Having born just two minutes apart, identical twins identified as Abhinav Pathak and Parinav Pathak scripted history as they became the first pair of identical twins to successfully graduate from the prestigious Indian Military Academy (IMA) together.
The brothers, who share same interests and have also studied together stole the spotlight at this year’s passing out parade (POP) as this is the first time when identical twins were a part of the graduating batch of the academy.
Quite interestingly, Pathak brothers studied in the same school in Amritsar but were separated for a short time when they studied engineering in colleges in Ludhiana and Jalandhar, and eventually reunited again only to pursue their shared dream of serving India with tonnes of pride, grit, determination and commitment.
At the passing out parade at IMA, the two shared several interesting stories of how their similar facial features quite often ended up creating a mass of confusion and chaos among their trainers and support staff at the IMA.
Abhinav, who is the older of the two, while speaking to Hindustan Times said, “Many times, the drill instructor would call me instead of Parinav and vice-versa. Also, the instructor would pass on training instructions meant for my brother to me.”
On the contrary, Parinav also shared how having an identical twin at the Academy sometimes resulted in hilarious situations. Speaking to the daily, he said, “At times, when I would see my company’s mess table crowded, I would go to my brother’s mess which had fewer cadets having food. Nobody was able to identify me.”
Abhinav said that the only time people were able to identify the two brothers’ names apart was when they would wear their (PT) uniform or through their respective company batches on the collar.
Their father by the name of Ashok Pathak, told the Times of India that the boys would put up a strong fight against each other in academics. “If one scored 100 marks, the other tried to match that feat and most of the times ended up getting at least 99.”
A senior IMA official told TOI that, earlier real brothers, including twins and identical twins successfully graduated from the academy in different batches and different years but none had graduated from the same batch. So, this is quite an incredible story.
The Pathak brothers will happily continue their journey in the Indian Army separately as both of them have been alloted different regiments.
