aditya kumar's weblog

One of the candidates for the BBMP election to be held today — I won’t name her, sent leaflets to her prospective voters through newspapers. One such leaflet made its way to me. While I must insist that the Candidate’s usage of English grammar (or the lack of it) should have nothing to do with deciding who to vote for, I am still reproducing here the contents of the leaflet, as is:

Dear Respected Voters

I know you have hopes from New Carporator, Who want order in every thing, Voters who have some issues which they want to be sorted out by the new Carporator, to do and facilities by solving Civic problem. Like Garbage, Drain or Rajakaluve cleaning specially in the rainy season, Mosquito problem in summer and they want health security, chain snatching incidents are also not uncommon, and they create a cascading psychological fear among women. We hope that Ward No.174 voters will give me one opportunity to show my civic championship I will work for their safety, healthy, security & welfare. I would like to show qualities in practical not by writing in serial one by one many school’s and colleges around the place and this will be an immense requirement of students is bigger stadium 1. water facility 2. swimming pool 3. government school conditions 4. road conditions 5. day to day theft door lock break problem 6. water pipe damages 7. free legal services to senior citizen and physical handicraft 8. Street dog bite problems specially for vehicle drivers by doing many other work want to make the HSR Layout is the pride of Bangalore, I COMMIT FOR HUMBLE, HONESTY AND HARD WORK.

While someone like Lalit Modi would not believe in the concept of “Earth Hour” because it does not bring in the money, I urge you to take a look at the concept.

The idea is that on the Saturday that is two days away, 27th of March 2010, you switch off your lights and keep the power consumption to the minimum for an hour (8:30-9:30 PM). In other words, try to make your carbon footprint to the minimum, for this one hour. And avoid IPL.

This is an event planned at a Global scale (and I think, this is the second year India would be a part of it). So from the space needle in Seattle till the pyramids of Giza, the lights would go out. Of course, at different times but for one hour from 20:30, everywhere.

Earth hour is an easy way to help the world that we live in. In fact, I think something like this should be done on a monthly basis. The energy that we will save would be nothing in proportion to what we spend the rest of the 364 days of the year, but more importantly this would make people aware of the state of the world we live in and instill the thought that we need to conserve of what we have left.

There is this Chinese restaurant I pass by everyday on the way back from work. Last Friday, I decided otherwise. Friday evening, chicken wings on my mind, an unexplored Chinese restaurant — too much to handle.

The already cramped place was now more cramped with my arrival. A couple on the left looked into each other while the soup waited silently on the table — some soup for the soul, that. With the menu in my hand, I finally obliged. All this while, the guy behind the counter, somewhere from North East I guess, was staring at me with cold eyes.

I kept rolling my eyes until I hit upon something that I had never had before: Chinese Roast Chicken. And that is when the confusion started.

“How is this different from the usual roasted chicken?”

“It is roasted.”

“Yes, but how is it different?”

“It is roasted.”

“No, no — ok. How is this different from mughlai roasted chicken?”

“It is Chinese.”

“OK, but what is the difference. ”

“That is Mughlai. This is Chinese.”

A few futile questions later, I head back, without ordering anything. More than my frustration it seems, was the disgust of the guy behind the counter, who probably could not comprehend why would someone even bother to ask the finer things about Chinese Roasted Chicken.

About 3 years ago, I think, I had a chance to meet an officer from a lesser known aerobatics team, based in Dabolim, Goa. I had always thought that The Surya Kiran were the only aerobatics team but that the Navy had one too was news to me. They are aptly called Sagar Pawan (The breeze of the sea). A few days back, my family had seen these aircrafts do a fly-by over Dabolim while the Mig-29ks were being inducted in the Navy.

While interacting with the officer that very evening in Dabolim air base, I told him how I was always thrilled to see Surya Kiran’s perform. At the end of our meeting, the man gave me something I would cherish all my life — a poster of the Surya Kirans doing a fly-by over the magnificent Taj Mahal, autographed by each member of the aerobatics team.

Sagar Pawan use the HJT-16 Kiran aircraft — the same aircrafts that Surya Kirans are comprised of. While Surya Kirans are 12 units strong, the Sagar Pawans have only four aircrafts. Understandably, the aerial maneuvers that the team can perform are very limited.

Today, during an airshow in Hyderabad, one of the four aircrafts went down. Both the pilots were killed.

I have forgotten the name of the officer I had interacted with. I hope that he is well. We stayed in the same colony, for my father retired from the Navy. It is certain that we must have crossed paths more than once.

Aerobatic pilots are a different breed. What differentiates them from their counterparts in the armed forces is that their lives are defined by a relentless passion to fly. These pilots are the best of the best. Their duty does not call upon to risk their lives for the maneuvers they perform but still they do it, again and again, day after day. I do understand that some of it is passion but I have no words to explain what calls upon them then, that makes them do it. It is some degree of madness and these aviators are lucky to possess it. Or maybe lucky to be possessed by this madness. If you have ever seen an aerobatic team perform, maybe, only then the intensity of this can be understood.

In the end the truth is this — all said and done, the country has just been deprived of two of its finest aviators. I would like to salute Pilot Commander Suresh Kumar Maurya and Co-Pilot Lt. Cdr Rahul Nair. We may have crossed paths — I can’t say but I can guarantee that there would have been no other way you would have chosen to go.