Deep Blue Sky

Sundays are always full of adventure for a trainee pilot, double it up if you are flying your first solo on a Cessna Skyhawk. Capt. Diwakar was a trainer par excellence. His trainees could boast of taking on the skies solo within a month, and I was one of the fortunate few. But my Solo was unexpectedly pre-mature. I reached the airport expecting to have one final lesson from Don(the name by which Capt Diwakar was known to everybody). The wait for Don was not long and minutes later my phone ringed. "Hello Don, I am already at the hangar, waiting for you", I replied, Don was at the other end. "Hey! I am sorry but I am held up at the hospital, my son's not keeping well. I thought to inform you that I won't be able to make it today." Dissapointment writ large on my face, "I was thinking I would get a chance to fly Solo today after your final lessons. But it looks like I have to wait for another week." There was a moment of silence, then Don spoke from the other end, "Do one thing, meet the supervisor and take out the plane. Yes! you can go Solo today!". Was that some noise ? or did I hear Don clearly ? "Are you sure Don ?" "Yes my boy, I know you can do it! I would have been happy to be present while you were up there, but thats fine. Just sign up the register for a Solo flight and take out the Cessna. And do remember to inform ATC that this is your first solo. They will be alert in case you need help."

Moments later, the Lycoming engine roared and I pulled the throttle, making it a fairly smooth take off. My heart was throbbing faster than the engine in excitement! After the bird reached the required altitude, I climbed to a cruise altitude of 4,500 feet while heading East and pushed back the yoke to steady the plane. Though Don had recommended me to remain at 2,000ft, I still took the liberty of his absence to go up till 4,500ft. Little did I know that this would prove fatal minutes later.


I pushed back the throttle and was enjoying the landscape below when suddenly my eyes stopped on the oil pressure needle. It was fluctuating. I could feel the engine knocking. I couldn't believe what was happening. The only way to avoid any fatality was to make an emergency landing, but that being impossible, the only thing I could do now was pray. I started pushing down the ailerons hoping that losing some height would be helpful, the next best thing to do was turn off the engines, but that was out of question. I needed some power to stay on course. The strong tail winds were increasing my yaw motion whenever I moved the rudder. My decision to go down in altitude was disastrous. My left aileron got stuck. I tried hard to make it move, but it just got stuck. Any mistake at this time and I would be sent spiralling down. My prayers became more verbose.....

Suddenly a familiar object swooped down from above. It came by on my left, positioned and matched up to my falling speed. It was NOT an unidentified flying object. It was the only La-Z-Boy recliner in the world that could fly, all by itself. The occupant seemed to be too engrossed in his big bowl of green salad. But nonethless, He took a break to say Hello.

"Hello ?? Do I look like I am in a position to say Hello back to you ??"I replied while still struggling with the rudder. "Never mind...try some salad, its really fresh and good", God replied, not bothering to stop munching his bit. Either He was temporarily blinded by delicious bowl of salads, or He thoroughly enjoyed my pitiable conditions everytime."If You can see, I am stuck and my life is hanging on tenterhooks". "Tenterhooks ? No dude! its in my pocket" and He dipped into his pockets, really deep pockets to fetch something which looked like a contract paper."Hmm....I see, you have decades to live. So I would rather say you are enjoying a jolly good sky-dive on a beautiful Sunday afternoon." I was simply flabbergasted by His sarcastic remarks. Out of panic, I started pushing all the buttons and operating the levers, but to no avail. And suddenly my worst nightmare materialized. The plane started spiralling down as if trying to get into a vortex.

"Whee!! I didn't know that you could do that!" He looked excited at the prospect of watching a poor guy like me hit the ground like this. "Well, now you know." I retorted back."So are you gonna help me or not ?" I asked, with my expectation of help fast drying up. "Tell me dude, what help do you need ?" "I want to go down, as soon as possible", I replied, suddenly my eyes glimmered with a ray of hope. "Why do you need my help in that ? you are anyway going down, and that too as soon as possible! Ha Ha Ha." His laugh was like a fire extinguisher over whatever little hope I had. "I want to go down the right way, safe and sound, when I get out of the aircraft." He stopped eating and pushed aside the salad bowl. "Let me see what I can do for you" The spin was increasing and I was feeling as if I was being pushed into a vertigo."Ok dude, we had enough of fun. Let me get you down safely now. I have to rush to another place also." And then he moved him 13-inch wand in the air.

