Dream Relished -Air Force Day

My Dad was a Sargent technician of Super Connie aircraft in 6 sqn Poona in the mid-60s, where I started my initial primary schooling...we stayed in 10-20 area and then Viman Nagar...Our school bus used to take us across the runway, which used to close for canberra & vampireas taking off in the morning...we really used to enjoy from our bus windows, the fighters taking off....in the evenings we used to venture into the abandoned liberator aircraft and sit in the cockpit and act out pilot/ copilot, do dummy flying, ...childhood was fun.....the 6 sqn 'Pagal Gim khana' anniv used to be fun and we were allowed to go into the connie earmarked for the visit from the rear, walk up the aisle and exit the front door...the cockpit cordoned off by ropes...when I and my younger brother walked up and reached the cockpit, I asked the Warrant officer guide, for sitting in the pilot’s seat ...he politely refused...this was in 1966, me 8 yrs then...irony of fate,...fast fwd 15 yrs later 1981, I was transferred from 550 Cochin to Indian naval Air Squadron - 312 to fly the connies at INS Hansa, Goa as a Sub Lieutenant along with my coursemate Sub-Lt Gopa Kumar...My Dad must have been in the seventh heaven, on hearing that I was to fly the same aircraft that he served in.

Life has been great to some people like me, who can proudly say, ‘Zindagi mein jo hamne hai khoya, woh hai hamara bachpan hamari nadani, aur jo paya woh hai mere Rab ki meharbani’. 

PS- I dedicate this article to my Dad, Late Hon Fg.Offr BR Dutta,...Miss you Dad...May your humble Soul remain blessed always and shower your blessings on us…Happy Father’s Day, Dad.