Seasonz Chapter 2 – The Yesteryear (Part 2)

 

The link to the previous part is as follows:

Seasonz Chapter 2 – The Yesteryear (Part 1)

 

Returning to our journey on Jalandhar, the big day was arriving, and I was eagerly counting it since that would mark my first flight journey. It will be a memorable event in the book of Raghav’s history.

Hmmm…sounds little funny though when reading right! But not for him.

Fine, so our goods were packed and shipped a week early through a logistic company since it would take a week or more to deliver it, as the road trip from south to north was quite far and the road infrastructure was challenging in those days.

The flight to New Delhi from Chennai was due in 2 days’ time. We had planned to leave for Chennai the following night and stay there at my cousin’s place from where we shall proceed further with our journey. The only sad thing that I had when departing out of Coimbatore was not able to play with my pet dog, Jacky, anymore.

The next morning, we had reached Chennai and it was a pleasant sunny morning. Way in the 90’s, the city witnessed low population density comparing to this day and it was much more fun then. Reaching my cousin’s home, I had a nice time enjoying with them while the elders were into some serious discussion, which hardly bothered us kids.  

Finally, the great day had arrived.

My uncle had booked a cab to take us all to the airport. I had never been to the airport before and was totally clueless about how it looked like. The drive was a short one from their home and as we entered the Kamaraj Domestic Terminal of the Chennai Airport, I was awestruck. I never imagined that I would be so captivated about it and my excitement knew no bounds.

De-boarding from the vehicle and getting hold of our luggage, my parents bid farewell to all those who came to see-off us while I was much focused on the activities taking place around me. Not just once or twice but many a time I would have made a complete 360-degree rotation to capture every single frame of the place.

The scene was totally lively and engaging with people rushing in all directions madly, trolley’s extra loaded with luggage, flight status being announced on a continuous roll, gorgeous ladies of hour-glass structure draped in sleek uniformed attire and with the apt complexion to suit their profession, commanders and first officers in black and white attire walking majestically making onlookers turn towards them and finally the cops, looking out suspiciously at everyone.

My relatives bid adieu to us and we headed towards the check-in counters. With every step taken, my excitement curve just went upward. Once done with all the procedures, we were waiting at the departure lounge for our aircraft to arrive. Back in the 90’s the Indian aviation was not well developed as of now, and it was the era of private carriers just stepping into the market. Two private airlines, Jet Airways and Air Sahara, had started operation along with the existing center owned Indian Airlines. As we were officially moving to a different state, the travel desk had made our reservation through Indian Airlines.

I still remember the heavy ticket booklet that used to be issued back in the olden days, unlike now wherein everything is encompassed within the 5” display of your mobile phones. With the advancement of technology, things seem to be simpler these days.

The giant Boeing 737 was parked at one of the remote stands and the aircraft was shining from the first rays of the day, and I could clearly see it from the gates, as back then the air connectivity was not so improved and very few flights used to visit the airport. We were finally shuttled to the aircraft and I was about to board the first flight of my life.

 

To be continued…

Seasonz Chapter 2 – The Yesteryear (Part 1)

 

The link to the previous part is as follows:

Seasonz Chapter 1 - Happiness and Beyond It…(Part 4) 

 

The human brain that weighs close to 1.3 kilograms has never failed to fascinate me. Being so tiny and just a handful in size, I have always wondered how it stores innumerable bytes of data and that too without even giving the slightest warning of low storage space 😊. Adding to the amazing role it plays, there are few icing on the cake facts like, how it brings out all the wonderful and exiting memories of our past in just a fraction of second and how it takes us on a jolly ride into wonderland, not just once or twice, but every single day, in the state of dream.

Even manual records that are stored or preserved, after couple of decades get stonewashed or destroyed, but those that are registered in our mind remains fresh till the last breath of ours, unless until you are suffering with Alzheimer disease.

And though the plausibility of dream’s coming true has been on a lower scale for almost everyone, it is often good to dream as it helps one to achieve great heights and improve your thinking. Dreams can sometime turn out to be true only if appropriate action items are taken to make it so.

Hence Dream big to achieve big is something that I had followed ever and I had been trying to work towards it to achieve it one such day, though not aware of the fact that how many roadblocks I am going to face in the due course. As mentioned in the former pages, I was fascinated towards Aircraft and it was not some kind of puppy dream which comes and flows out of you after a period. I was rather determined to somehow achieve it and thus my ambition right from kid was to become a Pilot.

Well, this might sound funny to a lot, as there are many out there who do fancy airplanes and do wish to become a Pilot. But that was not my case. I was focused all my life towards it though not knowing when, where & how to start but was confident enough that that one special day may come soon to accomplish it.

So, you might be wondering how come such fascination got its root within me. It was way back in the 90’s, when I was a 6-year-old naughty kid, who had just passed out of the kindergarten. I was a happy little chap enjoying the privilege of being at my native with all goodies around me.

Right from getting up in the morning with my mother feeding me food and father dressing me up for the school, to my paternal grandfather taking me to the school which was just two houses away from mine, to the wonderful class teacher Ms. Geetha, to enjoy with my then friend Sanjay, to get back home in the evening and go on for a walk to the nearby Murugan Temple with my paternal grandfather and my pet dog, Jacky, my life was filled with happiness and no regrets.

There was nothing much to bother about as love and affection was overflowing in the air around me. But a day arrived when all my happiness came under a big full stop. As my father was a bank employee, he was promoted as Manager and was transferred to the land of warriors, Punjab. 

This was an unexpected move to the entire family and so slowly we started preparing ourselves for roller coaster ride ahead. Although it was just my mother who knew Hindi among the three of us, my father rather than backing out stood ahead and took the decision to move on and face the situation believing in my mother, in spite of constant pressure from the relatives.

