrum of ability. From people with disabilities to athletes. Athletes can come and train in the biome and have that kind of diet, have those kinds of mindset discussions, and that kind of ability to develop their awareness so that they will perform better in their sports. Similarly, people who are in corporate leadership positions, who now hit that kind of glass ceiling and things like that, and there’s this nagging feeling in the back of their mind – there’s something I’m missing out on, there’s more that I can do, but I don’t know how. So, when people who are in leadership positions like that, or are going into leadership positions like that, also go through this kind of ecosystem, they are bound to get into a much better place physically, get into a much better place psychologically, and their energy and their awareness will expand. In their awareness lies their answer and their evolution. So, it’s a human ability biome that caters to an entire spectrum of human ability, right from people with disabilities to athletes and the entire range in between by simulating an environment that is bound to heal you.
Q: (To Major Vivek Jacob) What were the key moments or influences in your life that led you to join the military, eventually the special forces, and then eventually C.L.A.W.?
A: I was born into a military family. Very early on, I went to boarding school and didn’t have much exposure to the Army way of life, but my father was from the commando unit. He was the first commando to be directly commissioned into the 9th Para from the IMA. So anyway, that’s where the influence kind of began. I wouldn’t say influence, I don’t get influenced too easily by these things. It’s not a very practical mindset. I wanted to become a wildlife filmmaker in Africa, but the reality of life and the need to earn money quickly made me realise that I needed to become financially independent as soon as possible. No one would pay for my education after class, so my option was to join the Merchant Navy. I wanted to travel the world, but I didn’t have the money for marine engineering and I didn’t have the eyesight to join as a technical character, so that option was ruled out.
The second option for becoming independent immediately after class 12 was the NDA. Even though I wouldn’t get a salary immediately after class 12, I wouldn’t be dependent on my parents or anyone else. That way, I could take that load off. That was my main reason for joining the armed forces. Once I was in the academy, I got exposure to certain instructors from the special forces who were there at that time. I interacted with them professionally as a cadet and was under training with them. I didn’t know what special forces or para commandos were supposed to be doing at that point, but the way they carried themselves – the freedom in their step, their way of being, the way they spoke and thought – was very attractive to me. When I joined the Indian Army and saw certain training exercises, I realised that special forces were far more efficient in combat than any other counterpart. They are the best selected, trained, equipped, and carry the highest mandate. Special forces contain the highest potential of the combat experience spectrum.
I chose to join the special forces for practical reasons and volunteered for it straight out of the academy. After a six-month selection process, I was selected and went straight into combat. The rest is history – 14 years of service, and then one day, I didn’t want to do it anymore. Death and destruction no longer made sense to me.
When I stopped, I deposited my weapon back and decided to leave. I had reached the peak of my combat experience and would have moved on to a desk job. I had achieved all I had imagined in the special forces. I wanted to live in the moment without goals or ambitions.
In the process of being, this team emerged, all these SF guys I had operated with. We started getting together on this journey. I met an Air Force gentleman in the hospital who was paralyzed from the neck down after diving into a pool and cracking his neck. He asked if someone like him could dive underwater. In the special forces, we learned that nothing is impossible. This spirit of brotherhood and the promise became an operation for me. With no goals or ambitions, this idea excited me. I started planning and it evolved into what C.L.A.W. is today, including our collaboration with Royal Enfield.
Q: (To Colonel Kaushal Kashyap) What led you to the military and how did things progress for you from there?
A: If you compare with Jacob, there was nobody in my family from the army. I wanted to, and yes, it was only when I cleared my NDA and I had also cleared Shipping Corporation and National Institute of Fashion Technology. I would have preferred to go for the Shipping Corporation because I wanted to see the world and all that, but my parents wanted me to go for the NDA. And yes, when I cleared the NDA, the people appeared to be very good because most of them were from Rashtriya Indian Military College. There were seven who got selected, and six were from Rashtriya Indian Military College. I was the only one from a civilian background, that’s what I can call it. And these guys stood out amongst the crowd, and it was so nice. There, we spent a lot of time in the Sudan Block. If you know, or if you just Google it, Sudan Block is the main administrative headquarters of the National Defence Academy. It’s a huge building, and that’s where we used to spend most of our time. There, I had a very, just for about 30 odd seconds. I had a role, but to practise we were lying there the whole day. So, just for a while, I would go around and see where we had a number of these posters of Param Vir Chakras, Ashoka Chakras, and all of them. I would spend so much time reading about Arun Khetrapal and everyone, Arun Jasrodiya. What struck me most was these special forces guys. And that’s when I remember looking at one of them, and somebody came and told me what this Balidan patch is all about. So yes, that’s how I wanted to join the special forces. After that, Jacob has been a classmate and he has been narrating all incidents of his father and how 9 Para operates. That again has influenced my life. We had good instructors in NDA from the special forces, and that also made a difference. I opted for, or rather when we had to make this choice when we were in the Indian Military Academy, I had opted for Gurkhas, not for special forces because I had knee surgery at NDA. I wasn’t too sure that I’d be able to make it in my probation, and yes, I opted for Gurkhas. I got JAT, and just in three months, I decided this was not where I wanted to be. I would probably give it a try and go for special forces. I opted for 21 Para SF, cleared my probation and grew up with that in the battalion. I did a lot of operations in Manipur and all, and by God’s grace, I was awarded a Shaurya Chakra. Later, when I was cleared or rather I was approved for command, I was picked up to command one of the most elite commando units, the 52 Special Action Group of NSG. After that, I moved on as a deputy commander of a brigade in eastern Ladakh, just south of Galwan. From there, I decided to quit. Once I quit, Jacob called. We were launching this Soul of Steel event, and Jacob called me to come and see what was happening here. When I met him and saw what these guys were doing, it was out of this world. So much hard work and vision touched me. How these guys had pulled through, by then they had already finished the land world record where specially-abled people were taken to the Siachen glacier. It moved me a lot. I spoke to my parents, and they were all like, “This is what you must do, and this is how you pay back to society.” And yes, that’s how I’m part of that.