I couldn't believe it! I mean I could believe that God had super powers, but I couldn't believe that his sarcasm and torture this time was very short-lived. I was wondering what made Him act so fast when I could sense my engine revving up to life again."Thank God!" Ofcourse this was natural to come out of any mortal's heart when he's being saved from trouble, but I still thanked him. My first priority was to descend for a landing. 8 minutes later I was taxing down the runway towards the emergency hold area. The fire tenders and other emergency staff were already present. Everybody was in awe about my miraculous escape from a crash. The only thing running in my mind was to reach home and catch a much needed nap. I was busy fending off questions from the guys from the emergency services when somebody tapped on my shoulders....

"Dude, my salad bowl's empty. Can you help me fill this ?" "Sure Boss!", I replied. I had no qualms for his in-the-air jokes. After all.....alls well that ends well.....right ?

(The details of piloting a skyhawk are mostly fictional. It has been incorporated to create a dramatized scene for the event.)

Gyaan - at 35,000 feet above sea-level

My flight to home was delayed, as usual, due to delay in its arrival from another city. But the swanky new airport had enough avenues to spend time at( and money automatically slips out of the purse too!). Lunch at the mini-restaurant inside was just about average. The gelato was not exactly cold and it melted on to my hands, which left me asking for more paper napkins. Not wanting to spend more money at the lavish-looking snacks counter, I settled down to browse books at CrossWords. Picking up books is not easy for me. I tend to read the prologue and start deducing the story. And if I am taking up an Author for the first time, it becomes all the more difficult to do guess-work on the contents. But somehow, I picked up Kite Runner and another novel by Amitabh Ghosh, with the hope of starting either of the one during the flight. But little did I know that somebody else was eagerly waiting to have a chit-chat with me......


The inside was more like a town bus, thanks to a group of summer-vaccation-tourists travelling in air for the first time in their life. I felt great after the crowd had settled down and the bird started moving out of the tarmac onto the runway. At the sametime I had my sympathy...no pity actually, for the hostess' who somehow managed to get the unruly gang strapped onto their seats!



I opened Kite Runner, hooked onto my iPod and stared at the first page. Reason for the iPod - the gang behind me was making hell lot of noises which was becoming unbearable by the minute. Suddenly I sensed something and looked out of the window.There were puffy clouds playing with the rays of the Sun, and another guy enjoying all this while sitting on the edge of the wing. It didn't take me long to recognise who it was.....the La-Z-Boy recliner said it all. And which mortal can sit on the edge of a wing while at 35 thousand feet above the sea at a freezing -40 degrees ?



"Enjoying a free ride ?" I blurted. "What do you think you moron ? Anybody has the audacity to ask Me to pay for this ?" pat came the reply. "I am not a moron", I was a bit embarassed."Tell me dude, why are always so sarcastic about things ?", He stretched his arms. I was really not in a mood to argue, and an arguement with God had no ends. But I couldn't avoid it. It was all coming like a big thunder cloud. "What makes you say so ?" I asked. "Never mind, but let me tell you one thing, this wind blowing on my face is awesome! Do you want to enjoy it ?", He said as he took a long breath, still stretching his arms. "You know, I really would love to enjoy it, but I wouldn't want to have a premature death, hanging out of a jet at 35,000 feet. So I will settle with my iPod and the new book by Khalid Hosseini to brood at, if you please excuse me."


It was clear that I had spoilt his mood, after all it really was a nice evening. Not to be let down, He started off with his gyaan on human nature, which I would never forget.....

"Dude! tell me one thing..." "stop calling me dude! name is Harish" - I snapped. "Whoa! you sure look angry today! what happened ?" I couldn't control myself now. I was feeling like a chemical reaction waiting to blast off and He was getting in like a catalyst. "My dear God, tell me one thing, Why do people always put up an act to conceal their own self ? Why do they maintain relationships just get something out of it and not for the sake of the relationship itself ?" He remained silent. Minutes passed and He looked here and there, His face turning very grave. Finally, words poured out of His mouth,"Harish, you have touched a chord which I would dare not disturb. This is Human Psychology which is constantly changing, everytime human being adapts to a new system."

