Born To Fly

Two friends were sitting on the beautiful lawns of Hindu College watching a warm up football match between the two rivals across the road. St. Stephens were victorious that day beating Hindu on their home ground and it couldn’t have been more insulting to a large crowd gathered there. The losing team looked dejected as the Director of Physical Education of the college gave them a solid dressing down in chaste Hindi.

“Chal, let us join the college team trials from tomorrow,” said the taller of the two. “As it is after studying hard in the First Year we barely got through the exams.”

“Ya, I attended all classes, went to so many libraries from Central Secretariat to ICHR, studied all the reference books, made long notes but when the exams came up couldn’t remember things I had read many times. With 40 and 42 percent, we must be the laggards in History Honours in the college or maybe in the university as well. It would have been so much better had I at least played football for the college and enjoyed a bit of college life with friends.”

“Don’t worry, let’s us try and get into the college team. As far as studies are concerned, I will get you the best of tutorials. You are the brainy Bong who will compile them and we will surely do much better than what we have done this year.”

The pact was instantly made and the next day the two landed at the football ground and after two days of tough selection, both were picked to be part of the team. The fair and handsome one was chosen as the goalkeeper and the shorter one got selected as a forward. The first acid test for the team was a repeat of the warm up game with St. Stephens and both the friends were selected in the playing eleven. With even a larger crowd now watching the two teams fighting it out, Hindu College beat the team from across the street by three goals to nil and the man in the forward line scored one goal and assisted in the other two while the goalie made some dramatic saves. Both became instant heroes in the college and found a permanent place in the playing eleven for the next two years.

Brothers in Arms

The bonding on the field was strengthened when both gave the exams that year. They appeared not only for the second year but also repeated the two papers from the first year and got high fifties which was remarkable considering they had stopped attending classes and library cards had been handed over to the other studious types who needed to borrow more books.

Thank you Ranjeev, my friend, for convincing me to play for the college which gave me the happiest time of my life and along with sports, you also helped me get good scores in studies. But for you my friend, I would never have got an identity in college and develop such a passion for the game.

Today, as I remember my friend Ranjeev, memories keep flowing through the shadows of my mind. He was everything I wasn’t and always wanted to be. He had a way with girls as no one I had seen before and never saw another later, while I was always the shy and the meek one.

The two friends would, on some days after football practice, walk to Patel Chest from where the University Special buses originated in order to get seats. It was on one such day that they found themselves seated comfortably next to each other. As the bus started moving and stopping at various colleges picking up students, at Indraprastha College a pretty girl boarded the bus and stood near their seat. He looked at the girl and almost ordered his friend with a straight face, “Get up now!” Stunned by the strange behavior, the friend still gave up his seat and asked the damsel to take his place instead. Within no time, Ranjeev struck a conversation with the girl and by the time the bus had reached Rajghat, the two of them were laughing and talking as if they knew each other for long. When the bus reached Lutyens Delhi and the girl stood up to get off, Ranjeev, too, got off. Next day the girl was at our college chatting with The Boss.

When it came to girls, if there ever was a Speedy Gonsalvez, it was him. There was something about him that attracted the best looking girls to him at all times. Was it the twinkle in his light brown eyes or was it his tall and fair looks or was it his quick repartee or possibly it was all of them and more in him that made the girls follow the Pied Piper.

In school I had done many things from writing chits and copying from the neighbour’s answer sheets but I wasn’t as daring as Ranjeev. He had the audacity to keep his bag containing the notes in the college staff room and would often go there to take a look before coming back to his desk to complete the answer sheet. What happened as we sat down to give our last exam of Third Year was beyond anyone’s comprehension….

