The rhythmic thumping sound of about 60 young men doing jumping jacks to warm up fills the chilly late November air at a picturesque playground in Pokhara, a city in western Nepal.

The teenagers’ instructor is training them for the next round of the Gurkha recruitment programme which will admit them into the British Army or the Singapore Police Force.

Shishir Bhattari, 19, who hails from a town in central Nepal, is among the young men training at the ground owned by the Salute Gorkha Training Center.

“I’ve wanted to be a part of any army in the world since I was a child,” he tells Al Jazeera. “The credit for this dream goes to my mother who always encouraged me.

“When I was in the sixth grade a member of the British Army came to our school to give us a talk about how they function. I was impressed by their ‘free, fair and transparent’ selection process, making me aim to join the British Army.”

“Before training for the British Army, I had a dream to join the Indian Army. So many of the Gurkhas [soldiers primarily native to Nepal] have served in India and I’m also keen to uphold the legacy of our ancestors. I also loved the Bollywood movie Shershaah whose storyline is about the Indian Army and that motivated me even more,” he says.