We'd got up on a leisurely note and it was back to recollecting old incidents from our days at school. Ramesh seemed to enjoy whatever I could recall judging by his loud guffaws and mirthful laughter! After a fine breakfast from Bindu, we'd set off by about a quarter past 10. Meanwhile, Ayyappan Radhakrishnan, an old friend from my flying days at Bidar, was waiting to be picked up by us at Palarivattam.
Even though, he'd told us about his exact position, I'd muffed it up and had to retrace my vehicle to get him. From then on till Thrissur, it was catching up on our course mates who're with us at Bidar during Spring '76 which was a wonderful journey down memory lane! Sadly, our strength has reduced considerably thanks to the numerous air mishaps, accidents on terra firma and health problems!! Soman, Madhu Kashyap, Mukund, Pandey, YP Singh have all passed into the mist of time. Salaria, who'd become an overnight hero after his successful bailing out from the aircraft that had gone into an irreversible spin, along with his instructor, YR Rane, had to die of a silly bike accident on the killer roads of Malad after having joined the IN, at Bombay, soon after!!!
Radhakrishnan, actually, is settled at Kunnukuzhy, in Thiruvananthapuram and was at Kochi to attend the funeral of his cousin. He did remind me about a lot of stories involving your's truly, during my short stint at the Flying Training School, because - to quote our senior flight instructor's memorable(?) debrief, in the crew room, soon after a sortie with me - "Gentleman, I've the pleasure of introducing Cadet Rajeev who believes in taking off from anywhere other than the tarmac! I'm emphasising this because his landings are better than the ones that most of you churn out, day in and day out!! And by the way, his height is 4 ft f***all inches and he wants to fly, hinting at my diminutive size!!!"
We reached Anil and Radha's place by about 12 o'clock to a boisterous lunch. We'd set off for Guruvayur by 3 and were at 'The Quarterdeck' an hour later. By the time we'd finished our unpacking, Rema and Achu had fetched up from Palakkad. They'd stay put for the night and drive off in their car that has been here since that awful date of 04 Sep!
My evening walk was towards the 'padinjaare nada' to buy vegetables and fruits from the vendors that we frequent and the return was in an auto rickshaw! Soon after my bath, I'd dropped Rema and Achu at the temple for their 'darshan' of the good Lord.
A late but boisterous dinner but constantly, feeling Amma's absence!
Tailpiece.
(a) Another fruitful journey where we'd the privilege of meeting very many people and of course, my class mates, in particular!
(b) Achu will be switching over to Marico as he'd cleared the three stages of interview successfully. My mom's wish coming true because she'd always wanted him to take up a job closer home and he's now gonna operate from their outfit at Palakkad.
Even though, he'd told us about his exact position, I'd muffed it up and had to retrace my vehicle to get him. From then on till Thrissur, it was catching up on our course mates who're with us at Bidar during Spring '76 which was a wonderful journey down memory lane! Sadly, our strength has reduced considerably thanks to the numerous air mishaps, accidents on terra firma and health problems!! Soman, Madhu Kashyap, Mukund, Pandey, YP Singh have all passed into the mist of time. Salaria, who'd become an overnight hero after his successful bailing out from the aircraft that had gone into an irreversible spin, along with his instructor, YR Rane, had to die of a silly bike accident on the killer roads of Malad after having joined the IN, at Bombay, soon after!!!
Radhakrishnan, actually, is settled at Kunnukuzhy, in Thiruvananthapuram and was at Kochi to attend the funeral of his cousin. He did remind me about a lot of stories involving your's truly, during my short stint at the Flying Training School, because - to quote our senior flight instructor's memorable(?) debrief, in the crew room, soon after a sortie with me - "Gentleman, I've the pleasure of introducing Cadet Rajeev who believes in taking off from anywhere other than the tarmac! I'm emphasising this because his landings are better than the ones that most of you churn out, day in and day out!! And by the way, his height is 4 ft f***all inches and he wants to fly, hinting at my diminutive size!!!"
We reached Anil and Radha's place by about 12 o'clock to a boisterous lunch. We'd set off for Guruvayur by 3 and were at 'The Quarterdeck' an hour later. By the time we'd finished our unpacking, Rema and Achu had fetched up from Palakkad. They'd stay put for the night and drive off in their car that has been here since that awful date of 04 Sep!
My evening walk was towards the 'padinjaare nada' to buy vegetables and fruits from the vendors that we frequent and the return was in an auto rickshaw! Soon after my bath, I'd dropped Rema and Achu at the temple for their 'darshan' of the good Lord.
A late but boisterous dinner but constantly, feeling Amma's absence!
Tailpiece.
(a) Another fruitful journey where we'd the privilege of meeting very many people and of course, my class mates, in particular!
(b) Achu will be switching over to Marico as he'd cleared the three stages of interview successfully. My mom's wish coming true because she'd always wanted him to take up a job closer home and he's now gonna operate from their outfit at Palakkad.
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