And this is one such quality of his which I had always envied and try to follow it up in my years to come. It is then that I understood the formula to survive and the importance of having a supportive partner.

“Whatever be the situation and how hard it may turn out to be, stand up right to its face and challenge it. Once or twice it might push you down. Get up, dust yourself and once again stand before it, as for sure you will succeed in your next try, despite any number of times you get sledged.”

This might sound as if thinking way beyond my age, but this helped me cross most of the hurdles all through the 22 years of my life. If I had restricted myself to a place and had got too comfortable over there, switching to a new surrounding itself would have been a greater challenge itself.  

So next to my father, the other person who stood by our side and gave morale support to head up to Punjab was my Maternal Grandfather and there are not enough words in any language to describe his kind and open hardheartedness. Such a gem of a person he is.

A very strong man of the yesteryear who had faced all sort of odds right from his childhood and through his teenage days, to marriage & post marriage, parenthood and continuing. Born and brought up in the God’s own country, Kerala, he was an excellent football player of his time. Even at his 60s he is hyperactive and there is never a time when he has said “no” to any of his grandchildren.

By education he was a civil engineer and by profession he was a cinematographer working with leading stars of the 70’s and 80’s. I had always envied his passion towards photography and to call him a photographer rather an engineer would be the right term to honor him. His dedication and hard work are innumerable.

 

To be continued...

Seasonz Chapter 1 - Happiness and Beyond It…(Part 4)

The link to the previous part is available on the below link:

 

Seasonz Chapter 1 - Happiness and Beyond It… (Part 3) 

 

I hit the elevator button to reach the 3^rd floor and I expected the lobby to be overflowing with kids, however it posed a deserted look, which made me quickly glance at the watch. Okay, so it was the time of the day when every little one’s brain is made to work at 300% more than its capacity. As I crossed each door, I could sense that they were being sucked into the boring lesson of History or having a mighty battle with the magical numbers from Mathematics or trying to find a balance to their life equation by reading Chemistry.

The visuals brought in a small smile on my face, as I continued walking along the corridor. But what I missed to notice was that, I was being watched by Mr. Shekhar, right from the time I had stepped out of the elevator. Regaining my senses, I scratched my head not knowing how to react to the unexpected situation and to get past through it, I just wished him, “Good Evening Uncle”.

Very slowly he approached me and gave me a small wink asking, “What Raghav, fell in Love with someone huh?” 

You seem to be walking alone, talking to yourself and smiling, all the while since you stepped out of the elevator.

Smiling to his words, I nodded signaling a big “No” and asked him in return, “You are usually found to be on your evening walk by this time and what a surprise now, you are at home today?”

With a broad smile he pointed his fingers towards his house’s entrance. I could find extra pair of footwear around it and made a guess that he has got visitors. Meanwhile uncle cut me through by asking, “Raghav, did you find the wine shop at the end of the lane open?” I got some friends and we would like to share a drink, since we are all meeting after a long time. 

Thinking hard I replied, yes uncle, I did find it crowded while returning home and I would suggest you better reach out soon, as you might run out of good stock.

Going by my words, uncle bid me adieu and walked off majestically. As he marched off few distance away from me, I shouted “Having fun huh!!!” with a wicked smile. Acknowledging to my words and to the way that I had asked he just gave a hand gesture signaling yes and disappeared.

A funny man and the most liked person in our community, Mr.Shekhar is an ex-serviceman, retired from the Indian Air Force some 4 years back. A Flight Lieutenant by rank, he is our neighbor staying with his lovely wife in flat 3B. Aunt Usha Shekhar does need a special mention here, especially for the sweets that she makes during every festival. More than the sweets that she prepares, by heart she is sweeter and every kid from the age of 2 to 20, loves her.

They are survived by 2 daughters, both of whom are married and well settled with their family somewhere in the western part of the world. During this tenure of 4 years of settlement at Pune, not even once I have witnessed either of them visiting home.

However, couple of time when Uncle used to have difficulty in connecting to Skype, I had helped him connect thereby introducing myself to his daughters then. Such introductions are more common to me as I end up at most houses fixing up some technical glitch. And this was due to the misconception among my neighbors that I was a tech savvy, capable of fixing any IT related issue, just because of the degree that I hold.

Oops, sorry I have not let out a word about me so far. So, here you go. I am Raghav, graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Information Technology from one of the nation’s prestigious university, the College of Engineering, Pune. Being graduated out of such an institute with a first-class degree in hand and an on-campus job offer with one of the leading software and consulting providers of the world, Cognizant Technology Solutions, as an added topping on the tossed base it leaves anyone with the impression that I was trained to handle such technical stuffs.

Though I hardly agree to their misconception, on the other hand they can’t be put to blame, as well. So, I just take up each of those assignment and make it a chance to speak to the people over there. By chance, if there is a girl of my age, then I try to be of a little more help to her through other means too.

Ok, not to be too optimistic about myself, I do agree that I can fix stuffs but that is not my real me. My fascination is something way bigger, something that not many dream off. I am mad about aviation in and out. And I believe it was not something that got inculcated into me over the days, but it is something that was hidden deep within me, nurturing over the years. 

Wait a minute! 

Why do not you have a look at how my desire took its wing finally out of me and how I was aspired towards touching the sky? In addition to it, do witness bits and pieces of my childhood days. I do promise you that it will not be a long flashback.

So, people why do not you immerse your head into the giant pensive filled with my memories and experience few scenes of a young chap who was notorious yet adorable traveling through the time to reach here. Grab your seats and fasten your seat belts to travel into the pages of history.

 

To be continued…