Which side is North? This question was common in the School. Even those who knew where North was, were by the end of the first week itself were so disoriented that they were half lost, if not full. Jokes apart, many GCs could never find their own position, let alone plotting a route or navigating a body of troops at night through jungles. One wonders how could they ever manage to pass! Map Reading classes were a fun nonetheless as we were mostly away from our DS’ prying eyes and had a kind of a picnic while moving from place to place in the country side, asking locals the way to a point or a landmark and smiling at their expected reply, ‘Hindi ille’, meaning they did not understand Hindi language. Climbing hillocks on MR exercises was another thrill for some of us adventurous types. The best part of these exercises was that we were either issued pack lunch which we could munch on as and when we wanted or the same was served hot when at pre designated points and was rich in content.

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Question. How many Norths are there on a military map?
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Answer. Three:​

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               (a) True North
               (b) Magnetic North
               (c) Grid North