Two IMA passouts make their parents, city proud

Deepankar Sharda

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 14

Two city-based youths — Animesh Agnihotri and Shivam Sharma — passed out as cadets from the Spring Term-2020, Indian Military Academy (IMA), Dehradun, on Saturday.

The two cadets will join on the ranks of lieutenant in the Indian Army. Belonging to a humble background, both cadets will proceed directly to join at their respective place of first posting in the Army. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the leave period, two to three weeks generally, was called off.

Animesh Agnihotri (23) did his schooling from Chandigarh and graduation from Mumbai before clearing the Combined Defence Services (CDS) exam and Services Selection Board (SSB) in the first attempt. “He is a brilliant student. He scored 10 CGPA in Class X from Manav Mangal Smart School (Mohali) and 93 per cent in Class XII (GMSSS-16). We are happy and wish he could visit us. We missed going to the passing out parade. Nevertheless, he made us all proud,” said Maj ML Sharma (retd), his father.

Shivam Sharma (23) also cleared the CDS-SSB exam in the first attempt. His father Santosh Kumar Sharma, who owns a cycle store in Sector 20, is a happy man. Shivam Sharma, a graduate of GGDSD College, Sector 32, had an aim to become an Army officer since 2011. “After his graduation, I gave him an option to look after our business. But he refused. Instead, he remained at home for an entire year. He studied and cleared the exam in his first attempt. He fulfilled his grandfather’s last wish. As a parent, there’s nothing more we could want. I am just waiting for him to come home and see his smiling face,” said Santosh.