A retired Army man becomes defacto trainer for Army and police aspirants

Retired army personnel provides free training to the army and police aspirants and almost 160 candidates have joined services so far in Kerala.

Kozhikode(Kerala): A casual early morning exercise regime of an ex-serviceman at a temple ground in Kollam, Kozhikode, is now a full-fledged training academy. Ajaya Kumar, who was retired from the Indian Army is the person who provides free training to Army and police aspirants. It all started with the routine Ajaya Kumar followed when he was part of the Indian Army. He puts on his training shoes and does his early morning exercises at the Kollam Pisharikavu temple ground.

First, one or two persons joined Ajaya Kumar and he exchanged his expertise in getting physical fitness with them. Slowly, the number of people who came to the ground increased steadily. Ajaya Kumar then started telling them what to do and what not to do. The first batch had seven members, out of that two persons got selected for the Army and another one became a commander at the Indian Reserve Battalion.

Now there are hundreds of Army and police aspirants training with Ajaya Kumar and till now 160 people have already joined many government services, including in the armed forces and police services. When one batch retires after getting the jobs another batch would be ready to join. Ajaya Kumar has thus become 'Aju Mash' (Malayalam word for teachers). The love and friendship provided by his trainees, and the satisfaction of them getting into government jobs are his biggest earnings, says Ajaya Kumar.