En route to Delhi (Part 1)

Reached an hour early at the station, located my compartment and finally found my berth after colliding for the umpteenth time with a 40-something formidable lady, who seemed to be in a hurry lest the train departed early.

“Sorry beta”, she said in an unapologetic, casual tone.

This one was a massive blow in my face which resulted because she was throwing a bag to her husband who was sitting in the side upper berth, right above her. How could someone be so thick? I turned around exasperated, “No problem, why don’t you hit me on the other side of the face too”, I wanted to say, but decided to drop the sarcasm, and ended up with a more civilized “its ok.”

After keeping my luggage, I went in search of a coke and a polo mint…my regular companion in travel. I checked the reservation list for my name. Vaikunth Sinha and Tulsi Sinha occupied the side berths. I went on…Ravi Malhotra, Preity Sabarwal, Visha…wait wait… Preity Sabarwal.  It was interesting because I met many Preitys before but for the first time I had found a Preity Sabarwal,21 occupying the berth right opposite mine.

I came back hoping that she would be cute but she had not arrived yet and considering the fact that the train would depart in ten minutes, she was late.  I was sitting looking at the passage and in five minutes, a curly haired girl came and sat opposite me. Elegant in a maroon salwar, she looked at me while adjusting her luggage and smiled inadvertently, which I returned rather formally. I thought of talking to her but then I am awful at starting a conversation. Usually I fall short of topics, and am better off at listening to others talk. I was still researching ways when I saw a guy coming towards me. He was ludicrously dressed.

Normally, we dress for comfort for a long journey but he wore a body-hugging t-shirt and jeans that to me resembled like someone had sucked the air out of it after he wore it. A pair of sport shoes followed. The most interesting part was his hair. It is not that I found everyone’s hair interesting because I have a hair that is neither too curly nor too straight, and an unbiased attempt at describing it perfectly will definitely reveal my linguistic limitations. Well, his hair was spiked and the spikes were to a large extent overdone. I don’t understand why salons spend so much effort in doing this typical hairdo, when a deliberate 220V at the posterior end would have sufficed.

Horror of horrors, this funny character sat right next to her without hesitation and she smiled at him too. Must be her boyfriend, I thought. I closely looked at him now and my eyes caught something, aha…gotcha….definitely a Kolkata guy, an electronic wristwatch handpicked from Esplanade displayed itself proudly. But he had got a damn good physique, a single punch and I would be moaning like a baby. Forget about talking to her, I restricted myself from looking at her.

The train had travelled a good 20 kms. She looked at me and smiled again. A bit fidgety, I looked at him; he wore his sunglasses in a deft movement. Now I won’t be able to follow him and sit virtually defenseless. One more smile and I am dead, I thought. I clutched my coke bottle; a hit with the cap on the bottle should inflict some pain, provided I hit the right places.

All of a sudden, the guy inched forward and stretched his hand towards me for a shake…

“Hello, I am Vishal”, he said in a friendly tone.

I introduced myself and looked at her.

“I am Preity”, she extended her hand and smiled which concluded in laughter as if she knew my train of thoughts. I joined her in it, and he gave us both a void look.

For the next half an hour, I learnt that they were going to Delhi for same reasons as mine and the fact that they were cousins goaded me to smirk. We became friends and are in touch till date.

KKR critically

IPL-4 is in full swing, with KKR having started on a different note this time. The bowling department seems to have more teeth with the inclusion of Kallis and the pacer with four slower deliveries in an over and nowadays even does a slow bouncer, Balaji.

SRK can be seen in the VIP box with a solemn expression. Earlier the man who cheered every single run does not even smile on a four. What else can one expect after the last three disastrous versions of the IPL? He sits with a gloomy countenance that symbolizes apathy. An occasional six brings back his idiosyncratic ‘flying kiss’. If it’s a win, the post match celebration captures his ostensible smile; beaming is out of the question.

The exclusion of Ganguly reduced the Eden crowd enormously. His stern followers believe that this act of KKR snubs Ganguly’s contribution to cricket and quite rightly so; if a player’s performance is the only benchmark, then he should be on the field since he has fared better than any other player in his team in the last version of IPL. Big international names not being able to deliver at the right moment was a major cause of KKR’s underperformance. Of course one cannot forget that our local players are not experienced enough to perform under pressure. Hot-blooded as ever, they cannot be relied upon for winning a tight match.

If the above written fact about Ganguly is true, then how come no other team bid for him. There can only be one reason. When Ganguly plays in an IPL team, it is difficult or rather outrageous to not make him the captain. Once he is the captain, the throne shifts from the management towards him. He becomes the key personality and most decisions are well influenced by him. This appalls team-owners. Thus the reasons that Ganguly is too aged and he is an underperformer are a mere travesty.

Let’s hope we get into the knockout stage this time but the slogan should be for now at least …

“korbo, lorbo tobe jitbo na harbo ta bolbo na re”.

Behind enemy lines and back

Sweat beads glistened on his nose-tip as he climbed into the cockpit. He tried to remain composed but random thoughts crossed his mind. Just then the earphone crackled…

“Trims neutral, brakes okay, all systems go from telemetry” declared a nonchalant voice.

