Classified → Declassified File BSD-014 Subject: Brahma Swarup Das Seven years.
One thread.

Cadet record · OdishaSainik School
Bhubaneswar

State: Odisha
Duration: 2 years
Next posting: RIMC, Dehradun

ADMITTED

FILE 01 · 2018 – 2020

Sainik School Bhubaneswar

Brahma, right, with a fellow cadet in uniform in front of a Tudor-style building at RIMC

Brahma and a fellow cadet in uniform on the steps of a building marked Riverside

Brahma in a green beret receiving his RIMC graduation certificate from an Army officer

RIMCOLLIAN

FILE 02 · 2020 – 2025

Rashtriya Indian Military College

SSBCrack · April 2025

28 cadets from RIMC qualify final NDA selections, setting a new national benchmark

Imon Ghosh, AIR 1
Kartik Pant, AIR 5
Brahma Swarup Das, AIR 14
Shravan Agarwal, AIR 15
Aditya Raj, AIR 17

AIR 14FIRST ATTEMPT

FILE 03 · UPSC NDA & NA (II) 2024

All India Rank 14

Brahma smiling with SSB chest number 21 marked with a red plus, before a replica of the Konark wheel

RECOMMENDED

FILE 04 · Services Selection Board

Recommended. Chest No. 21.

Air Chief Marshal B.S. Dhanoa, retired, placing a medal around Brahma's neck at a night ceremony

DECORATED

FILE 05 · RIMC

Decorated by an Air Chief

My NDA file photograph, roll number 44114 — NDA · 44114

TURNED

FILE 06 · National Defence Academy

Six months. Then the turn.

FOUNDER

FILE 07 · May 2026 →

Founder, The Iconoclastic Society

Personnel record · Declassified

The File

00/ 07The board

Why I left

“It was a rebirth and the death of my older self.”
From The Golden Days, my essay on leaving the NDA

Outside the classroom

A night bout at RIMC: Brahma in the blue headguard lands a straight punch — Boxing
Merit card. Boxing season turned the hostel lawns into fight clubs, and the trophy stood for toughness and grind.

Brahma in green carrying the ball forward through players in yellow — Hockey
Merit card. The one in green, stick low, head up.

Brahma with his medal in front of the Pink Power Run 3.0 board — Running
21.1 km at the Pink Power Run 3.0, Hyderabad, September 2026. Twenty-one again: it was my SSB chest number too.

Finished colour-pencil drawing of Krishna placing a lotus in Radha’s hair — Drawing
Radha and Krishna, in colour pencil, from first outline to the finished piece.

Debating

A bilingual debater in English and Hindi, and Best Speaker in several inter-school rounds. At RIMC a two-star General told us a great nation needs a great army. I stood up and argued back. Years later, I wrote the essay admitting he was right.

Read that essay

Singing

I sang lead at RIMC’s cultural evenings. This is a solo recording of उनके अंदाज़-ए-करम (Unke Andaaz-e-Karam).