Ranjeev had not been keeping well and had not been able to study the jointly prepared answers or tutorials as we used to call them. It was our last exam before we passed and got our graduation degrees. He was sitting two seats ahead of me. As the question papers were being distributed, my friend started a conversation with the invigilator. European history was always a subject I loved and started writing my answers with great speed and began filling up one answer sheet after another. There was pin drop silence when I heard Ranjeev talking aloud with the invigilator,"I am asking for the answer sheet from him,” as he pointed a finger towards me. The invigilator said nothing and Ranjeev now almost ordered me,"Pass me the answer sheet, nothing will happen.” I was afraid to do so as this might jeopardise my future if something were to go wrong.Still I took courage to ask the invigilator,”de doon kya(should I give)?” The watch dog just smiled at me and I rolled one of my answer sheets and threw it towards Ranjeev who caught it and started writing his answer. In the next one hour all my answer sheets had reached Ranjeev and he was able to complete the paper and was pretty satisfied with his efforts. As we handed over our answer sheets to the invigilator, Ranjeev thanked him and as we stepped out of the classroom, he started laughing hysterically. We both graduated together and didn’t do too badly. He never grudged me getting a few percentage points more than him. He was more pleased at getting a decent score.

Ranjeev was the friend who introduced me to good life that ought to be the birthright of every teenager. And in giving me this joy of living, he never had to make any special effort. It came to him all so naturally.

I lived in the smaller of the government apartments while he lived in a larger one where senior bureaucrats were stationed. In my colony , we enjoyed dance only when there were marriages and people of all shapes and sizes would wriggle around the ghodi, on which the groom sat, with a garland made of currency notes. The band would play Come September and tunes from Hindi movies and men and women would dance as if in a trance and the senior citizens would throw up some currency notes and the band players would catch them as extra baksheesh. Ranjeev and his friends organized dance parties at their Chanakya Puri Club and,at times, at his home. He always made sure I was invited. He made me see what proper dance parties were, what it meant to dance with girls.

In one such New Year’s Eve party, I was sitting near the bonfire with some boys and girls sitting around it. Ranjeev was the star of all the parties and he came out and asked me to come on to the floor. I felt a little shy. He not only pulled me into the hall, he also asked a girl sitting there to get up and take to the floor with me. At another party, Ranjeev and his other two associates, Ravi and Niraj, made sure I got the first close dance of my life. Of course, the party ended pretty awkwardly for me and the girl, but then my fear of dancing was gone. Pappu can dance saala!

Thanks to my idol, I started enjoying the parties and learnt to shake a leg, much more than I had ever learnt living in my colony. My fear of girls was gone. All my twenty long years I had waited for such  good times which only he gave to me and surely to many others like me.

I could go on with many more instances of his fun loving and free flowing life but must at this point take a break. He joined the Indian Army after clearing the IMA exam while I went my way into the world of insurance. Ranjeev always loved flying and so when I met him, after some years, in Mumbai he said,” I am from the Army, am on deputation to the Coast Guard flying choppers…army, navy and air force all in one!” He became Lt. Colonel and took voluntary retirement, whereupon he started flying choppers for private operators. A couple of days ago, I got the sad news of his chopper meeting with a fatal accident as he, along with two others, were returning after supplying relief materials to flood affected areas of Uttarakhand. This was not the first time that Ranjeev had undertaken such bold rescue operations. He was among the first to reach out to the helpless and devastated people at Gaurikund and Kedarnath in 2014 and later in 2017 in Pithoragarh. He truly knew no fear. His Whatsapp status read…Born to Fly!

You were born to fly

You were born to be free

And truly you’ve flown away

High as high can be

I am sure God needed you

Needed you to give lessons to all

Lessons of love

Lessons of friendship

Lessons of bravery

Lessons of service

Or maybe to run His chopper services

To recue humanity in disaster

Born to Fly, from here to eternity.

In life, a man is always indebted to his parents for many things and so am I, but never ever another man can be as indebted as I am to you for giving me so much joy, helping me discover my real self…no wonder I am not ashamed to say Tu Mera Hero Number One. You were everything I wanted to be and you changed me for good. Today a part of me got blown away…I cried and deep inside me, chanted Om Shanti Om Shanti Om Shanti.

SS