“Confirm, monitored” he replied trying hard to conceal his deep breaths.

He took off at full throttle, pulling the stick and was airborne within seconds. He enjoyed every moment of it till yesterday. But today was no routine sortie; he had not experienced real combat before. He was flying in arrow-head formation with him as the left wingman of his lead. He was the youngest of the three. They would be in enemy territory within 6 minutes. His lead would drop two laser-guided bombs and destroy a bridge. Once done they would return to base and if all goes well, they would be back in 15 minutes. Sounds easy during briefing but the real time scenario sends a chill down your spine.

5 minutes into the flight and he thought about his parents, his girlfriend. She had called last night. He tried to be normal, cracking jokes as usual, trying to tease her every now and then. She kept quiet for a moment and then inquired. He always got amazed at how she could well understand those unspoken words and decode the unnecessary bursts of laughter that he used to camouflage his thoughts. Usually he gave in, but he could not do that yesterday and somehow had managed to escape. At least that’s what he thought.

His earphone crackled. His lead informed that they were just entering enemy territory. He focused on the mission again, looking at the screen in front, confident that nothing would evade his newly fitted radar system. Everything below seemed normal which was in a way incongruous. The bridge was within sight. His lead informed him, went ahead and climbed. He saw him release the bombs which hit the target with precision. No sooner did this happen than he picked up something on his radar. Three jets were coming towards them from the east. He informed his lead of the situation and was instantly ordered to engage at will. After dropping his fuel tanks he broke away from the formation and just then saw a missile hurling towards his partner (the third friendly pilot). It was from a surface-to-air missile (SAM) launcher on the ground. His partner tried hard negotiating with it, trying all the escape maneuvers but in vain. He saw his partner go down in flames. No time for emotions, he focused on the job at hand.

His lead was taking two of them, he was chased by one. The first ever dogfight of his life had just begun. At his current height, he was an easy prey to SAMs. He climbed and pulled away. The enemy jet was slightly below him but was coming close really fast. He tried maneuvering to avoid a lock but only for a while. His radar picked up an infrared missile hurling towards him at Mach 1.5. His heart was in his mouth for the first time as he considered his counter-measures….there was one. He deployed flares, took a sharp left and reduced the engine power while praying hard so that the missile fell for the decoy. It did.

Relieved at his survival, he thought of his next step. The enemy aircraft was again trying to find a lock and was fast catching up. Barrel-rolling came to his mind. In this move you pull your stick to climb, roll once and come back to your original line of flight while maintaining your speed, thus covering more distance and if the enemy aircraft does not reduce its speed, he is sure to go ahead of you. Things happened according to plan and he was in a firing position. His first missile missed the target but the second one had found the enemy’s red-hot engine. The first kill of his life. He brimmed with confidence and contacted his lead. There was no response. He tried again but in vain. He picked up another jet on his radar, probably the one who shot down his lead. This time he went towards it with full after-burner, trying hard not to let it escape.

The enemy aircraft was returning, probably satisfied with his kill and never expected to be chased in his own territory. He fired one missile but it caught the enemy aircraft’s flares. His enemy climbed and kept climbing. He smiled at the pilot’s poor knowledge of his jet’s capabilities. He too climbed behind him. After a while, the enemy aircraft stalled and lost height. This was his chance as he found a lock on his enemy. Damn, all three of his missiles were gone. He mentally smacked his forehead for losing this opportunity. He was right behind the enemy aircraft, well within firing range, having an easy lock on the opponent but he ran out of his resources. The next moment he remembered something. The weapon that he never used during a sortie. How could it ever elude him? He advanced with full afterburner, speed nearly Mach 2. He could see the aircraft’s big engine in front. He had forgotten previously that he had 150 rounds of ammunition. He pulled the trigger for 3 seconds and most of the bullets hit the rear of the jet. It went rolling down. He was so close, he could see the pilot eject.

Happy with two kills on his first day, one of which is the coveted gun-kill, he started returning to base. Two minutes into it and there was an alarm. Two dogfights with frequent use of afterburners had drained him. He would never be able to leave enemy territory with his current speed and leftover fuel. He calculated hard. Finally, he took a decision that went on to save him from becoming a POW. He went for a full afterburner which resulted in rapid fuel consumption but let him cruise at Mach 2.

A minute later, he was totally dry. Ejecting behind enemy lines is a nightmare for any fighter pilot. If his calculation was right he will just make it. He leaned forward and pulled the lever under his seat for ejection. Out of nowhere three straps emerged…each plastering him firmly to his seat. The canopy blew away and he was out of the flying coffin within 0.1 seconds. The chute opened and he sailed it towards his own country. He suffered injuries due to the high altitude ejection which he chose to save himself. Drenched in sweat and  energy fully drained, his vision blurred as he went further down. When he hit the ground, he was already unconscious.

A beautiful face hovered over him that blanketed the light above. The face was anxious and had tiny droplets on its cheek. He could not relate to the present scenario. He looked around; there were few people….some lying in bed and some roaming in blue aprons. He realized he was in a hospital. He was unconscious for 20 hours but in safe hands. He looked at the kind face again and then it registered. It was his girlfriend.