My Sukhoi Dream

Sitting in front of the officer’s mess here at 2^nd wing IAF, Pune and the twinjet multirole 4^th generation Su-30s roaring miles above my head with their majestic afterburners engaged, I start reliving my childhood dreams of fighter planes and how my fancies have been fulfilled now.

I remember precisely how some years ago, when I had first learnt about fighter aircrafts and had seen some videos on TV, I had become a fighter-maniac. My notebooks and copies had stickers of fighter planes, whom I knew by their color not their name. I remember the way I used to fold my fingers on my right hand to resemble a fighter and used to pop it out of the window of buses, cars and trains and used to imagine myself as the pilot performing crazy maneuvers. It is not the past, as even today I cannot resist myself from the temptation of doing the same whenever I have a window seat. The missiles, the bombs and the gun turret always fascinated me. And TV serials like Talespin worsened my temptations. I perfectly remember the first time I had been to an airport and had seen an Indian Airlines flight take off, and had cherished the thunderous roar it made. I imagined myself as the pilot when I was sitting on my papa’s bike and the handle bar as the throttle lever. But as I grew up, and as how I behave became so important, I gave up all finger folding and stuff that made me look immature. But my fancy never died.

And today I feel like I have realized my fancy. I can never be able to fly a fighter but atleast I could go near it, touch it, feel it and grace it. As I saw a majestic beautiful gracious Su-30 take off 200 meters from me, so many thoughts flashed through. My stickers, my drawings, the black one(now F-16), the grey one(now MiG), my folded fingers, my dad’s bike’s handle and my fancies. Then I realized how lucky I am. It was as if destiny. Getting placed into DRDO, despite the odds, the trouble during my initial joining, and a then disappointing posting into a mechanical lab and a even worse attachment to a base at my resident town ruining all plans of a paid trip to a nice new place. But all the time it was luck trying to bring me as close to my fancies as possible.

Luck got me into DRDO, as the only one out of 29 other deserving candidates and got me posted into a lab that works on engines for fighter planes. She got me attached to the most advanced wing of IAF housing over 60 Su-30s. She arranged an air-show for me on my very second day. And what more, she got me an officer who readily allowed us to sit in the cockpit and actually hold the throttle lever, the ultimate realization of my fancy. As the plane took off with a roaring thunder, I could not stop but thank God and luck for providing me with such a graceful opportunity. Not everyone gets to see a Su-30 take off and how few are fortunate enough to sit in its cockpit. Those 10 minutes when the plane showed aerobatics were like bliss for me. I was in a different world altogether. Never ever had I been so thankful to God. Never before had I been so satisfied, fulfilled and happy. As the plane pitched and rolled, tears filled my eyes. Thank you so much God; today’s been the best day of my life!