For 12 years, Rishabh Singh Sambyal served in the Indian Army. But one of the most demanding chapters of his career came when he was appointed as Aide-de-Camp to President Droupadi Murmu.Days after taking premature retirement from the Army, Sambyal spoke about that experience on Raj Shamani’s podcast. The episode, posted on YouTube on September 10, offered a glimpse into a side of the ADC’s job that rarely gets discussed – what happens to your personal life when your professional life demands almost everything from you.And for Sambyal, that meant putting relationships and marriage on hold.
‘I’ve given my childhood to this role’
Asked about the biggest sacrifice he made as the President’s ADC, Sambyal didn’t talk about the pressure, long hours or responsibility that came with the position.He talked about his personal life.“I’m not married,” he said, explaining that ADCs to the President cannot get married while serving in the role. Being away from family and having little opportunity to live a normal life, he said, was the biggest cost he paid.“You don’t have life outside,” he added.That sentence perhaps explains the reality of the job better than any description of its duties could.Serving close to the President meant being constantly alert and prepared. There was little scope for simply switching off and stepping out as an ordinary person might. Dinner with friends, spontaneous plans, dating or building a relationship – the everyday things that make up a personal life – could not easily fit around the demands of the role.For Sambyal, duty came first.
He never planned to become an ADC
What makes his story more interesting is that becoming an ADC wasn’t something he had dreamed about.Sambyal said he didn’t even know such a role existed when he was first shortlisted.At the time, he was taking part in an exercise with troops from another country in India when his commanding officer called and asked what he wanted to do next.
Major Rishabh Singh Sambyal retires from Army after serving as President Murmu’s ADC. (Photo: IG)
His first reaction wasn’t excitement.He apparently told his CO that there were several places he would prefer to go – but not this one.It was only after speaking to others and hearing that the posting could be an important learning experience that he reconsidered.But his commanding officer gave him little room for indecision.He couldn’t simply “try” the role, Sambyal recalled being told. He had to commit to it. And if he failed, the consequences would be serious.So he gave it everything he had.
Did the job make him lonely?
Interestingly, Sambyal doesn’t describe loneliness as something he necessarily wanted to escape.Yes, he gets lonely.But he has learned to use that loneliness.He said having time away from everyone gives him an opportunity to think about himself – his strengths, his weaknesses and the decisions he’s made.In fact, he likes having at least an hour to himself every day.“No one should be near me,” he said, describing that hour as his own space to sit, think or simply do nothing.
Rishabh Sambyal served as President Droupadi Murmu’s Aide-de-Camp for three years.
That distinction is revealing.There is a difference between being lonely because you have nobody and choosing solitude because you need space. For someone whose professional life was built around constant alertness, responsibility and being around people, that quiet time seems to have become a way of reconnecting with himself.And perhaps that’s what makes the story of his unmarried life more complicated than simply saying the job came at the expense of relationships.He wasn’t only giving up marriage for a career.He was also learning how to live with the absence of an ordinary personal life.A career built around duty, and the life left behindSambyal’s experience offers a rare look at the human side of a highly visible military posting.The public sees the uniform, the ceremony and the person standing close to the President.What it doesn’t necessarily see is what that position asks the person to give up.For Sambyal, it meant years without marriage, distance from family and very little of what most people would consider a normal social life.
Former President Murmu ADC Rishabh Sambyal spoke about life behind the uniform.
And after 12 years in the Army, he has now chosen to step away prematurely.His story is therefore not just about what it takes to become an ADC to the President of India. It’s also about the quieter question that comes after the uniform comes off:When you’ve spent years putting duty first, how do you begin making space for a life of your own?