"People meet,try to strike a coherence, tend to start off relationships. But all this is for nothing. All the relationships I see today are parasitic. Nobody does anything for anybody for nothing !! People expect a lot from each other, but in return they are not willing to stand up to the other's expectation. How can you expect these relationships to stand for long ? Look Harish, you may be genuinely not expecting anything from anybody, but the fact is people will still tend to expect a lot from you."


All these words were weighing heavy on me. May be I had asked the wrong question. Never had I realized that a casual afternoon flight will have such profound implications. "Harish, no matter how tempting they may be, stay out of all the superficial relationships. They bring nothing with them but unwanted responsiblity and pain. Whether its a 15 year old one or even one in its nascent stages. You are your own judge and only you can make a judgement about which is right and which is wrong for you. People out there are always behind a mask. Try to size up the true person behind the mask. I know its difficult, but it still makes sense. Doesn't it ?"


"Yeah", I mumbled, already deep in thoughts and trying to figure out how to digest all these. Suddenly there was a loud beep and I wondered whether there was any problem with the jet. But I was quite surprised when I saw God fish out a SmartPhone out of his robe and check a msg. "I never knew that you were fond of gadgets made by mortals". He smiled, "Yes man! can't help it! These gadgets are funky and really cool! Just the type which I can do with when I am taking a tour of Earth, though they flop the moment I take them into heaven."


" Its time to go, somebody else is waiting for some free tips. But before I go I would like to tell you a thing. Take life as it comes, don't be in a hurry to jump on to things. And take people seriously when they mean a lot to you."

A Cloudy Day

Couple of days after I had written about "Helping Hands" another incident happened. Call it Irony, call it Coincidence.....but it happened again. And all the way up in heaven, God, slumped on his "La-Z-Boy" recliner, was taking potshots at me, yet again.

A Cloudy saturday at the beginning of June is something which you would expect the least. But that was enough to stirr up my energy levels to get ready and get going. Playing Pool was my intention and office was my destination. Unmindful of the traffic, I slipped through numerous vehicles crawling on the road. Halfway through, I revved up my engine to work on a steep left turn. Suddenly my reflexes acted and swung the bike a bit to the right just in time to avoid collision with a trolley-auto carrying woodstock. I slowed down a bit and within that few seconds I could clearly understand that the auto was not able to tackle the slope inspite of one guy pushing from behind and another pushing on the accelerator. The end-result ; it was sliding backwards a bit too fast.

Sometimes, it so happens, some external forces act upon you and push you to do things you wouldn't do normally. God, still on his La-Z-Boy, poked me from above, "don't you think you can spare 2 mins for a welfare act ?" "Ah! they can manage that" I flinched. "Dude! I saved you from hitting that lousy auto...time to pay back...else I'll see that you don't get to play Pool today....ha ha ha!!" "What about those two guys in Ray Ban shades standing there ? Can't you ping them ? Why me ?" I retorted. "Well, you look more powerful than those skinny guys"

That was the ultimate trap! Who wouldn't fall for it ? A praise for my built and power pumped up my adrenaline. I parked my bike off the road and with my helmet still on, approached the two guys struggling with the auto. "May I ?" Anybody could clearly see a sparkle in their eyes and a rejuvenated feeling in their body language. I held the left-side railings, and as the guys with Ray Ban shades looked on, I started to push; the other guy pouring out all of his energy on the other side. It took just 30 seconds to move the vehicle up the slope and as soon as it regained form I started back to my bike. The driver and the helper of the auto waved at me, still smiling. I waved back and inserted the key into ignition.

"Thanks Buddy!" I looked up. Wondered, when will He move away from that La-Z-Boy. I was already growing jealous of it. "Thats fine, hope you will let me play now....but I still hate these High-Class skinny fellows with Ray Ban shades." He shifted on the recliner, "Their time will come. Well, you can also do good with a pair of Ray Ban - Aviator shades". "Throw me the money please and I will fulfil your wish!", I smiled, as if poking fun at me had no limits.

And I moved on......God still on his La-Z-Boy, I was beginning to understand the meaning of a cloudy day.

When He gives you shade, He expects that you do the same for others.....