After the parade, parents and relatives were invited for tea and snacks on the lawns, but Ashish Mehta spent half an hour looking for his parents at the parade venue with no luck.

Originally from Uttaranchal, his family settled down in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, where his father is a security officer at a private firm and his mother runs a beauty parlour.

Ashish, who finally located his parents (seen here with their son, Vice-Admiral Puri and Lieutenant General Chopra`), plans to accompany them to Ghaziabad and leave for the Indian Military Academy in Dehradun a month later for further training as an army officer.

For someone who has spent the last three years under pictures of India's greatest military heroes, walked past their statues, and sat in halls named after men who have become legends, Ashish said it wasn't as if he had any individual heroes.

"Every soldier for me is a hero. As for my expectations -- all I want is to be a good officer."

As happy as he is on graduating from the NDA, Ashish could barely hide his disappointment about leaving the Academy that had been his home for three years. "To tell you frankly, I am not happy about leaving this place. There is no place like the NDA"

Also read: The Other Face of The Army