President Droupadi Murmu's former Aide-de-Camp, Rishabh Singh Sambyal, days after he took premature retirement after serving 12 years in the Army, appeared on Raj Shamani's podcast. The video was posted on his YouTube channel on September 10.
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From discussing his close bond with President Droupadi Murmu to revealing how the ADCs train to become more alert and protect the President of India, the ex-ADC discussed several aspects of his former high-profile job. During the discussion, he also revealed the biggest sacrifice he made while performing the role.
The biggest sacrifice
Sharing the personal cost he paid to become the President of India's ADC, Rishabh Sambyal confessed that he has given his childhood to the role. On further probing of what the sacrifices were, he added, “I'm not married. So there's a clause for the ADCs [to the President] that they can't get married. I have to stay away from the family, and I think this is the biggest sacrifice. So you don't have life outside. That's the cost I've paid. While I was serving with the president, I couldn't go out as a normal human being and enjoy life.”
‘I never knew that there was something called ADC’
Rishabh also talked about not knowing what the role entailed and the journey of finally accepting it. He shared, “I never knew that there was something called ADC. I never wanted to be here. I was in an exercise with some different country troops in India, and when my CO called up saying, 'You've been shortlisted, what do you want to do?' My first answer was not, ‘Yes, I want to go.’ My first answer was that ‘I want to go here, here, and here, but not here’.”
{{/usCountry}}Rishabh also talked about not knowing what the role entailed and the journey of finally accepting it. He shared, “I never knew that there was something called ADC. I never wanted to be here. I was in an exercise with some different country troops in India, and when my CO called up saying, 'You've been shortlisted, what do you want to do?' My first answer was not, ‘Yes, I want to go.’ My first answer was that ‘I want to go here, here, and here, but not here’.”
{{/usCountry}}However, he spoke with others and got their opinions; they told him it would be a good learning experience and that he should try it out. Afterwards, he spoke to his CO and said he wanted to give it a try. However, his CO was firm that he could not just ‘try it out’; he either goes or he doesn't. “If you fail, it's going to be difficult for you. I'm going to be ruthless with you,” his CO made clear, after which Rishabh Sanyal gave it his all.
‘Does it get lonely?’
On whether the role made him feel lonely, the former ADC confessed that it wasn't, in fact, though he sometimes does get lonely, he does enjoy that loneliness. “It gives me space and time to rethink about myself, my thought process, my good things, and my bad things. So yes, I do get lonely, but I turn that loneliness into something positive.”
“So I take that time. I like to be alone every day, for at least an hour, like every day away from everyone. Nobody should be near me. I want that one-hour space. I can do anything in that. Maybe don't do anything, just sit, but I need to be alone because it gives me that loneliness that emptiness gives me the space to evaluate myself,” he added.