“In a submarine either all come up, or none come up. There is no alternative”

Sitting with a large peg of Old Monk and cigarettes, submariner G Factor doesn’t talk to girls, drink, and smoke or eat non vegetarian food on a Tuesday, in lieu of his Bhagwan Hanuman. If one were to meet G Factor in person, they would see a stout and childlike person, jumping all over the place. Unstoppable is the word for him, not just as a hyper child, but also as a true soldier who’s curious to test all kinds of waters (literally) and push himself constantly.

G Factor hails from a village in Jhunjhunu district, Rajasthan and is the third generation of his family to join the Indian defence forces. His grandfather was in the Army and fought in the 1962, 1965 and 1971 wars. His father was in the Army too along with his brother who is currently a Major in the Army. “I always wanted to join the Army, being an Army brat I was almost born with an aim to join the Army but my stars chose the Navy for me”

After getting commissioned into the Indian Navy in 2011, G Factor went on to become a diver and then a submariner. Why? He doesn’t have a fancy story as to why he became a submariner, his ideas in life are pretty straight forward and clear. He likes something, he goes after and gets it. “I saw the submariner badge on another officer and I wanted one too, so I got it”, laughs G Factor.

Under 100 metres of water, there is no distinction between an officer and a sailor. “Unlike ground duty or ship service, we eat with our sailors, take turns using the same two toilets on board and serve with our sailors. The 90 submariners under the water are all that we have as company. No TVs, no cell phones nothing. It’s one for all and all for one.”

Talking about life in a submarine, G Factor says, “We get sad in life when we see someone else with something that we don’t have. But in a submarine everyone has nothing just each other, so sadness is out of the window, everyone is in as deep waters as you”.

With no complaints about food under water he says, “The food is like the ghar ka khaana. It’s the most important thing for a man to function. If the food going in is good, then you can tread any waters”.

Submarines go more than 200 metres under water and work on sonar i.e. sound navigation and ranging technology. “It is a myth that a submarine can be detected by human voices inside a submarine. It is very difficult to detect sonar under water”.

Unlike a warship, where the Captain goes down with a sinking warship, submarines go down with all. “In a submarine either all come up, or none come up. There is no alternative”, says G Factor.

When asked about the biggest challenge that he faces, G Factor smiles and says, “It’s difficult for a single man in the white uniform and a submariner badge, to keep the ladies away”.

NOTE: The name of the officer has been changed upon request.